Once upon a time I had a FaceBook account with sixty-plus friends. But things change and I am naïve, I know; always last to figure out the bad news. FB had become a catch-all for scam adds, bullsh*t propaganda and otherwise meaningless (Look-at-me) selfies from friends of friends of friends I never heard of. So I suicided my FB self. After a while, second thoughts moved me to try something different. I came back under a pseudonym and the photo of a stuffed monkey. I now have nine friends, all folks I seldom see but like to know when they are barking my way. Two of those never bark so for practical purposes, I have seven FB friends.
I might hit the ‘Like’ button or offer up a short affirmation but I don’t have anything to share so I don’t post. My FB footprint is tiny and I like it that way. The less FB knows about my habits the better. I know my effort to foil them is too little too late. The personal data miners already have enough detailed information on me to accurately predict any action or decision I might make.
I broke that pattern today on FB with a simple question. “Why don’t we get fast breaking news and front page headlines about mass stabbings and stranglings?” I don’t need to paint a picture or launch a sermon. Donald Trump and his following would counter my bias with a statement that some mass murderers are really good people. Guns don’t kill people anyway, people kill people. But they do it almost exclusively with bullets, through guns. I don’t need to flesh out the rest of this story; it’s clear enough where it is headed.
My feelings have not hardened but they have been dulled. Man’s inhumanity to mankind is a global constant. We come hardwired with two very different ways of treating each other. One is Selfish (Me-me-me) self service. “I will protect and defend what is mine and if I choose, I will take what is yours, by whatever means necessary.” It is a Zero Sum game with only winners and losers and the selfish intend to win. The other is Altruistic self service, a Win-Win game. “We are in this together and you need help, so let me help you. Someday I may need your help.” Reciprocity, tit for tat is the recipe for the Golden Rule. Some situations call for selfish and some for altruism. The dilemma comes with, how does one decide which approach; do you reach out with an open hand or turn away? Most of us tend to favor one way more than the other. Between genetics and conditioned response, we do what feels right in the moment. What feels right in the moment has never been over ruled by logic or reason.
Some get stuck in the Zero Sum mode, it’s either us or them. You double down on fear, intimidation, and violence as a last resort but they go well with selfish. Warriors are willing to accept dead bodies rather than put down their weapons. As long as the dead are strangers it is easy to rationalize; they should have been somewhere else. Thoughts & Prayers is the coded way of saying, "Too bad, get over it." If the dead bodies are friends or family, revenge passes for justice, lipstick on the pig while the idea of changing the rules to a Win-Win game is an insult, nothing more than sissified soft soap. My fate is with the Golden Rule and Karma; what goes around comes back around. With Zero Sum there are as many losers as winners.
I fact checked: so far this year in the U.S.A. there have been over 200 mass shootings, 27 of those in schools. There are more guns in this country than there are people. We live in a self righteous culture with an overreaching tolerance of gun violence. Sort of English speaking, Christian Taliban. Enough; I’m starting to sound sissified. So my heart has been dulled and the hurt is more ache than pain. I just wanted to know why we don’t get news flashes or headlines for mass stabbings and stranglings?
I might hit the ‘Like’ button or offer up a short affirmation but I don’t have anything to share so I don’t post. My FB footprint is tiny and I like it that way. The less FB knows about my habits the better. I know my effort to foil them is too little too late. The personal data miners already have enough detailed information on me to accurately predict any action or decision I might make.
I broke that pattern today on FB with a simple question. “Why don’t we get fast breaking news and front page headlines about mass stabbings and stranglings?” I don’t need to paint a picture or launch a sermon. Donald Trump and his following would counter my bias with a statement that some mass murderers are really good people. Guns don’t kill people anyway, people kill people. But they do it almost exclusively with bullets, through guns. I don’t need to flesh out the rest of this story; it’s clear enough where it is headed.
My feelings have not hardened but they have been dulled. Man’s inhumanity to mankind is a global constant. We come hardwired with two very different ways of treating each other. One is Selfish (Me-me-me) self service. “I will protect and defend what is mine and if I choose, I will take what is yours, by whatever means necessary.” It is a Zero Sum game with only winners and losers and the selfish intend to win. The other is Altruistic self service, a Win-Win game. “We are in this together and you need help, so let me help you. Someday I may need your help.” Reciprocity, tit for tat is the recipe for the Golden Rule. Some situations call for selfish and some for altruism. The dilemma comes with, how does one decide which approach; do you reach out with an open hand or turn away? Most of us tend to favor one way more than the other. Between genetics and conditioned response, we do what feels right in the moment. What feels right in the moment has never been over ruled by logic or reason.
Some get stuck in the Zero Sum mode, it’s either us or them. You double down on fear, intimidation, and violence as a last resort but they go well with selfish. Warriors are willing to accept dead bodies rather than put down their weapons. As long as the dead are strangers it is easy to rationalize; they should have been somewhere else. Thoughts & Prayers is the coded way of saying, "Too bad, get over it." If the dead bodies are friends or family, revenge passes for justice, lipstick on the pig while the idea of changing the rules to a Win-Win game is an insult, nothing more than sissified soft soap. My fate is with the Golden Rule and Karma; what goes around comes back around. With Zero Sum there are as many losers as winners.
I fact checked: so far this year in the U.S.A. there have been over 200 mass shootings, 27 of those in schools. There are more guns in this country than there are people. We live in a self righteous culture with an overreaching tolerance of gun violence. Sort of English speaking, Christian Taliban. Enough; I’m starting to sound sissified. So my heart has been dulled and the hurt is more ache than pain. I just wanted to know why we don’t get news flashes or headlines for mass stabbings and stranglings?
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