Clowns.  Caricatures brought to life with exaggerated smiles painted on their faces whilst wearing colorfully oversized costumes.  Literal sideshow animations who outwardly project humor while performing comical antics and stunts that are meant to make others laugh, meanwhile inwardly they themselves may or may not be laughing.  Aerialists who swing through the air and balance on highwires while bravely performing death-dying acts, sometimes even with no net to catch them if they fall.  Wild safari animals, who have been trained to walk around in circles on their hind legs and leap through rings of fire all while being whipped into submission and compliance as they are goaded and provoked by their daring handlers.  The dazzling and bewildering sleight of hand of magicians who pull tricks out of hats and then, to both the horror and delight of the audience, stunningly split their scantily-clad assistant in half at the torso with a large saw, or just make her disappear altogether.  And in the center, the ringleader who vociferously introduces the sometimes shocking, but always spectacular, acts to a crowd of eager spectators.  All together providing approximately two hours of entertainment on a round stage inside a large tent.  Welcome to the circus.  Or at least that’s what the circus used to look like.  Over time it has come under fire for various reasons, not the least of which being the gross mistreatment and cruelty towards animals.  Now when we capture wildlife, we just entrap them inside large enclosures, create stages that mimic their natural habitats, and we call that the zoo.  Millions of tickets sold each year to see wild animals wandering around behind protective glass in an otherwise unnatural setting for the purpose of providing entertainment to children of all ages.  Entertainment.  Over a long expanse of time and years, it would seem that many things have changed, while one thing has remained decidedly steadfast, and that is a profound need to be endlessly entertained.   Today we don’t really need to bother going to the zoo and buy tickets to see wild animals as they pace and perform inside protected enclosures.  In fact, we no longer need to leave our homes at all because we now have the internet and ‘social media’ which does not necessarily involve purchasing a ticket to witness never-ending performances, but, as we have quickly learned, it does come at a cost.  Nothing is free while it would seem that cheap is doubtlessly expensive.  William Shakespeare famously said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”   And no truer words have ever been spoken, however, those who graced the world stage in the 16th century likely could have never imagined how far and wide that stage really stretches.  Enter the main act, social media, who completely infiltrated a stage that has no visible exit points allowing it a permanent role in all current and future performances.   All the world is now literally just one big giant stage and there are a lot of players.    Ironically, and with the common goal to stand out and be different, all of the players have become exactly the same.   As we shapeshift and transform ourselves into as many different characters as needed in order to earn the globally-recognized signal of reinforcement which is a happy face or a thumbs-up or maybe even a heart if we really like something.  It would seem that the circus train, otherwise known as social media, has arrived with no scheduled date of departure.    As Shakespeare said, “What’s done cannot be undone.”   So, if that’s true and it cannot be undone, then what actually constitutes entertainment these days?  The answer has to be everything, while ‘anything goes’ has taken on an entirely new meaning.  Some social media platforms are obviously more popular than others, but they all generally serve similar purposes.  Purposes that are inherently misnomers due in large part to the inarguable fact that the distribution content is more often than not a perpetuation of lies and false representations.   Through no fault of his own, Shakespeare’s “We have seen better days” is an absolute underestimation that doesn’t even skim the surface.  With participation at an all-time high, and increasing exponentially, we are no longer merely spectators who are in the audience watching revolving performances unfold, because we are all now storming the stage and ruthlessly competing for the lead role.  Social media has quickly become equivalent to rubbernecking as we slowly drive by a car accident to see something that we know we will later try to unsee, but we look anyway.  As we cover our eyes with our hands and peek through our spread fingers so as not to miss any part of the spellbinding show, while we impatiently wait for an opportunity to jump out from behind our unveiled curtain and participate.  As we fabricate our personal stories in order to create the plot twists and cliffhangers that keep our audience (also referred to as our ‘friends’ and ‘followers’) interested, leaving them no choice but to come back for more.  Shakespeare said, “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”  With the benefit of a limitless stage, in our own right, we have all seamlessly become actors, authors and playwrights creating fictional characters as we unabashedly participate in our own manufactured realities.  21st century purveyors of willful fraud, lies and tomfoolery conducted primarily behind the safety of a small protective glass screen.   Shakespeare said, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  Which might actually be better tolerated and more palatable if we were talking about just an hour of strutting and fretting upon the stage.  But it has become abundantly clear …