I have been going back and forth today trying to decide which blog to write. The kind of positive, kind of goofy, kind of silver lining blog, or the kind of ranty, kind of pissed off, kind of cynical blog.
So you get both. Because in a way they are tied together. And I said I was going to be more me this month and there is little that is more me than an odd mix of positive cynicism.
Okay, so I have tried and tried to make sure I stay away from the comments on public posts because, well, people are idiots. But I still look. It's like a train wreck, even if you know it's going to be bad, you look. So I decided to change it up. Make it a game. I thought I am going to look so instead of trying and failing to not look I will just look. If I am curious why a post gets 576 comments I am going to guess what most of them are, take a peek and see if I'm right. Usually I am. Which is sad. So I decided that's not that fun of a game. Even though being right is fun, (Oh come on! You know it is!), it's not enough. So I thought about it, what could make this actual fun? Something amusing to me? Something enjoyable?
So I decided that as I was scanning the comments seeing the idiots in full preen I would look for that one comment, or two, or three that were well thought out. Positive, insightful, actually read the article they are commenting on and have something to add to the discussion or just made me laugh. Because in a feed of hundreds of comments there has to be at least one. Right?
And usually there is. Sometimes you have to be patient. Because the idiots speak first and they speak the loudest and the most often. Why is that true? That those with the least to say, say the most?
Anyway, usually there is something in there that's good. Now the rules are that it has to be someone I don't know to count. Because I have a few friends who do comment on public posts and those show in my feed. And because they are my friends you know they are smart and funny and actually add to the discussion, so they don't count in the game. That would be stacking the deck. So I have to find someone posting something that is insightful (I don't have to agree with their point of view it just has to be insightful) or positive or funny that I don't know. And that makes it the game.
The silver lining game. The positive post game. The fun with idiots game. The constructive comments game. I'm not sure what to call it yet. But it's a game now. It's sometimes a really hard game, but that's because my rules are for me. I don't count "I'm praying for you" as a positive insightful post. I know a lot of you would. But that to me is a post that is a meaningful as "Bless you" after a sneeze. You might really be going to pray for them, but it's a knee jerk post. It's a what you should do post. Have to try harder. So I look. And sometimes you find a gem of an exchange like I posted on my Facebook status this morning:
"I have zero fucks to give about this stupid show."
"If you had zero fucks to give you would not have commented. Was that your last fuck?"
"Zero fucks"
"You have taken your last fuck to give and placed it in my hand. Do you want your fuck back? I have more fucks to give. I don't want to take your last one "
Not really adding to the conversation or dealing with the article that was linked but I laughed out loud at it. Because I recognized someone else out there playing their own game with posts. (Also true confession, I polished it just a bit for the status update, I'm a writer, I can't help it, but the exchange was basically this one)
So I am playing the game.
But because I am playing the game I am also again exposing myself to some of the nastiest of the nasties out there. And here is the ranty part of the blog....
SO...this morning someone linked a series of pictures from a FoxNews anchor about Christian refugee children in Iraq and how ISIS is going to kill them. Horrible. Really really awful. But it made me pause as I read her link. ISIS has been murdering people for awhile. A long while. It's been a terrifying story that has been unfolding for awhile. But I guess when it was just one group of Muslims murdering other Muslims it wasn't a big deal? Because make no mistake, that's what the picture was about. Christian children. We must do something now to protect the Christian children. Hmmm...
Okay... so how does this fit with the very same people screaming about sending the large groups of Christian children at our own borders back to Central America? If you are posting about the Christian children in Iraq being in danger because they must either change their religion or be killed and yet you are not concerned at all about the children who are seeking refuge here because they must either change who they are or be killed there is something wrong with you.
Now I know that part of this is the same as my politics. Because I don't belong to either party I think it's easier for me to see them both as idiots when they are being dumb. I don't feel the need to couch what I say with "Well they do it..." or "We have to do it so they don't win..." or what ever nonsense you are selling yourself. Religion is the same for me. I am not quite atheistic but I am strongly agnostic. So when you are posting about saving the kids in Iraq and not the kids at our own borders I can only see one issue. You don't love the little Christian children nearly as much as you hate the Muslims.
It's the only piece that makes sense to me. You have two groups of kids being terrorized. One group is running from extreme violence, gangs, rape, theft, murder. Join the gang or die. And you have another group running from extreme violence, FGM, rapes, murder. Change religion or die. And you are only concerned about one of these groups. So you tell me why.
You want to talk resources, can we afford to take in refugees? Well can we afford to enter in to war in Iraq again? You want to talk illegality of crossing the border. They are refugees on the run for their lives. If you have the Iraqi people who can get out streaming across borders over there would you judge them for it? Now I'm not saying we shouldn't do something to help in Iraq. I think ISIS is terrifying. But I've thought that for awhile. I didn't need them to start killing certain people to make me think that. Killing anyone was bad.
Ask yourself why you care more if the picture says, "Christian Children" instead of just children. And then look deeper and ask yourself if your opinion of the Israel/Palestine issue would change if the Palestinians were all Christian. Does their religion change your opinion on their deaths? And if it does then what is wrong with you? Seriously, ask yourself that question. Spend some time with your bible and find a biblically sound answer to that question. The verse that tells you to love your neighbors as yourself except if they are a different religion. Or the one where Christ tells them to bring the little children to him, but only the Christian ones, the rest he really has no time for. And then ask yourself what the hell is wrong with you that you would love and follow a god who only loves and protects some of the people he made. Though you won't have to ask yourself that question because it's you putting the qualifiers on your capacity to love. Not the book you should be reading.
(deep breath)
And that's the problem with the game. Sometimes it's just not fun.
But sometimes it is. Especially when people swear. Cuss words are always funny...
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