Not in the sense of supernatural entities, but in natural superhuman entities, sometimes called egregores. Egregores are made up out of people, but aren’t people. They aren’t controlled by a personality, but by a sort of zeitgeist of vague desires and hatreds.

I bring this up because I’ve noticed we’ve created a modern-day version of an ancient, if minor, sort of deity. In old stories, often times a king, witch or (in some religious texts) god himself would travel in disguise among normal people. In these stories, the wicked were punished and the righteous rewarded because they HAPPENED to interact with a powerful entity. If god notices you, suddenly the consequences for your actions, whether you’re good or bad, are magnified a thousandfold.

Nowadays, we call this kind of entity The Media. Instead of an individual entity roaming among the people, it’s a massively distributed system. But it still has very limited attention: It can’t notice EVERYONE. So what we get is not especially beneficent do-gooders getting a news spot and being rewarded by hugely increased donations. We also get individual villains who, however petty their acts, get dramatically and publicly punished by being noticed by the media. But much like Zeus and women, the media is mercurial and easily distracted. After the public retribution bestowed by the god for angering or pleasing it, it soon moves on somewhere else, to reward the beauty of a Narcissus or to punish an Arachne for her hubris.

Unfortunately, much like the gods and witches of old, the media has its own set of desires, morals, and hatreds. These may or may not be what you think of as Good. And so we have to be careful when in public or with a stranger, to act according to the dictates of this god, to never insult the King, or we might get punished for it. On the other hand, if you’re a righteous servant of the media, you can call out in prayer to it, and try to get its attention via mass protests and open letters. Of course, sometimes getting on the good side of Zeus puts you on the bad side of Hera. As a wise man once said, “ This is the story of a time long ago – a time of myth and legend. When the ancient gods were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering, only one man dared to challenge their power – Hercules. “

