So,
this holiday season in my annual attempt to avoid the movies of the holiday
season I sat with my daughter to watch “Saw”, followed by “Saw2.” Consistent with federal law regarding
horror films, no such film offers closure—just a means of setting up infinite
sequels. (2023 gave us the tenth Saw movie--the one where the evil Jigsaw hits menopause.)
“Saw”
is different than the standard horror offerings. The killer in “Saw” is not just a teen who was not invited
to a dance ten years ago--who has grown into an adult that needs to kill all
who attend the federally mandated reunion of all those that did attend the
dance.
Jigsaw has a motive. He only kills those not living lives of
perceived value. Jigsaw passes
judgment on the quality of the life that was lived, without understanding the
back story of the person and without fact checking—just assuming the assortment
of offered facts are accurate. So,
in other words, Jigsaw does the same thing that many social media users do.
Saw
is a perfect film for our social media driven society—without understanding the
context of the life we are judging, we get to post things without critical
thought, without consideration of the
effects or whether our basis for judgments are justified. Just like Jigsaw.
A
generic Facebook post is a meme and a quote as the author of the meme hopes—that someone will look at a quote and a meme
and assume whatever is there must be valid--hopes that are often rewarded. Because if there is a picture AND a quote—well, that level
of sincerity and credibility can not be doubted, (according to sarcastic
bloggers such as I).
Jigsaw
is self assured that his assumptions and interpretations are accurate or at
least hopes they are to help him justify his barbarism. Are meme artists similarly self assured
or do they know they are dealing in defecation?
It
is easy for many to applaud Jigsaw for his righteousness against a selected set
of characters that have lived perceived lives of limited value. Perhaps Jigsaw is also popular because
he represents both the meme artists and those that repost the works of meme
artists. No critical thought is
needed to produce such memes or to believe such memes. Quite often, taking literally 15
seconds can show us whether a social media post is valid or not. Does Jigsaw take that much time to
reflect on the lives he tortures?
Do we take that much time to assure that we are not sending bovine
defecation to our social media friends?
Or are some social media authors rightfully depending on the fact that
no one will challenge a meme?
Now
I do grant you that sending and accepting a meme based on no fact at all is a
lesser offense than grinding someone’s nose under a semi’s wheels as Jigsaw might. But is either a good idea?
