Bonkers

Russian-American vlogger Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, 33, looks demented — grabbing cops’ caps, insulting people, smiling like a loon, and basically showing us how a guy can have 10 million followers on YouTube by playing pranks on people.

Perhaps it is simply because many people are “looney tunes” inside too, just dying to let the “cray-cray” out though they can only ever applaud when others actually do it.

Well, suppose you consider the fact that real loons are out in full force, already up and about with a hold over you, but the world — or at least this country — is determined to cuff only the ones they can.

Some of the loonier ones are far too outrageous to hold off, or hold in, as in no incarceration can limit the power and influence, they have on others.

“Disturbing the peace,” Vitaly titled his vlog, despite “facing three counts of unjust vexation in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act, two cases of theft, and one charge of attempted theft,” according to the Taguig police.

The views will make his account go ka-ching, no doubt, at the expense of Filipino citizens and authorities being mocked.

But of course, the precious clicks and views and those numbers matter to those who have been earning from the content they create. Vitaly’s shtick is pranking, for others it is comedy, for some it’s horror, drama, and there are those who sing and dance.

There are countless ways to go viral, and this is exactly the affliction we face today — the virus of “virality,” spread ever so widely by those looking to escape the drudgery, the pain, the torture of life, and the unreality of today.

Has the world gone mad? We can’t really say — after all, it had been insane as far back as the time of Jesus who was mob-ruled for crucifixion instead of a confessed murderer; or Adolf Hitler, who could order generals to have people reduced to ashes.

In this world, there has been no poverty of pain, no letup from the moon’s loon, no escape from vexations and indignations — not while humans continue to live and not learn.

Today, mob mentality is fed by the proliferation of mis- and dis-information — inciting, if not sedition, then dismay and disorder. The government may investigate all it wants, but the control of one vlogger or a few is no guarantee against the rise of others.

It’s hard to believe anything — or in anything — nowadays. We in the mainstream media must work harder than ever to deliver the truth. It is a struggle indeed when even legitimate coverages are tagged as fake or a sell-out. People will gobble up the misinformation they are fed, the false rumors, the skewed facts. Not many bother to dig for the facts, to ask questions, Google or no Google. That’s the truth.

It seems impossible to get through people’s biases, more so the malice and hate worn proudly like a badge by cynics. And anyone can take a factual report and loudly reject it because, as they say in the movies, “You can’t handle the truth!”

The danger lies in the insidious. We are on the cusp of change so radical we may not be able to grasp the enormity of it. At least it feels that way lately, even though we are cautioned to keep our peace, stay in our counsel, and prevent chaos from spilling out of our chests and into the atmosphere.