You know what's annoying?
People.
People and the Internet.
Mostly people on the the Internet.
We are all crisis-mongers anymore. It's like we're happy to see a mass murder or a botched abortion, as if the horrors we purport to oppose bring us a twisted sort of glee.
We're all capitalists--we're quick to capitalize on a crisis! Like ferocious felines we crouch, ready to pounce, always eager to exploit pain and tears.
School shooting--20 dead!
The virtue signaling and political maneuvering pervade social media for about three days. After that we forget and go back to watching Game of Thrones and eating bonbons (what, I ask, is a bonbon?).
We decry Donald Trump because CNN showed us a smug kid wearing a MAGA hat (but, surprise, surprise...there was more to the story).
We attack blacks, gays, and liberals because some black, gay, liberal actor staged a hate crime.
We denounce Antivaxxers because some kids in New York got the measles (Heaven forbid!).
We divide and hate and draw lines in the sand because the media feeds us an us-vs-them narrative.
We call for legislation because Uncle Sam is our Lord and Savior.
We ignore the fact that essentially every single belief system and cultural movement in the history of the world has had its fair share of rotten apples. Every single idea has been taken too far by someone.
In this respect, Democrats are no better than Republicans, Christians are no better than atheists, and Vaxxers are no better than Antivaxxers. We all jump on a story that makes our ideological opponents look bad.
The reality of life is that sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes bad people do bad things. Sometimes all we can do is mourn with those who mourn and weep with those that weep.
There are real problems in the world. There are moral absolutes. There are rights and wrongs and movements that demonstrate patterns of destructive behavior. There are valid points for discussion that we as a society should address, but it's hardly productive to condemn automatically anyone who has anything in common with some guy who just shot up a school.
Before you exploit the next crisis or scandal for sociopolitical ends, just don't.
People.
People and the Internet.
Mostly people on the the Internet.
We are all crisis-mongers anymore. It's like we're happy to see a mass murder or a botched abortion, as if the horrors we purport to oppose bring us a twisted sort of glee.
We're all capitalists--we're quick to capitalize on a crisis! Like ferocious felines we crouch, ready to pounce, always eager to exploit pain and tears.
School shooting--20 dead!
The virtue signaling and political maneuvering pervade social media for about three days. After that we forget and go back to watching Game of Thrones and eating bonbons (what, I ask, is a bonbon?).
We decry Donald Trump because CNN showed us a smug kid wearing a MAGA hat (but, surprise, surprise...there was more to the story).
We attack blacks, gays, and liberals because some black, gay, liberal actor staged a hate crime.
We denounce Antivaxxers because some kids in New York got the measles (Heaven forbid!).
We divide and hate and draw lines in the sand because the media feeds us an us-vs-them narrative.
We call for legislation because Uncle Sam is our Lord and Savior.
We ignore the fact that essentially every single belief system and cultural movement in the history of the world has had its fair share of rotten apples. Every single idea has been taken too far by someone.
In this respect, Democrats are no better than Republicans, Christians are no better than atheists, and Vaxxers are no better than Antivaxxers. We all jump on a story that makes our ideological opponents look bad.
The reality of life is that sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes bad people do bad things. Sometimes all we can do is mourn with those who mourn and weep with those that weep.
There are real problems in the world. There are moral absolutes. There are rights and wrongs and movements that demonstrate patterns of destructive behavior. There are valid points for discussion that we as a society should address, but it's hardly productive to condemn automatically anyone who has anything in common with some guy who just shot up a school.
Before you exploit the next crisis or scandal for sociopolitical ends, just don't.
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