RIP Xiexier (4-9-2007 to 13-5-2021)

 

Xiexier left his alternate reality on 13^th May 2021. Xiexier was a teen in human terms so why does this unlamented departure deserve a blog post?

Because Xiexier was my alter ego on Facebook. Yes, I had a Facebook avatar. And I am glad I discarded it. Because it represents a liberation for my soul.

Xiexier happened on planet Facebook back in 2007. FB itself was a 3-year-old toddler, and today’s heavy userbase was just an egg struggling to get into an ovum. Xiexier was attracted to FB’s radical-for-the-times idea of a “social medium”, using the internet to give him the ability to “reconnect with your loved ones”, even across vast distances, by simply writing something on a “wall” (whoever decided to call it a post was obviously a male. Bad pun intended).

Xiexier posted incessantly. Piecemeal thoughts. Greetings. Queries on someone’s wellbeing. Random stuff about literally anything that tickled Xiexier’s fancy, or thought would interest his cousin’s wife’s sister’s long lost school friend. Facebook allowed Xiexier to not only find out what happened to his school flame, but also allowed him to poke fun at her current mate. It allowed Xiexier to enter a new reality where friends and families of his friends and families became his friends and families.

It also was a place where Xiexier shared his greatest highs, his deepest griefs and just occasionally the unbearable lightness of being. For FB was a digital Speaker's Corner where everyone got a chance to express freely and without fear.

Over time the ease of posting and the impact it had on impressionable minds made FB a propaganda tool to influence thoughts and opinions to good and bad agendas. It became a vaguely evil manifestation of man's ability to speak with a forked tongue. 

Xiexier had always used FB more as a graffiti wall - an outlet for random bursts of colourful stuff. It was never a serious source of anything for him. But the stuff on his wall became increasingly fractious. He started seeing new and not particularly pleasant shades of people whom he thought he knew very well. It became an evil mirror which showed man’s natural face and mortified Xiexier. He had to come out of this alternativist situation.

Xiexier stopped posting and ignored FB for a long time. And found he didn't miss it. But then neither did FB miss him - the mammoth propagator of likes just barreled on, disdainful of the many discarded emoticons it left in its wake!

Last month Xiexier notified Mark’s Minions of his wish to discontinue his alternate reality. On 13^th May his wish was fulfilled.

The great sage Baxicius said, “Man Who Leave Facebook RIP – Rest In Posts”. So, RIP Xiexier.