There’s a certain feeling that comes with being torn to do different things at the same instance. That urge when your life could finally be a mission, with a fixed purpose, less uncertainty and sturdier, intentional choices. But the weight of choice that comes with choosing what matters and what doesn’t is daunting.
For the first time in history, truth is no longer determined solely by evidence, but by which version of the story spreads faster. Yeah, the files are out. And I’m in the process of trying to figure out about what to do with the vast amounts of information that came along with it. Conspiracy theories, AI slope, misinformation wars and at this point, I don’t know what or who to believe in. Neither do the people. Some are looking for a messiah, an avatar that can turn the tides and bring justice to all. People no longer believe distributed individual action is enough to influence the system and bring a change. A lot of us have stopped believing. Some are in the process of trying to access the information and decode the facts. A lot of us are being swept off our feet by the tides and the flow of time, like always. But the bread is getting stale, and the stage is stained in the blood of innocents. Capitalism is keeping everyone on toes, because what is politics if we don’t earn enough to exist? And rarely do normal people like us ask “Who is responsible for our collective misery? What is responsible for our lack of resources, despite the technological ability to have them in abundance? What sick game are we playing? Who are we playing for?”.
Gen Z asked a lot of questions, despite a lot of us being raised by conservatives. One step at a time, I thought. But are these questions enough? What of actions? Gen alpha is not ready to be passed the baton to. They’re young, and they are also the first generation of children, who were thrown into the sphere of infinite information, and it wasn’t even their choice. It is the responsibility of the parent generation to make sure they understand kindness and love. But, there’s only so much we can do, especially when conservative, harmful and desensitising spaces are still up. But I sure do hope they choose right when their time comes.
Most people are adaptive, not inherently good or evil. They align with whatever environment rewards survival, belonging, and status. This is why I think systems matter as much as individual virtue does. If cruelty is rewarded, cruelty spreads. If empathy is rewarded, empathy spreads. So, instinctively, we, as a generation, need to market the act of being good as cool, irrespective of political alignments or religious beliefs. We need to reshape these reward structures. How? Through stories. Stories are moral infrastructure. They always have been. And I hope it slowly radicalises people into understanding what weed needs plucking and when, in a way that propaganda doesn’t work on them anymore. But we’re human. And we make mistakes, no matter how big or small. The goal is to recognise people who have even a small speck of goodness in them, nurturing their empathy and questioning their understanding of what is right and wrong. Mass conversions, but not religious ones, but rather, ideological ones, where being human is alright, but our inherent nature being considered is good, without the burden of cultish religious guilt. Being good just because you can be. Not due to the fear of being punished. Not because sky daddy will be angry. Morality has always spread through aesthetics first, logic second. People didn’t become good because of arguments. They became good because the heroes they admired embodied goodness. So, we do something along the lines of what red-pill content creators did, but in reverse. Normalising good, systemically. Treating morality like an environmental outcome than a personality trait would solve a lot of current issues.
And, to be frank, I believe stories can make a huge difference in this aspect. From childhood, strictly following up on the media viewed by children meticulously is one of the factors to ensure. Children don’t need morally conflicting or complex storylines during their early childhood. They need clarity on what is right and what is wrong and clear foundations of empathy. So, making sure that the media consumed by them is fitting the said criteria, in terms of empathy, and not just black-and-white thinking has to be assured. As they grow older, helping them get exposed to complex characters will help them further in building their moral compass. But of course, we can’t protect children forever. Our goal, as their guides, shouldn’t be shielding. It should be inoculation. Shielding delays exposure, while inoculation builds resistance. The goal is to help kids learn to navigate moral ambiguity without losing empathy. We need to give kids the toolbox to make the right decisions, overcoming the internal insecurities capitalism sow, recognising propaganda, choosing the right sources of information, dissecting toxic traditions and other elements. Raising kids in a way that they trust their own ability to recognise patterns. And, of course, critical thinking should feel natural.
But there’s one critical fallacy that has to be dealt with. Stories alone cannot save the future. They have to be paired with status incentives and action. There’s only so much institutions can do, but it is required to work on helping kids grow up in a surrounding where they can confidently be themselves, but at the same time, understand the prejudices of society, without being adversely affected by them. Homes should reflect what they preach. It should simulate what right/fair feels like, systemically. If cruel people get treated better and attain high status, cruelty spreads, regardless of stories. If kind people get treated better and attain high status, kindness spreads rapidly. So, it is, in a way, culture engineering. And it is needed now more than ever.
Maybe the uncertainty never goes away. Maybe there is no moment where everything becomes clear and the path announces itself. Maybe there could be. But if stories shape moral infrastructure, and if people become what their environments reward, then choosing what stories to tell, what stories to amplify, and what stories to live by stops being trivial and starts becoming a core responsibility.
Maybe being torn is not the absence of mission. Maybe it’s the beginning of one.