The awful truth about the world today is that tragedies are becoming almost common. We've developed a kind of rhythm for reacting to them and it's not helpful. The tragedy occurs and suddenly, increasingly, it's the only thing that matters.
The news becomes a 24-hour cycle of reporting on the scene, about the victims and their lives and about the perpetrator. Huge events are relegated to the ticker at the bottom of the screen and all else is forgotten. Public responses are expected from every public figure and if no statement of support is made to the world, they're vilified.
Social media explodes with support and now people change their profile pictures. Political calls go up about laws and restrictions that we need and backlash inevitably ensues. Keyboard warriors take up arms and share or like those things that they agree with while ignoring anything that might be even slightly contrary to their view.
People use tragedies as an excuse to argue and vilify and condemn. Even President Obama is guilty of it. It's easy to see why he's tired of taking it lying down, but his sardonic digs at Republican obstructionism are not getting anything done. He's fueling the fire, fanning the flames. Both sides obviously believe that they have the right answers. If you talk to an intelligent Democrat they'll tell you that they think there needs to be restrictions in place that prevent people from doing things that hurt others. It's for safety and protection of the people and it seems like common sense. If you talk to an intelligent Republican, they'll tell you that the more we restrict liberty for security, the closer we get to tyranny. They don't believe in 100 percent freedom to buy and sell guns at a whim, or to parade them around towns and cities in ridiculous gestures that make others uncomfortable.
But there are no intelligent discussions like that on your newsfeed. People simply read a headline and decide right off the bat whether or not they agree and if they do, they may like it, or share it, or even read it. But if they don't, they won't make it to paragraph five, they won't even make it past the first few words. People are becoming increasingly intolerant to different opinions, and the internet makes it easy to demonize and simplify and only read things that make you feel comfortable and that has to change. Many of the arguments that occur on the internet would never occur in real life, because people don't talk that way to each other, but from the safety of their computers, they feel invincible and infallible.
I urge you to start reading things that you disagree with and stop reading things that stroke your ego, or your already-formed opinions. There are lots of ideas out there and just because they contradict doesn't make them wrong. This is a dangerous path that we're heading down into intellectual intolerance, but I have faith we can come back if we all take a little more time to consider things before impulsively sharing an incensing post about how stupid the people we disagree with are.
