Op-Ed: Keep Calm, Be Patient, and Think! · 7:54pm Oct 27th, 2018
Good news! I am 99.5% better. Just some residual tiredness and stuffiness, but fading fairly well. Huzzah! Today I can work on A Game of Stakes!
But first I wanted to get this out there: Keep calm, be patient, and think.
All three of these things seem to be a lost cause for many these days. Patience is for those who “don’t care about the issues.” Keeping calm is “for the uncaring.” And thinking is something done by those who “just don’t want to face the ‘facts.” Instead, the social sphere would have us leap forward as quickly as possible, acting on immediate emotional reactions and snap judgements.
Why am I talking about this? Well, because of the last month. In my country, there was a massive mediastorm revolving around a man named Kavanaugh. For those who luckily missed all the controversy, Kavanaugh was nominated to a position on the Supreme Court (one of the three branches of the US government). And, almost immediately, had sexual assault allegations issued against him. A number of women came forward claiming that he had visited all sorts of horrific sexual acts against them, which clearly made him unfit for the position. The media (and one prominent political party) latched onto these allegations with a deathgrip. They were everywhere. A senate hearing was called, in which several of these women testified under oath. The FBI and Department of Justice got involved.
And the public? Sands and Storms, they lost their minds. As far as many of them seemed concerned, Kavanaugh was guilty until proven innocent. My Facebook wall became such a tirade of people calling for his imprisonment and even execution, without any sort of trial, that I flat out made use of the temp-block feature to silence some of these folks for 30 days because they were acting insane. Any calls for them to calm down from their baying for blood? To wait for an actual investigation into things? You were trying to cover up Kavanaugh’s crimes because you were sexist. The biggest concession any of these raging, emotional individuals could make was that Kavanaugh should be investigated … wait for it … but not any of his accusers, as they’d already had enough stress put on them by coming forward.
Oh no, sorry
4958847
???
4958857
I do not really know
I can't say I like the guy, and I don't like how he seems to behave under pressure, but I can't condone the notion that "innocent until proven guilty" should only apply when you like someone. That sort of mindset can lead to scary things, such as Robespierre's Reign of Terror.
People were literally calling for his execution without due process? I can't say I'm shocked, but that saddens me.
4958892
The only things I got from all that were more or less opinionated vids on YT, but "innocent until proven guilty" isn't really a thing here in Germany anyway, more like "unclear until proven to be either of them." At least that was it for me a few years back.
Wich wasn't really a bad thing, to be honest. But yeah, looking at this mob mentality when it comes to things like that, it just ist strange.
I think I want to blame those "social media" stuff like fbook tumbl and so on. The concept was good, well just the peolple made it bad.(like with allmost everything, right?)
Oh and Bugsydor, is it just me or does your Ava looks like it wants to devour either my soul or that piece of Baumkuchen in from of me?
4959246
Probably the Baumkuchen. One of these days I'll successfully make an avatar that isn't creepy as all get-out.
I don't participate in social media (unless you count Discord servers with mostly close friends). To me, they just keep sounding like misery multipliers. But maybe that's just me having been born a crotchety old man.
4959300
Hmm ok then. Baumkuchen I can spare, for now. They only make it the whole year.
And don't make another, at least I'll instantly know wich story you're commenting on I read.
Nah, you just know what'S good for your nerves and brain.
Been monitoring this and many other stories. Still maintain that Trump Derangement Syndrome exists. The guy himself seems like an incompetent buffoon who has had one too many drinks, but his opposition tends to act in a way that makes him look better than them, which should be an embarrassment.
It's all about feeling good about fighting "evil" while doing as little as you can effort-wise. Only takes less than five minutes to do a write up on the internet on how X, Y, or Z is the evillest of evils, comparing them to the most well known of evils of the 20th century. I mean, there's a reason why I avoid posting in a specific sub-forum that acts as a political quarantine for the rest of the site, as it is more or less the killing (ban) grounds of many a user who usually are nice commentators outside of it. (Whitehall from SB) (Posting things that get shoved into there doesn't count).
Also Facebook is and always has been a terrible idea. An online open diary that tracks all your personal data is not what I consider a good idea.