Let's take a guy, we'll name him "Mike."
Mike likes to drive his SUV over 60mph on sidewalks in crowded cities. He mows people down regularly, in front of hundreds of witnesses daily. Every few days we'll see a headline, "Investigators open criminal investigation into Mike for slaughter of pedestrians." And our reaction is, "Alright, cool, they're finally gonna stop Mike."
But then we hear nothing about the investigation for several weeks or even months. Meanwhile, Mike is still running over people on sidewalks in crowded cities. Everyone sees it happening.
Then another headline: "Third-cousin in law of Mike's relative flips on Mike." And we're like, "Finally, Mike is done for now."
Keep in mind that Mike is still running over people with his SUV. This never actually stops.
Then the NYTimes publishes a story: "Mike caught on surveillance footage running people over with SUV."
And we say, "Neato, video evidence. He's totally going down now." But in the backs of all our minds we're all wondering why we needed this video evidence of something millions of us have been watching him do every day for four years. I mean, we're all seeing it happen, thousands of people are recording him do it with their phones, it's on the nightly news regularly. So why does this video evidence matter? And why, after this video evidence is released, is nobody arresting Mike? Something isn't adding up.
Then 60 Minutes hosts an interview of Mike. Lesley Stahl asks him, "Mike, was that you running over people with your SUV on the sidewalk?" Good question, Lesley, but we know that was Mike. "Well," Mike responds, "I dunno, I just like it. It's fun." "Wait, are you admitting to killing all of those people?" "Sure, but look, nobody cares," he answers.
"Holy shit!" we say. "He just admitted to it in an interview! Surely Federal investigators will slap the cuffs on him tonight!" But Mike isn't arrested. He leaves the interview, gets into his car, and proceeds to maim dozens of pedestrians with his car at a farmer's market. Ambulances take the dead and the injured away, police take statements, and everybody carries on as normal.
The days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, the months into years...and Mike drives over more and more people and he's never arrested and all the investigations we hear about never go anywhere.
If you're me, then maybe you can forgive me for getting it into my head that..
a) Mike is God and we're all subjects in his universe, or
b) Mike is an Agent and we're all in the Matrix, and every time investigators walk up to his house to arrest him, the Matrix is reset, the investigators pop back into their offices poring over witness testimony and surveillance footage, and Mike goes on his merry way, driving over people on the sidewalk for fun while the rest of us watch numbly.
You don't have to think I'm rational for arriving at these conclusions, because there's nothing rational about it. It's totally nuts. But I think you could understand why I might get those ideas in my head.
Mike likes to drive his SUV over 60mph on sidewalks in crowded cities. He mows people down regularly, in front of hundreds of witnesses daily. Every few days we'll see a headline, "Investigators open criminal investigation into Mike for slaughter of pedestrians." And our reaction is, "Alright, cool, they're finally gonna stop Mike."
But then we hear nothing about the investigation for several weeks or even months. Meanwhile, Mike is still running over people on sidewalks in crowded cities. Everyone sees it happening.
Then another headline: "Third-cousin in law of Mike's relative flips on Mike." And we're like, "Finally, Mike is done for now."
Keep in mind that Mike is still running over people with his SUV. This never actually stops.
Then the NYTimes publishes a story: "Mike caught on surveillance footage running people over with SUV."
And we say, "Neato, video evidence. He's totally going down now." But in the backs of all our minds we're all wondering why we needed this video evidence of something millions of us have been watching him do every day for four years. I mean, we're all seeing it happen, thousands of people are recording him do it with their phones, it's on the nightly news regularly. So why does this video evidence matter? And why, after this video evidence is released, is nobody arresting Mike? Something isn't adding up.
Then 60 Minutes hosts an interview of Mike. Lesley Stahl asks him, "Mike, was that you running over people with your SUV on the sidewalk?" Good question, Lesley, but we know that was Mike. "Well," Mike responds, "I dunno, I just like it. It's fun." "Wait, are you admitting to killing all of those people?" "Sure, but look, nobody cares," he answers.
"Holy shit!" we say. "He just admitted to it in an interview! Surely Federal investigators will slap the cuffs on him tonight!" But Mike isn't arrested. He leaves the interview, gets into his car, and proceeds to maim dozens of pedestrians with his car at a farmer's market. Ambulances take the dead and the injured away, police take statements, and everybody carries on as normal.
The days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, the months into years...and Mike drives over more and more people and he's never arrested and all the investigations we hear about never go anywhere.
If you're me, then maybe you can forgive me for getting it into my head that..
a) Mike is God and we're all subjects in his universe, or
b) Mike is an Agent and we're all in the Matrix, and every time investigators walk up to his house to arrest him, the Matrix is reset, the investigators pop back into their offices poring over witness testimony and surveillance footage, and Mike goes on his merry way, driving over people on the sidewalk for fun while the rest of us watch numbly.
You don't have to think I'm rational for arriving at these conclusions, because there's nothing rational about it. It's totally nuts. But I think you could understand why I might get those ideas in my head.