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Echo Chambers, Court Jesters, and Chamber Pots
- Fr. Deo Camon, LPT, PhD
- Dec 5, 2020
- 2 min read
Just for light reading.
What is the connection between echo chambers, court jesters, and chamber pots (arinola)? Read on if you want to know.
During the months of March, April, and May 2020, I spent my entire waking hours stuck to my computer.
I took online classes from Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education, which strained my budget since the tuition fees ran to several thousand (dollars!). Five months later, I am still paying for it!
If I am not straining my pocket, I am straining my eyes watching movies on YouTube. I spent my day watching Chinese movies, sometimes I even dreamt in Chinese!
In the end, China will win, indeed.
Those months offered me an interesting learning experience because I discovered what “echo chambers” are.
Every time I opened my YouTube account, I noticed that it would display movies and shows with the same genre as the shows I am currently watching.
It was fun at first. Then I realized that even in my FB account, the ads would show items that I clicked or checked out due to curiosity.
So, when I was looking for air purifiers, my social media accounts were flooded with advertisements for air purifiers! When I bought an ionizer, online marketers also flooded me with ionizers!
These are “echo chambers.”
We are feed with thoughts, ideas, and visuals that we like. Mind you; it is not only in social media that we have echo chambers.
This is possible because the algorithms of social media are based on human psychology.
Humans surround themselves with people who would “echo” what they want to hear. The algorithm is just supplying what these individuals want to hear and see.
Echo chambers are not only done by algorithms but more often provided by people for others.
How about court jesters?
These are the entertainers of monarchs and noblemen who would make themselves as fools in exchange for a livelihood.
They would do whatever the powerful would ask them to do, like stand on their heads, set themselves on fire, or feed themselves swords.
How about chamber pots (arinola)?
In the court of the French Sun King, Louis XIV, in Versailles, this absurdity is brought to its climax. Nobles were vying against each other to hold the king’s chamber pot (arinola)!
They would have a “procession,” carrying the chamber pot with the king’s fresh s____ (you know what) inside it, around the magnificent Palace of Versailles.
This is to show to the entire court that he who is holding the king’s s_____ (you know what) is the most favored! (Laugh out loud).
Why are these “noblemen” doing this?
Well, the answer is simple: those who hold the king’s s____ also share in the king’s power and wealth. So, almost everyone wants to carry the king’s s____ in procession!
So, what is the connection between echo chambers, court jesters, and chamber pots? Your answer is as good as mine.
(Picture shows one of the public latrines in ancient Ephesus)
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