How’s everyone’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Six.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the origins of conspiracy theorizing, that of the 1960’s JFK assassination.
This November marks the 60th anniversary of that tragic event. I’m sure it will kick off another round of content and debate. The same in 2033 and 2043, whatever social media looks like 10 or 20 years from now.
In 2023, Twitter is the most popular forum for real time conspiratorial uprises.
One rose this week involving a professional athlete.
Even if not a football fan, it’s likely impossible to not be familiar with the name Damar Hamlin. Earlier this month, the Buffalo Bills defensive player collapsed to the ground after attempting to make a tackle during a game.
The story of his remarkable CPR resuscitation, from flatlining-to-breath-of-life became a national keynote to start the new year. Legacy media fawned all over the story, it being the lede for days. Heroism –– presented as nationalistic patriotism –– never fails to draw viewers (in this case, rightfully so as it pertains to the first responders who did save Hamlin’s life).
Let’s fast-forward a bit and pick up the Hamlin story from last weekend.
To much fanfare, it was announced that Hamlin made an appearance at the Bills Sunday playoff game.
By mid-week, questions around the legitimacy of Hamlin’s “appearance” began to gain steam.
Was the person shown in the videos really Hamlin or a body double?
The pictures and images raised legitimate inquiries: Why was he wearing a neck gaiter and sunglasses to cover his face?
(The color of his skin does look different than before he collapsed on Jan. 2.)
If healthy enough to walk and attend a football game, why did he not grant any interviews? Wouldn’t the NFL want the positive PR of a “I’m good, I’m blessed” comment from Hamlin?
Why so shielded?
Instead, we got silence. From the NFL, from state-sponsored media types like Adam Schefter, Ian Rappaport and others.
The narrative shifted from lionizing the Hamlin story –– one of the league’s greatest achievements –– to information blackout.
The counter to any conspiratorial awakenings are obvious: what does the NFL have to gain by pulling a stunt like that? What’s the possible upside? If Hamlin is bedridden and recovering, why not just release a fashionable thumbs up picture/video from the hospital with Hamlin surrounded by family and nurses?
All of the evasive hypothesis’s are ripe for amplification on platforms like Twitter. “Hamlin” trended for days.
Imagine if the Elon Musk-owned platform existed in the 1960’s.
I don’t know whether the person at the Bills game last Sunday was Damar Hamlin or a stand-in. We will likely never know.
But I do know that the failing trust in our institutions –– one inception being the JFK assassination –– incites conspiratorial episodes like Hamlin.
Twitter just gives us a vehicle to express our “truth” or vanity, depending on our personal worldview.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
1. The Epidemic of #DiedSuddenly.
Covid Hysteria turned otherwise anonymous medical professionals into overnight opinionists. Many have built large followings pushing fear-based hyperbole on the virus/vaccines, others the same taking a risk-assessment stance. Two doctors in the risk-assessment camp but loudly pushing back on the industrial-complex medical establishment are Vinay Prasad and John Mandrola. They co-author this piece via The Free Press, an article that recounts many flaws in recent public health messaging and policies that promote a lack of public trust in the medical field, including theories about sudden deaths, a topic that became a national conversation after the Damar Hamlin incident.
2. Want to Be 18 Again? It’ll Only Cost You $2 Million a Year.
A tech billionaire named Bryan Johnson has taken an obsessive –– arguably pathological –– effort to reverse the aging process. He has a team of doctors, researchers, dietitians and exercise scientists monitoring every measurable aspect of his body’s operation, providing him with food, supplements, therapies, and medicines while keeping tabs on every molecule of sustenance he consumes and energy he burns: "Johnson [his doctor] and the team are more than a year into their experiments, which they collectively call Project Blueprint. This includes strict guidelines for Johnson’s diet (1,977 vegan calories a day), exercise (an hour a day, high-intensity three times a week) and sleep (at the same time every night, after two hours wearing glasses that block blue light).” The regimine ain’t cheap, as its expected to cost Johnson, “least $2 million on his body. He wants to have the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, tendons, teeth, skin, hair, bladder, penis and rectum of an 18-year-old…” As Bloomberg explains, a portion of that $2M goes to monitor nighttime boners. Yes, boners.
3. Justin Bieber Cashes In On Music Catalog.
Teen heartthrob-turned-pop star Justin Bieber has sold his publishing catalog of songs and artist royalties in a deal reported to be slightly more than $200 million. Artists selling the rights to their song catalogs is a common transaction in the music business in 2023. But they are typically reserved for heritage artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young or even Sting, all of whom have a proven track record over decades of work and whose songs are somewhat ubiquitous in the culture. Bieber is only 28 years old and the sale, according to Billboard, is the largest rights sale of anyone from his era of artists. Bieber stands out from the pack in that he’s produced more hit songs: 26 in fact, that hit the top 10 as well as eight No. 1 singles. My take is the Biebs is hard up for cash, married now with a wife who has expensive tastes and the bills are stacking up and need to get paid.
4. Parenting In America Today: Harder Than Expected Says Survey.
A new national survey of 3,757 parents done by Pew Research sought to understand what they’re doing differently than their parents did. Among the list of things that parents were most concerned via survey results: 76 percent were at least somewhat worried about their children at some point struggling with anxiety or depression and 74 percent worried about their kid being bullied. Overall, roughly equal amounts of parents said they were trying to raise their children similarly to how they were raised (43 percent) as said they were trying to raise them differently (44 percent). One can wander in the weeds with this data –– charts break down results based on gender/race/economic background –– but the linked article provides an interesting –– not tedious –– summation.
5. Why the Hall of Fame Backlash on Jeff Kent?
Earlier this week, the 2023 baseball Hall of Fame inductees were announced. Preoccupied with whatever documents may or may not be in President Biden’s attic or sightings of UFO’s swarming navy ships, it’s understandable none of us heard the news. Apparently Scott Rolen –– huh? Scott Rolen? –– made the Hall. He’s the lone entrant in 2023. The rather unsatisfying development has fueled a long-running debate in baseball circles: should the HOF be reserved for great players or the very good? The not-good-but-great baseball writer Joe Posnanski picks up the argument with a post debating the merits of Jeff Kent, a very good-but-not-great 1990’s-2000’s era second baseman who just missed the hall cut.
6. How to React During A Dog Fight.
I live in a pet-friendly neighborhood with very rare dog-on-dog conflict. And as far as I know, there’s never been any dog-on-human attacks. But I did come across an unleashed Beagle the other day while shoveling the driveway (the precocious pet wasn’t interested in crossing the street, got bored and headed for home). In between scoops of snow I contemplated how I would handle a dog attack (assuming from a more fierce breed than Beagle). Fortunately, the internet solves all abstract dilemmas. Inside Edition with a years-old part-instructional, but mostly voyeuristic video simply titled, “How You Should React During a Dog Attack.” Facts.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com.