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| Puppies for peace! |
Another school shooting, the 74th since Newtown in 2012 (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/troutdale-oregon-home-latest-us). And, didn't two people walk into a pizza parlor just last week and shoot two policeman point blank? We ask why? Why so many? Why so young?
My sister, the therapist, told me that researchers are looking into the impact that Social Media is having in teenage suicide.... that Facebook memorials to teen deaths may actually trigger others to do the same in an attempt to be memorialized.
Hate/Anger/Rage... Have we become a nation unable to think critically, to assess fact from fiction? Have we become so passionate about a belief that we're willing to post without researching the truth? And, why do our beliefs have to be be encased in hate? Or violence?
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You're right... this is America and you have the right to free speech. I applaud that! And I do not judge...
Social Media has made it so easy to promote some thought or a message. Some of that is very good. What is very wrong , is the level of hate/anger/violence in some of your messages and this is what I deplore. You don't get to wish people harm... You don't get to promote killing! That is where I draw the line.
Think first, research and understand the context of what you promote.
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| Pretty please? |
Think first, research, understand the context of what you want to promote AND then, do it in a thoughtful, peaceful manner. Promote peace not violence. Strike out against the hate before everything else...
Sigh... I hope my angry driver made it home safely... I did.
7 comments:
If the media would stop announcing their names, there would be no fame for them. I agree with your rant.
Finally, some common sense.
I think the media, whether it's the news, FB, blogs, or whatever, really is just a symptom of a greater ill. We need to remember that this is the country that sold human beings at auction, shipping them in from another country when the indigenous people here died to quickly when used as slaves. This is the country where we passed out blankets contaminated with small pox to kill off the Indians, and paid men to commit wholesale slaughter of the buffalo in order to "Tame the West." This is the country where the KKK ruled the south for more than a century, and where that tradition is still holding strong. This is the country where we are still arguing about paying women the same as men at the same job, and where 1 in 3 women will be raped in her lifetime. This is the country where 1 in 3 girls are sexually assaulted before the age of twelve, and 1 in 6 boys suffer the same thing.
I wish we could point to one thing and say this is what we need to change in order to fix the violence and rage that fuels our anger, but I think that would be way to simplistic. We need to change how we raise our sons, what we value in our relationships, and how we interact with one another in every interaction we have.
As equestrians, we learn that each moment is about control, about coordinating movement along our entire body to elicit the exact movement we desire from our horse. We need to apply that to all aspects of our lives. And when we have a situation that frustrates us, we need to reach for an emotion that is something other than anger.
It would also help if we could figure out that letting someone in on the highway will not make us a loser, will not ruin our day, and will not make us any later than we already are.
I'm glad you are safe. Peace
It is so disheartening and I don't see things getting better anytime soon. We often get so caught up in our "right" to think this or do that that often there is no room for being humble and actually listening. We don't know how to respectfully disagree and when someone disagrees with our beliefs we take it so personally. I know I'm guilty of these things most of the time without realizing it because it can be hidden in humor and sometimes it has become so ingrained we don't even recognize it.
I blame the media too - specifically the internet - and the total free for all for information and hate. The internet is great if you want to look up horse care advice, but what if you are a hard core anti government psycho looking for some friends? Easy too...before the internet these people would have to meet face to face...rarely would that happen.
Things are changing, it's scary....and not for the better.
You know, I was thinking about this just this morning as I drove to the barn (snarling and gnashing my teeth at everyone I deemed a bad driver) while I listened to the BBC News and could not believe the number of atrocities in various countries. I mean, the level of violence in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Columbia, Syriah, Brazil -- serioulsy, WTF is going on? Where did people lose the basic moral compass that points to right versus wrong? When did it become okay to kill someone because they disagreed with you, or use any other kind of violence just because their values/religion/sexuality/gender doesn't align with yours? I mean, yeah, I have moments where I wish I had an Inspector Gadjet car and could shove other drivers off the road or blow them up, and then immediately after that I feel guilty because they have a family that would be devastated if I blew them up. That is my point -- I entertain the fantasy of ridding my world of someone who irks me, but my mental editors (god bless them, they have a difficult job!) tell me this is inappropriate and push me towards more rational action. Did the media do all of this? Did socila media. I don't know that I buy that. It's a piece of the puzzle, sure, but not the causative root. Anyway, great post - very thought provoking.
Glad you all didn't kick me off the island... I do think that critical thinking/analysis is dying in the US. We see something, hear something and we believe it to be true without question... And the most strident of believers tend to have more air time in our sensationalist society, this more influence.
Well, I'm doing my part by commenting.... Not necessarily about the content but the energy behind it.
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