Social media hasn’t been around for very long, but the truth of what is have revealed about so many people has been transformative and leads to the basic, but important, question: Did social media inspire people to become awful trolls, or did it just give a megaphone to expose so many people truly horrible?
It’s the chicken and the egg and, like that question, the answer doesn’t really matter, the end result is what we have to deal with no matter what. But you do have to feel badly for our species sometimes, and a little disgusted that some members of it are capable of being something so gross, such sickening examples of humanity that you have to wonder if it’s worth it.
The latest example of this is sad story of the sub crushed by the immense pressure down by the Titanic. People died, people you’ve never heard of and wouldn’t have had they not died tragically. Yet, for reasons known only to them, some human beings (a term I use loosely) have decided the world needs to know they’re awful people who deserve being ostracized; a shunning – and deserve any and every bad thing that comes their way.
How do you know families are grieving and things, “What were the political donations of these people?” to determine whether or not you’re willing to be a decent human being about it?
That happened over at The New Republic this week. The left-wing birdcage liner is typical of the left, basing their concern for other humans on their political beliefs. Some murder victims don’t matter if they can’t be used to advance their agenda, for example. Not a lot of interest on the left for the thousands of young black men murdered in Chicago, but all the chips are pushed to the center of the table when a police officer kills someone fighting to get the cop’s gun while high as a kite, provided the skin colors of those involved lines up with the progressive food pyramid of victimhood usefulness.
Imagine your boss tells you to look into the political donations of people being impacted by a tragedy; would you do it? Or would you tell your boss you don’t see the relevance of this as families are suffering?
Someone called Daniel Strauss didn’t stand up for common decency when given that chance this week, or he cooked up the concept himself. How it came to be doesn’t really matter as much as an article entitled, “OceanGate CEO Missing in Titanic Sub Had History of Donating to GOP Candidates,” was written by him and published by TNR.
No one knew if they people on the sub were dead or alive, but leftists based their interest and concern for the story on irrelevant sideshows like this and the fact that the passengers were rich, since it cost about a quarter million dollars each to go there.
Questioning the rationale of going to the bottom of the ocean to look at a rotting shell of an old ship is one thing, implying to an audience that it’s ok that these people suffer because their politics is disagreeable to you is something else. There’s a time for that, if that’s something you’re compelled to do, later. Those political records will exist long after the families of those lost deal with their pain, there’s no need to add to if for clicks. I’d rather drink hemlock than write a piece dancing on an open grave while people are suffering.
But this is what the left does constantly. When there’s a mass shooting, the vultures assume motive, skin color and sexuality of the killer, tweeting and prognosticating their fetishized agenda demands before there’s an accurate body count. Then, when the story comes out of how the killer isn’t white or isn’t straight, the interest wanes quickly and it’s like it never happened. Is there a left-wing news organization pushing for the release of the trans-killer in Nashville’s manifesto, for example?
Mention Ronald Reagan to a committed leftist and they’ll fly off, as if possessed, on a Tourette’s tirade about a man who’s been dead for more than 20 years and out office for more than 30. They are angry he existed; they are angry anyone who disagrees with them exists and any level of contempt or disgusting behavior is justified when dealing with people who stand in their way; who won’t conform. There is no equivalent on the right – when Jimmy Carter dies, aside from anonymous troll accounts being shocking for its own sake, there will not be grave dancing. National Review will not run a piece on just how horrible he was as President, or as a man, when he passes. They will eventually run pieces on how bad he was, but not in the wake of his death the way the left works.
Maybe we on the right should, but it’s just not who we are. We see suffering and seek to help it pass, where the left sees it and wonders how they can use it. When you view tragedy as opportunity you lose your humanity over time. I don’t know if it eventually comes back, but I do know that it’s gone for activist left and there’s nothing about them or how they act that indicates they give a damn about it.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.