In light of everything happening in the media recently. Not just the past couple years but much more recently, I feel a need to write. As a hetero white male, I know that there is a lot going on that doesn't directly affect me. Still, everything that goes on that doesn't directly affect me, directly affects someone I know and care about in some way.
This isn't a red vs blue thing. This isn't a religion vs science thing. This is a human thing. Every day, every single person on this planet, yes all 7,530,000,000 of us have problems we are struggling with. Anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.
What certain groups of people must endure on a daily basis may not have changed in the last 100 plus years, (it should have changed but has not) the advent of media, to social media and the internet has brought that much more attention to these issues that should have long since changed. The more attention it garners the worse we perceive the problem to be. It doesn't matter if statistically, the problem hasn't increased in a quantifiable way, what matters is the perception that it is worsening.
And the issue with all this becomes when someone wants so desperately to have more fame, more money, more attention that they play off the marginalized group this person already belongs to and tries to exploit that. Such actions do nothing to help his community gain acceptance. His actions do nothing to point out hatred from the other side. His actions do nothing to bring the separated communities closer together. All his actions have done is deepen a divide of mistrust from the right. A mistrust that, while may have been misplaced for whatever reason, now has a basic foundation to grow on.
His actions helped only one person out. His actions didn't help a community. His actions didn't hurt those he was hoping to hurt. His actions gave him more attention. His actions gave him more face time on computers and television in the worst possible way. And that is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life - The steps backward he forced entire movements to make.
So why I am saying all this? The red vs blue, the right vs left, the religious fanatics vs those aligned with reason and science bring enough hate into the world. There are enough people out there who refuse to admit when they are wrong which only feeds misdirected anger and aggression. There are enough people out there who, sometimes for no reason at all, hate others. What we don't need in this world are keyboard trolls stoking the fires. Whatever point they are trying to make while inflaming a tender situation is missed while everyone tries to extinguish the fire. We don't need anyone from any side staging attacks against themselves and blaming those they are angry with. It doesn't highlight the intended cause - it only hurts it.
What we need, now more than ever, is people to think before reacting. People who think through their actions and what it could possibly do to everyone around them before they act or speak. What we need is for people to act with decency toward one another. Not because some religion tells you to. Not because it is polite or some societal norm. But to act with kindness and humanity because we all struggle. Because being kind costs you nothing. Being nice for the sake of it is free and can help lessen the struggle of someone around you. Every single one of us struggles every day. Life is hard enough already. We don't need fakes nightly news reports to remind us of that.
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