The Echo Chamber

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse … whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. Proverbs 2:12,15

The first video of Lucas’s that went viral was an accident. He made a sincere and humorous review of a superhero movie and woke up to fifty thousand new views. The dopamine hit of recognition was instant and addictive. In a short time, his channel, “Straight Talk,” became his main occupation. He was a young man who loved pop culture, but who also valued kindness, hope, and honest debate.

His path began to change the day he was invited for a collaboration on the podcast “Deconstruct,” hosted by Kael, an influencer famous for his acidic humor and his contempt for anything considered “traditional.” Kael was the king of controversy, a master at saying perverse things with a charming smile.

“Lucas, my dear, you’re talented. But you’re… too nice,” Kael said, backstage. “Nobody wants to see honesty. It doesn’t sell. People want to see the circus catch fire. They want you to destroy, to ridicule. That’s where the engagement is.”

Kael and his circle were the embodiment of the proverb. They had left the paths of intellectual honesty to walk in the darkness of cynicism. For them, there was no truth, only narratives. There was no beauty, only something to be ridiculed. Their paths were crooked, and they rejoiced in doing evil, finding pleasure in the perversity of their words.

Seduced by the promise of more followers and advertising deals, Lucas began to change. Gradually, “Straight Talk” became “Crooked Talk.” He started making videos attacking other creators, using irony as a weapon. He began to ridicule films that promoted values he once defended, calling them “naive” and “problematic.” He became an echo of Kael.

The growth was exponential. The numbers climbed, the contracts appeared. He moved into a luxury apartment, started attending exclusive parties, and became part of Kael’s inner circle. But away from the cameras, something was dying inside him.

Conversations with his family became minefields.

“Son, that video was cruel,” his mother said after he had “deconstructed” the work of a young female artist. “That’s not what we taught you.”

“Mom, you don’t understand. It’s the game,” he would reply, impatiently.

His girlfriend, Ana, who had loved him for his original kindness, began to pull away.

“I don’t recognize you anymore, Lucas. You find happiness in being malicious. It seems like you have found joy in… being contrary.”

Ana’s sentence haunted him. He was, in fact, becoming that. He and Kael would spend hours laughing at their own venomous “zingers,” celebrating the “cancellations” they provoked. He was on a dark path, but the glare of the spotlight kept him from seeing the darkness.

The turning point came unexpectedly. The young artist he had ridiculed posted a video in response. She did not attack him. With teary eyes, she simply explained how much her work meant to her, how it was a tribute to her deceased grandmother, and how the wave of hatred that Lucas’s video had generated had led her into a deep depression.

Watching that video, alone in his expensive, empty apartment, Lucas felt the weight of his perverse words. He saw the real damage behind the engagement numbers. This was not a “game.” This was someone’s life.

He looked around. The life he had built over the last few months seemed like a sham. It was a stage built on the pain and humiliation of others. He remembered who he was before he met Kael: a young man who found joy in sharing what he loved, not in destroying what others loved.

That night, he did something he had not done in a long time. He prayed. He no longer asked for more success or followers. He asked for deliverance. Deliverance from himself, from the man he had become.

The next day, he posted a new video. No cuts, no jokes, no irony. Just him, looking at the camera, with a downcast face.

“I was wrong,” he said. “I lost my way. I let the search for relevance lead me to a dark and cruel place. I want to ask for forgiveness.”

He lost thousands of followers in that hour. Kael and his circle ridiculed him publicly, calling him weak and a hypocrite. But, for the first time in months, Lucas felt that he was returning to the light, to the right path. The road back was lonely and difficult, but he knew, with a certainty he had not felt in a long time, that it was the only path worth walking.

(Made with AI)

This story is part of my book Everyday Wisdom

https://books2read.com/u/3knogL