Everything and nothing online are what you want them to be and the total opposite all at once.
Though the philosophical salad of words which opened this article may seem nonsensical it does make sense the more one digs into it. Opponents of a political figure will refuse to accept reality because what they believe about the person “seems to be truer” than facts, people think virality is synonymous with accuracy and we recently saw this play out at the Miami International Airport.
Before I explain, I want to note I am writing about this with time passed so as to not be mistaken for someone who would defend such behaviour by insane ideologues and nor do I want to be seen as someone who is a fan of racist language. Neither are ever acceptable and now with this exertion out of the way I can encourage whomever reads this to click on the video in the next line;
This opened a clip in which a man goes on a temper tantrum in public. It is one a person with a darker skin color would never be permitted to do, had him pegged as an anti-masker online and yet few seemed to notice more unfortunate aspects of the story. He was “intoxicated”, had gotten into a “physical fight with his girlfriend” and was later identified by media as a veteran in crisis.
We talk a lot about showing kindness towards the mentally ill, indigent and different but the bottom line is it was not something done by the vast majority of online people in this case. Yes, you can critique behaviour and should, but not adding context like the tweet above still has not as of this piece being filed also does not help anyone. What are we doing to each other, the communities we call home and the unfortunate when we shoot words and forget to aim them?
I hope this man is well and is getting the aid he needs. It is unfortunate one of his worst moments has been immortalized online for all eternity and is equally awful we have all played it for laughs and a means to demonize one group or another without considering his deeper issues at play. Again, I am not defending what was done here, but let’s all learn to care just a little bit more.
I mean, a kind society is a really good society, right?
Top image via Twitter
Evan J. Pretzer 