It is impossible to read the news feeds on Facebook and Twitter these days without seeing the promiscuous sharing of bumper sticker wisdom, the kind that requires little thinking, but simply reinforces the preconceived notions of the people who feel compelled to share it with their friends.
Sometimes people add a challenge, making a statement and saying, "Share this if you dare," and for some reason the shares multiply like anti-mask people at a Joplin City Council meeting.
So at the risk of offending those of you who consider sharing memes to be your preferred charity, I sifted through a couple of days worth of these golden nuggets of "knowledge," and after chug-a-lugging a pint of Pepto-Bismol, I decided to offer some thoughts in response to give you something to consider.
1. The comparison between the brutal murder of a child and the death of George Floyd due to the actions of a Minneapolis police officer
Basically, commenters were asking why protesters and the media were all upset about the death of a man who had drugs in his system, but not about the brutal murder of a child by a black man.
I won't argue that the death of any child should not be a major story, but please consider this.
The child's alleged killer was arrested and charges filed almost immediately. It was not a matter of wondering if there was going to be any justice in her case.
And her killer was not someone whose job is to protect and serve.
It is the same reason why you read more news stories about teachers, ministers and youth leaders who molest children than when the perpetrators work at a factory or a retail store. These are the people we put in charge of protecting our children.
These things should never happen.
2. Victim shaming
It is astounding to see people sharing every negative detail they can about a man who had someone kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and 42 seconds or a man who was shot in the back seven times.
In the first place, some of the allegations being spread about these men is more than a little suspect, but what does it matter?
It is twisted logic that if you have ever had a brush with the law or if you ever have an illegal drug in your system, you deserve to have seven bullets in the back.
If a police officer's life or someone else's life or safety is being threatened, that is completely different. Lethal force is justified on those occasions.
It reminds me of the dark days when almost any act of sexual violence against a woman could be justified if she had a "bad reputation" or if her skirt was too short.
A crime is a crime no matter who the victim is.
3. Antifa.com
How can anyone be gullible enough to fall for this one?
I have seen people rushing to share their knowledge that if you type the web address antifa.com, you are taken to the Biden-Harris website.
How can anyone think this is legitimate? Someone did it as a joke or as a prank on the Biden-Harris campaign. There is no way the campaign is going to lend any credence to the idea that it is affiliated in some way with Antifa.
Wouldn't it make more sense if there was such a thing as an organized Antifa that it would use its website to provide information about what it does and what it believes?
On Facebook a couple of days ago, I noted that if you type turnerreport.com, it redirects you to the Joplin Globe website. Someone shared that with me a few years back and I thought it was funny and still do.
No one in their right mind thinks I am in league with the Joplin Globe.
The Antifa.com sharing is a bit more insidious. People are buying into it because they fits their preconceived notions and that is troubling.
4. COVID-19 will mysteriously disappear after the election
I suppose there is nothing I can write that make those who share this one reconsider their beliefs. It is going to be with us for a long time to come, whether our next president is the one we have now or Joe Biden.
5. Democrats want everything shut down and the economy to tank so President Trump will look bad
As hard as it is convince Republicans or Democrats the people from the other party are not totally evil, no one, I repeat no one, wants everything shut down, see people losing their jobs and their homes or contracting a deadly virus.
It should also be noted that the Democrats don't need a shutdown or a crippled economy to make President Trump look bad.
They can just leave the president to his own devices.
6. Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter
Some people have a never-ceasing hostility to the name Black Lives Matter and feel compelled to respond with their battle cries of "All Lives Matter" or "Blue Lives Matter."
I don't know of any Black Lives Matter supporters who do not think that all lives do not matter or that the lives of police officers are not important. I was just as incensed five years ago when you had some Black Lives Matter members at one march in Minnesota using the contemptible "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon" chant, but that was not a group affiliated with the national organization and there has not been any indication that the chant has been repeated since that time, except, of course, in an endless loop on right wing media when needed.
Black Lives Matter is not trying to say that only black lives matter, but that black lives matter, too.
I wonder if those who feel they have to combat Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter are subconsciously just wanting to put those blacks in their place.
Who do they think they are to think their lives matter?
7. Only six percent of the COVID-19 deaths actually died of COVID-19
This is contemptible and I see a lot of good people sharing this.
Yes, approximately 94 percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying conditions- heart or respiratory diseases or diabetes or were in their later years.
So what?
They were going to die anyway?
What kind of a society are we becoming?
In all of these cases, the people had a serious condition that well could shorten their lives, but it was not going to be the immediate death penalty COVID-19 leveled on them.
Maybe they were going to live a few weeks or a few months, or maybe they were going to live 30 more years.
8. Only an infinitesimal percentage of people are dying from COVID-19 and we shut down everything
Twenty-one years ago, during my last days as editor at the Carthage Press, I ran a photo of an accident, not realizing that you could see the foot of one of the people who died in the crash. I received several letters to the editor and was bombarded with phone calls from people who were upset that I showed so little respect for the dead.
Now we are in the 21st Century where you can desecrate the deaths of 185,000 people because they are only a small percentage of everyone in the United States.
Why should anyone be inconvenienced just because the models are projecting that number will increase to as many as 300,000? That's only a small percentage, too.
9. Why should we wear masks? We had a mask ordinance and the number of COVID-19 cases still increased.
And when the day comes when we have an increase in the number of people dying in auto accidents, I can't wait to hear the outcry that we have a seat belt law, but the number of people who are dying in accidents keeps rising.
Shouldn't we consider the idea that in both cases, the numbers likely increased due to careless behavior?
Next thing you know, they'll want to repeal the motorcycle helmet law.
Oh, wait a minute.
10. Masks don't work or people wouldn't be getting COVID-19.
I don't know of anyone who has ever said masks are 100 percent effective. Some masks offer more protection than others, but all of them offer more protection than not wearing a facial covering.
I am not always a believer in anecdotal evidence, but when it is backed with science, I do.
A few months back, two beauticians in Springfield worked several days symptomatic with the coronavirus and potentially exposed dozens of people, especially their customers, yet not a single one contracted COVID-19.
The beauticians wore masks.
Share this if you dare.
5 comments:
PREACH!!! <3
You need several things to coalesce to fruition. A informed and intelligent public must first be there and then you need a audience that wants to wash away their ignorant teachings of the past and become a genuine and caring person. Be that a non-church goer or self professed child of Christ it has to be someone who is enlightened. Where are our churches who should be drumming this into the heads of parishioners or are they also held prisoner by the deacons of business and hate? I can remember in our Baptist church of 70 years ago being told we will never be saved if my mom and dad did not stop smoking or drinking. 2 Cigars a day and 3 drinks a week, surely that would not be a fast track to hell or is it?
I'm assuming this didn't have the effect Randy wanted, because the last several days he's gone back to the rona, rona, rona, rona fear mongering that the left love to use when no one is paying them enough attention. If we would just call every gathering a "protest" it would just go away, right?!?!?
It's pretty clear that you are glossing over the fact that BLM, especially early on, is/was criticized as an extremely racist and aggressive organization...even by prominent black leaders. There are certainly financial transparency issues that need to be resolved within the organization. Be careful before you lift them up on some pedestal. No one should be happy that this organization is leading any type of movement.
Thanks goodness we're not all mad. Your opinions are shared by people in the four states even though we feel like pilgrims in an unholy land. Great article.
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