Well, this one sure is a dooz-y. I found this crumpled up paper in the corner of the bar. Cripes, this fella sure is miffed about a defunct social media platform. Poor guy…Or, girl.

“’Well, sire,’ Sir John answered, ‘the only advice I can give you now is to withdraw to some place of safety, for I see no hope of recovery. Also, it will soon be dark and you might just as easily fall in with your enemies and meet disaster as find yourself among friends.’”

–Sir John of Hainault to King of Phillip VI, Froissart’s Chronicles

“Oh, hi. It’s me – reflecting on how it’s been A YEAR!

We all cope differently, experience the depths of emotion differently, and manage these emotions differently. I genuinely find this beautiful.

Anyway, as I “look in the mirror” (god, we love a good metaphor) as the year mark rolls around, I wanted to check in with you, friends:

How are you doing?
How are you feeling?
What can I do for YOU?

Thank you for those who have been patient with me (I suck at texting back in these moments

Thanks for reading, I love you.”

-An Instagram ‘Influencer’

I would like to take some time, if you would be so kind to allow me, to discuss the nature of straight talk and the distressing state of virtue signaling that has seen unprecedented rise in recent times. The idea is to compare two pieces of text, one a recording from the conclusion of the Battle of Crecy and the other taken from the one-year anniversary of a deadly plague, which at that point had taken the lives of some 2-million individuals.

Both of these quotes are taken from desperate moments. In one, Sir John of Hainault is informing the King of France that there is no hope to win the battle and that he must make a tactical retreat. In the other, a woman is lamenting a year spent during a pandemic and how this has caused a breakdown in communication among her friends and family. Essentially, these are both about expressing defeat. One is done bravely and in a matter-of-fact manner and the other is a convoluted attempt to assign blame of actions taken on vague external forces, while deflecting the conversation in a rhetorical way.

As far as individuals go there can be no real comparison. Perhaps, one could point out that they both sit on similar a similar socio-economic spectrum for their respective time periods. However, the distance-to-danger is a stark reminder of privilege of their times. Sir John in this moment has spent all day near death literally watching his plans, favour in court, and friends disintegrate all around him. The Influencer, on the other hand has been provided distance from the horrors of the plague thanks to her wealth and position in society. Sir John watched on as his son-in-law was slain on the battlefield; the Influencer is able to ignore the severe and horrific impact of the plague by simply turning off their phone screen.

Now that the scene is set it is time to investigate the words themselves. Sir John is telling the King of France that the battle is lost, not only that he is telling the King that he must leave his dead and wounded behind lest they are trapped and captured or killed. In the face of failure, Sir John is bearing the cross of truth. As well, he is implicating himself in the defeat as he was one of the King’s officers and advisers. Froissart tells us that upon hearing this the King flew into a fury. It makes one wonder if Sir John feared if he would be killed on the spot. Instead, the King makes a number of suicidal attempts to join the battle. Being part of his retinue Sir John would have been forced to accompany him and himself risking death. Those are the stakes. After witnessing so much destruction and having to be the one to inform the King of the defeat Sir John risked his life to give an honest assessment of the state of things.

In the Influencer post we see another type of delivery of ‘bad news.’ Ultimately, it is an admonition of guilt. Simply put, ‘I have been a bad friend.” She is delivering the news to her legions of followers that she has been remiss in these times and it is a plea for forgiveness that her attentions have been focused inward rather than outward. Ironically, there is no actual apology, instead just a reflection using tenuous and hollow wording. “We all cope differently, experience the depths of emotion differently…” These words are meaningless because they trivialize the human experience and as simple truths of individuality.

After a year of suffering these are the platitudes that are offered to hundreds of dedicated followers accompanied by some sexy ‘selfies.’ It is not this authors intention to be harsh on this Influencer it is just an attempt to show the distasteful difference in which bad news in delivered. There is the straight-forward method of Sir John, which comes with the threat of ejection from his spheres of influence or even death. Then there is the fabricated non-speak of the Influencer which deflects her own failures onto her viewers as if to say “No, really, underneath this self-serving exterior I promise there is someone who cares about you.”

In the end, Sir John lost his son-in-law and hundreds of his compatriots. After Crecy he is only mentioned in histories to mark his passing some ten years after that battle. He had the unenviable job of having to tell a King that he had lost and from what is recorded he did so with out frill and in an honest manner.

The Influencer, for her post, received thousands of what passes for votes of approval on the medium in which she posted. Many responded adoringly and praised her from her bravery of addressing the plague in a positive way. She would go on to star in movies and television shows in which she was type-cast as the girl-next-door type.

This is the injustice of the early 21^st century. Hard truths were surpressed in favour of meaningless platitudes and it lead to a great degradation in how we communicate.  Indeed, the line between truth and ‘personal truth’ would be blurred in this way as Influencers and other new-media types would continue to virtue signal. The widespread use of nice and pleasing words to say little, but express feelings that do not truly exist. It was an epidemic inside a pandemic that was spreading through new-media and would eventually spark the fires that would lead to the state of affairs we experience now.

Beware the man or woman who whispers sweet nothings freely. They are the dangerous ones and it is right and just to fear them.