https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4224251/posts
Above is a link to a FR article about C.S. Lewis. And some excerpts regarding these internet influencers, which of course he made way before the internet was invented:
Lewis foresees two deadly consequences in this exchange of natural law and traditional virtue for man-made values. The first is that this “power will be enormously increased” such that “the man-molders of the new age will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique.”
These powers and scientific techniques are in play in the 21st century, and though we may shake with laughter at the notion of our federal government as omnicompetent, there are people hard at work in our Capitol trying to make it omnipotent.
The second consequence Lewis dubs even more significant. The traditional practice of handing the Tao from one generation to the next, of “old birds teaching young birds to fly,” will give way to Conditioners, “who know how to produce conscience and decide what kind of conscience they will produce.” He goes on, “The Conditioners, then, are to choose what kind of artificial Tao they will, for their own good reasons, produce in the Human race.”
Though he recognizes that some men and women hope that these Conditioners will be benevolent, Lewis has his doubts, unable to think of “one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, had used that power benevolently.”
[internet influencers]
I’ve seen some “internet influencers” (not like this) and consider it stupidity on steroids.
While there are occasional cooking, etc. videos, I’ve seen them virtually take over a person’s life and they do nothing but watch the same thing, over and over, day after day, even year after year. I couldn’t believe it.
And yes, I think it does real damage, if they’re rooted in some worldly agenda.