Please Don’t Be Stupid or A Fool or A Stupid Fool, Again!

 

Social media has its perks and its downfalls. One of those perks and downfalls is the ability to make money from your social media presence as an “Influencer.” An “Influencer” is someone who has thousands and even millions of followers across the popular social media outlets of Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and X—formerly known as Twitter. People become influencers for a number of reasons; some are talented, some are not. Some are being themselves; most are not. Some are fashionistas, look gorgeous, they’re bloggers, vloggers, they may do pranks, give advice, provide cooking demonstrations and recipes, perform skits or do silly things or have outlandish behavior. The majority of influencers are between 16-35, with the bulk of them being in their early to late 20s. Many influencers make thousands to millions each month or annually based on their viewership, making appearances at various events, and their ability to brand the latest products. Not bad, right! Therefore, with their newfound fame and a bump in the tax bracket, many find they have so much disposable income without the practicality that this money may run its course at some point. However, before that happened, many were in a mad dash to be a part of the latest fad/trend.

In 2017, a guy by the name of Billy McFarland—a “businessman,” who came up with a genius idea to create a festival on a private island in the Bahamas, very similar to other festivals such as Burning Man and Coachella. The difference with this festival was this promoted luxury accommodation and food on the beach as the events would go on all day and night without interruption. Many celebrities, athletes, musicians, and influencers promoted the event. Over 5,000 tickets were sold with the hopes eventgoers would hob-knob with their favorite celebrities and influencers. Influencers anticipated they would be in the mix of the hottest event for the year. The event was such a grossly disastrous fraud, Netflix and Hulu decided to make documentaries about the crime. McFarland did six years in prison and was fined for $26 million and the lawsuits sought damages well into $100 million dollars.

Fast forward to 2025. Billy da Kid just can’t get enough of a bad thing. In 2023, McFarland’s X account stated there would be a Fyre Festival 2 happening for a proposed date for the end of 2024 in Honduras. In February 2024, McFarland detailed the festival is slated for 2025. In April, there were four places being considered to host the event. Wait, what? I thought it was Honduras? On the Today show, (why would they invite him?), McFarland specified the festival’s date is May 2025 in Cancun. Without confirmation, this already seems fishy. But why would the leopard keep the same spots? Have we arrived at a place in society that even con artists themselves are gullible? Maybe this explains why we have Donald Trump as President...AGAIN! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I'm just a damn stupid fool.

We’re more focused on fame and fortune than fortitude and intelligence. We’ve come so far to drop-off in the shallow end of the pool—cesspool of civilization. Regrettably, our eyes are glazed over with vanity and greed that we fall for the shiny apple without question. Get rich quick schemes like being an influencer can be a positive position if utilized correctly, but the rhetoric we’ve placed subjective meaning on money has influenced others to commit fraud in the hopes of capturing a permanent feeling in the fleeting sensation of empowered, envy, invincible, and in control of one’s destiny. We become easy marks and easily susceptible to our own victimization when we worship the delusion of power by means of the mighty dollar without really connecting to ourselves and finding the real power in relationships, love, growth, mutual respect, knowledge, wisdom, positive energy, and kindness—that’s the real fulfilment, influence, and wealth. Emptiness is like the first Fyre Festival, an expensive journey to delusion and chaos.