How We Help Violence Thrive

Dear Family —

I’m sure that you may have heard of the murder of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese in 1964. A 28 year old New Yorker who was killed while nearly 37 people ignored her screams.

I remember first hearing this story in High School and thinking of all the things I would’ve done to help. I’m sure most of us would like to think we’d be the upstanding good samaritan that would’ve saved the day. However Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, & Instagram says otherwise.

Social media has become a black hole and, I think, a primary incentive for people becoming by standers, promoters, and ultimately conspirators in violence. I’ve seen countless videos on my timeline of brawls, attacks, and fights with more people giving commentary or, worse than that, recording it while yelling the all too famous tagline “World Star!!!”on my timelines.

This isn’t restricted to unruly youth either. Adults, in many of these videos, are present sometimes yelling stop, sometimes refereeing, and in the most abhorrent cases joining in the violence. These actions are bad enough by themselves but what happens when these videos make it online is just as much of a moral failure.

Every time we like, share, and, to some degree, watch these small but serious acts of violence, we give an endorsement of violence as a method to solve problems. We help violence thrive.

We have made violence like this too normal, too easy to consume, and as some form entertainment. It’s not and it shouldn’t be. We’ve become just like the 37 folks that ignored the screams of Ms. Genovese except now some of us watch, like, or share.

With the news of a 16 year old dying at the hands of her school mates during a fight we should consider ending the sharing of videos of people fighting. We can and should do better. ‪#‎RIPAmy‬