People can be outright inhumane
I know, that's hard to believe, but people can be some of the cruelest, harshest beings ever, especially with "anonymity" of the internet. People are now free to say whatever they want, without any consequences, right?Wrong.
The Internet has a voice, and it has power. This voice is not always the nicest or most intelligent, however.For example, I was reading an article on a news blog about a guy who accidentally shot his girlfriend's kid and killed him. This is atrocious and awful, but suddenly the comments have already jumped to controlling gun rights and everything like that. Another one was upset that the guys family was defending him.
Seriously?
Of course the guy's family is going to defend him. They're his family, and they have his side of the story. These people are already judging based entirely on what the report said, and it didn't have the full information. It was all one sided and the blog post was clearly judging the guy. They judged him as guilty of murdering a child, when it was probably an accident. The child was sitting on his lap and pretending to shoot his "fingergun." The guy didn't realize his gun was loaded and accidently pulled the trigger. Therefore, this isn't murder, as he didn't plan on shooting the kid. However, the Internet doesn't seem to care about this detail.The Call
Here's where I'm going to ask something of you, oh faithful few subscribers. I am going to ask you in joining the good fight. Our world is plagued with misinformation, rumors, and people judging on sight. I am going to ask you to try to do one of the hardest things ever. Do not judge, unless you have the full story. It is hard, and I know this as well as anyone else. Throughout school, I was judged wrong, without the chance to defend myself. We as a people are quick to judge, but we don't have to be. We can learn to ask questions and find the full story. It is possible.If we all can take a few steps back, get the full story, then maybe this wasteland of a world in which we find ourselves can maybe, slowly, come around and be good, wholesome place in which to live.
As it stands, it is scary, gruesome, and waiting for you to screw up, so that it may judge you for the failure that you are.
Until next time,
R
Quite a provocative post, Ryan. I do think it is a difficult example you are trying to make. I understand the point of not leaping to conclusions when reading receiving news from an obviously biased news source (chances are the blog only picked up the story to rail against guns), but as a society are we not meant to judge a father who lets a child play with a loaded gun without the safety on as not fit for our ideals? What about a father who accidentally sets a child on a lit stove? Or even just forgets to buckle a child in a car seat? These are all actions that are judged by society and there is very little defense against these actions.
ReplyDeleteThe point I had been trying to make was people were quickly jumping to conclusions or trying to take this story for their own uses, and people weren't discussing about how it happened. They were blaming the guns or calling for the guy to be killed without a trial. They didn't have the full story, and I could tell that by looking at the article. The post didn't have any quotes from the guy at all, so his side wasn't shared.
DeleteThe guy's going have to live with the knowledge that he killed the kid, and that's pretty harsh as it is.
The point is, they were calling him a murderer and basically the anti-Christ, not an idiot who didn't treat the gun like it was loaded, which it was.
I see cases like this everywhere, where people take one piece of information out of the whole, a moment where they aren't in the best light, and that becomes the new definition, if you will, of the person. One tiny moment becomes the defining point of their lives, and it may not always be the best moment. It's just not right.
I'm glad to see the two of you in civil discourse!
ReplyDeleteDr C