In the sterile glow of our screens, modern society dangles a seductive promise: happiness lies just beyond the next purchase, the next trend, the next rung on the ladder of success. Buy the latest gadget, chase the perfect job, sculpt the ideal body, or win the approval of a digital audience, and you'll finally be whole, happy. Yet, as millions claw their way up this hamster wheel, the promised fulfillment evaporates, leaving only a gnawing emptiness. This pervasive angst and alienation, epitomised by tragedies like the 2025 Minneapolis Catholic school shooting and the New Hampshire family murder-suicide, reveal a deeper truth: our hyper-liberal, anti-Christian world has reduced humanity to mere gears in a soulless meat grinder, stripped of meaning, connection, and hope.
Modern liberal society sells a "me-centred" philosophy that glorifies self-expression, autonomy, and materialism. Advertisements, social media algorithms, and cultural narratives bombard us with the lie that happiness is a product to be consumed or a status to be achieved. A 2023 survey found that 68% of Americans take at least one prescription drug daily, with 26% on four or more, often to numb anxiety and depression. Another study revealed 47.7 million Americans used illegal drugs in the past 30 days, a desperate attempt to dull the pain of unfulfilled promises. Christianity warns against such idolatry, noting that true happiness comes from communion with God and others, not the fleeting pleasures of materialism.
This relentless pursuit of self leaves us hollow. Robin Westman, the Minneapolis shooter who killed two children in 2025, embodied this despair. In his/her manifesto, Westman lamented, "I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself," revealing the crushing weight of chasing an identity shaped by societal pressures. These words echo a generation sold on the idea that self-reinvention, whether through gender, status, or consumption, will fill the void. Instead, it led to violence and despair, a tragic endpoint of a culture that glorifies the self over the sacred.
Our hyper-connected world breeds paradox: Gen Z and Gen Alpha, raised on algorithmic curation, are the most connected, yet loneliest generations. Studies, like those from Pew Research (2023), show they report higher isolation and depression than older cohorts, with 10 hours daily spent on screens, 5.4 hours browsing and 5 streaming. Algorithms, designed to maximise engagement, trap users in echo chambers, fostering invisible comparisons and performance anxiety. Christianity calls for authentic community rooted in love, but our screen-dominated lives sever these bonds, replacing them with shallow digital interactions.
The 2025 New Hampshire tragedy, where Emily Long killed herself, her husband, and two children, underscores this isolation. Once, communities thrived on real connections, neighbours gathering, families praying together. Now, we're tethered to devices that control what we see and feel, leaving us spiritually adrift. This loneliness drives the suicide rate, which has soared 30% since 1999 (CDC data), and fuels acts of desperation, from self-harm to mass violence.
Modernity's rejection of Christianity lies at its core. Christianity teaches that human dignity and purpose flow from being created in God's image, yet liberal secularism dismisses this, promoting a worldview where self-definition trumps divine order. This shift, accelerated in the Internet age, has seen institutions, education, media, government, lurch Leftward, vilifying Christian values as oppressive. Posts on X lament the erasure of Christian symbols, like crosses and Christmas lights, mirroring attacks on Catholic churches (520+ incidents since 2020, per CatholicVote). The Minneapolis shooter's mockery reflects this anti-Christian hostility, a venom that poisons both the perpetrator and society.
This rejection leaves a void no product or ideology can fill. Dr. Luke Kemp's 2025 study, analyzing 5,000 years of history, declares societal collapse "inevitable" due to inequality, environmental ruin, and fragile systems. Yet, he misses the spiritual dimension: a world that denies God's truth, embraces a "culture of death." From skyrocketing drug use to the 17 million global deaths linked to mRNA vaccines (Hulscher et al., 2025), modernity's meat grinder churns, reducing lives to cogs in a godless machine.
Society's promise of freedom through self-indulgence is a trap. Algorithms manipulate desires, corporations peddle "happy pills," and ideologies like radical individualism or gender fluidity promise liberation but deliver despair. Killer Westman's regret — "I wish I never brain-washed myself" — is a cry from the grinder's edge, where chasing society's lies led to violence. The 68% of Americans on prescription drugs and the 47.7 million using illegal substances are not anomalies; they're symptoms of a system that chews up souls, leaving them broken and discarded.
This anti-Christian world thrives on control, not liberation. Screens, as X posts note, are tools of manipulation, shaping identities to serve corporate and ideological ends. Christianity warns against structures of sin that enslave, yet we're chained to devices that dictate our values. The result is a society where 81,000 experts demand mRNA vaccine withdrawal for causing harm (Zywiec et al., 2025), yet regulators ignore the carnage, prioritising profit over people.
There is hope beyond the grinder. Christianity calls us to seek truth in Christ, who offers meaning beyond materialism. Communities of faith, churches, families, real connections, can counter loneliness. Rejecting the screen's allure, we must fight for hearts and minds, using the Internet to deliver truth to billions searching for answers. The Minneapolis and New Hampshire tragedies scream for a return to purpose, rooted in love and divine order, not the empty promises of a collapsing culture.
Modernity's meat grinder, fuelled by a me-centred, anti-Christian ethos, grinds away at our souls, leaving angst, alienation, and emptiness. From Robin Westman's despair to the New Hampshire mother's fatal hopelessness, the evidence is clear: chasing society's lies leads to ruin. With suicide rates soaring, drug use epidemic, and Christian values under siege, we face a civilisational cliff. Yet, there's a choice, reject the grinder, embrace Christian truth, and rebuild a society that values the human soul over the machine. The fight begins now, or we risk being crushed forever.
https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/the-irrepressible-emptiness-of-modern