As the digital province of China continues aggressively spin state propaganda and harvests the personal inanities of Americans blinded up vanity and validation, electronic life still exists outside of TickTock.
Pioneering streaming media vault YouTube is still relevant in consuming heaping server loads of data for big tech, and while the galactically daunting parent conglomerate Alphabet, Inc., may not have designs on extracting organs from unsuspecting end-users the e-empire operates with all the subtlety and disposition of Glen Close’s iconic home wrecking homicidal psychotic mind games.
Flowery endorsements aside, certain fresh content on YouTube is still palatable that does involve Lorena Bobbitt interceding after a night out at the town.
Channel owner and creator TheFlightchannel adroitly documents aircraft disasters and close calls, narrating through ethereal music and the latest gen of flight simulator replication. Recently, the fate of the “Sky King”, an Alaska Airlines ground group member who stole an airplane was profiled and featured for the nearly 1.4 million subscribers, including real audio. The tragic and captivating event happened just over four years ago.
While the incident involving Richard Russell somehow managing to get the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop airborne gained almost the immediate attention of the entire Puget Sound region in Seattle and surrounding areas, the entire storyline reached viral status globally.
Russell, who perished after he purposefully crashed the plane into a wooded area on Ketron Island, gained cult status among the sentiment-laden younger generations, and his actions are a constant reminder of the importance of available resources for those who are struggling with mental health issues and depression.
While those around the area will always be able to recall the exact moment after hearing the news that two scrambled fighter jets directed by NORAD were chasing a suicidal individual who decided to take a commercial airplane for a joyride, and even managed to execute a barrel roll, the related comments on YouTube show that enablement is trending in society. Many are calling Russell a hero, and as the legend of the “Sky King” grows, in the future will someone having a bad be given a reprieve, even after committing a litany of potential felonies and endangering the lives of strangers?
There is no better place than a consensus for zero accountability than through the social networks that are not indirectly controlled by Bejing. And the age of anti-hero worship has begun.
That being said, the story still had a sad ending, and allows for a difficult conversation as society adjusts to the constant personal mirror that is a component of the information age.
