You know, I never supported the idea of using Twitter when it started becoming popular. “Oh Lord, just a bunch of unimportant people telling us when and where they have to poop” and hey, I wasn’t far off for the most part. But you know, I’m starting to realize that people have always used other means to spout their useless information. Facebook and MySpace (whew! Pulled THAT one from way back in the dark ages of the early 2000’s) are both culprits. Now with Instagram, everyone thinks they’re photographers, Tumblr makes people think they are actual writers, Google+ made us all realize how much better all these other social media sites are and Vine? Well, let’s all just forget that ever happened. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t google it. It doesn’t exist. But recently, it hasn’t been the pretentiousness (don’t hate that word. Too many people hate that word. Mostly hipsters. Go home, hipsters. No one asked you. It’s a good word. Just look it up.) of these sites that’s been bothering me, it’s been the people that use them. Specifically I refer to the backlash from the outcome of the Treyvon Martin case. So much useless back and forth between people who have never even met in person has been going on. And I’m just talking about people and their supposed “friends” on Facebook. (Here’s a hint, Facebook, instead of labeling that folder “friends”, why not call it “the number of people in this folder directly relates to how cool you are to other people, so make this number as high as you can regardless of how well you know them”. But I digress.) I’ve seen people give the backstabbing, unholy “unfriend” treatment (*gasp* *shock* *awe*). Seriously? Ya’ll people need to grow up. Oh wait, you’re 46? …I rest my case. Throughout this whole ordeal, I’ve “sat on the sidelines” as it were. I haven’t made any comments or said anything to anyone. I’ve sat by and watched people send offhanded, hate-filled comment after comment towards one another. Seriously, people nowadays give them out like they’re…. (Damn it. People don’t give anything out for free nowadays) … like they’re… like they’re pieces of bread at a fancy restaurant (I tried). It’s happened so frequently that I finally became fed up. This is what I’ve wanted to say to people: (and was debating putting this on Facebook… oh the irony.) PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE THEIR OWN OPINIONS. That’s right. It was my opinion that people should not have their own opinions. Stuff that down your logic pipe and smoke it. But honestly, these were people who I’ve known for quite some time either stating opinions with no basis in fact and then chastising all else who tried to debate them. In regards to the Martin case, if you’re a “guilty” supporter, you’re automatically a *best over-the-top southern accent* “damn, foreigner (pronounced ‘fur-en-urrr’) who doesn’t believe in American freedom or the constitution.” (see: youtube/watch?v=tykzAyISnNk) And those who support the “not guilty” (i.e. reality, for better or worse) are filthy, scumbag racists. I feel like I must say this at this point since this IS the internet and SOMEONE will not take this well: Obviously not everyone thinks this way. I am recounting my experience. And hey, if you don’t like my opinion, then you can just *see above link*. It’s not my goal to explain to you what my feelings are on the ruling. But I would like to say a few things to both sides: To those who think the outcome should have been a guilty charge, the people who have opinions other than yourselves are 99% likely to not be mindless, racist bigots. They’re just people who believe that multiple conflicting testimonies are not enough to indict a man. And no there weren’t “a few” conflicting testimonies, they numbered somewhere in the forties. If we became a country that sent people to prison on many conflicting testimonies, well we’d be… China. Also, no one wants the boy to have been killed. It’s a tragedy that can’t be avoided now. But the fact remains that the only people that know what truly happened are/were Zimmerman and Martin. It’s unfortunate but those are facts. To those who agree with what happened, you shouldn’t take people’s sensitivity for murder for granted. Regardless of whether it was self-defense or not, the man killed a boy. That’s unforgivable. Even police officers that shoot and kill violent criminals undergo severe psychiatric treatment to make sure they have overcome their ordeal and are fit to return to service. So far, not even that was expected of Zimmerman. There is something wrong there that we can all agree with. WARNING: the next few statements may generate a lot of hate. Viewers sensitive to steadfast opinions should skip to the next paragraph. You think I’m joking. I’m not. You’ve been warned. To the NAACP, don’t make race an issue on this. It is the definition of hypocrisy to claim to want to abolish one thing (i.e. racial hate and discrimination) and then at every chance you get, remind people of racial hate and discrimination. The way these things go away follows a celebrity-like popularity scale. Once something has been off the map for long enough, it becomes a memory (examples: Aaron Carter, Sega Genesis, Teen Titans, beyblades). So I propose a new tactic. Accept that what happened is tragic. (It happens all over the world, all the time. Just the ones that don’t deal with race fall off the map and *gasp* become a memory.) So accept the tragedy and instead of spreading thoughts of hate towards people like Zimmerman, spread love, peace and happiness. Martin Luther King Jr. would be someone to take lessons from. Also, watch the movie “Do The Right Thing”. It’s possible to be radically peaceful and not radically spiteful. And before you castigate me for being a little white boy having opinions on how to avoid discrimination. Don’t. That’s racist. So now that I’ve gotten off my soapbox, I can say what I’ve been meaning to say all along. Up until this point in my life I’ve secretly and silently criticized people safely in the confines of my own room for having opinions that conflict with mine. I just sit there and wish for people to be less stupid (Haha, don’t worry people it TOTALLY works. Try it!). But then days like today happen where I’m sitting in bed flipping through Facebook and Questlove pops up on my feed. I invite you to check out his page and his music (OMG the Roots, ‘nuff said). Just search "Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Questlove)" on Facebook and scroll through his page. Recently he posted an article about Stevie Wonder (huff.to/12tSLzo). In this article, Stevie Wonder says he will boycott any city with the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws. Now for those of you who don’t know, the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws demand that authorities have proof that refute a self-defense claim before arresting or trying someone claiming self-defense. This law is the reason Zimmerman was not arrested for nearly two months after the incident. Now this is where it hit me. Went a little something like this, too: “Wait a minute, I like Stevie Wonder.” “But I don’t agree with him.” “But I still like Stevie Wonder.” “What the hell is going on??” “Maybe, just maybe… people are entitled to their own opinions?” “Hahaha, nooooooooooo. That can’t be it” “Well, maybe it is…” “Huh… I must sit down and write an essay about how I feel.” Yup. Kind of sums it up. See, the thing is, although we may not agree with other’s opinions. We have no right to criticize them for it. We used to be a nation of debaters but now with the advent of Internet comments, if we don’t agree with someone, we insult his or her mother. Then we crack jokes about the mentally handicapped and use racial slurs. Pardon my French, but what the freakin’ hell is wrong with people that in order to express their disagreement with someone they choose to berate and belittle them instead of offering their own rebuttal in hopes of a dignifying conversation? So here I am again resorting to wishing people weren’t so gosh damn stupid. But it doesn’t work so good. The human race will be the human race no matter how hard we try to change it. Or will it? In August I’ll be going to college with 20,000 other students my age. Now, my generation hasn’t exactly lived up to it’s expectations of fixing this broken system we have but maybe this whole revelation I have had has been a sign that that needs to change. If enough people stand up for what’s right. There’s no telling what the possibilities are. Right? Maybe you can’t change people (never mind. *Correction: You most certainly CANNOT change people), but you sure as hell can change the world people live in. My closing remarks are these: I don’t intend to enforce change for those that don’t want it. But for those of you who do want to change things, I offer this piece of advice: Criticize less and engage more. You feel me? The Internet is not the only means of doing so. When experiencing that dreadful, horrible thing: actual human interaction *shudder*, do the same thing. Embrace your inner Bob Marley and spread-ah the peace, mahn. Jah!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:13:32 +0000
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