You want a place in the spotlight? Your 15 minutes of fame?
You better hope it doesn’t last longer. What is it about the limelife that brings about self destruction?
Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, Elvis, Cleopatra, Judy Garland (Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ for god’s sake), the list goes on and on.
This person has millions of dollars, we can’t possibly hurt them. Money does not increase the tolerance for emotional pain and hiding behind our wall of digital anonymity allows us to say things we would never dream of face to face.
We are predatory in our nature
People are falling apart, people are dying. It’s not funny. Yet we press on.
The internet has become a place for us to publicly shame people who have made one mistake. You’re the guy that…
This is them for the rest of their lives, their new identity.
The Wisdom of Crowds? Really? The Cruelty of Crowds is more like it.
Contrarian thoughts or a free thinker? You’re next
Now understanding the emotions of others has become a burden. And we are too busy from not doing anything important to care. It’s become easier for us just to stop and say someone is crazy.
Why do we do it?
What do really gain from this behavior? Do we get some sort of sadistic satisfaction from the pain of others?
Superficially, we say shaming others comes from a place of security, but it has to also stem from a place of shame. We probably are not even able to pinpoint it. Ambiguous Shame. Placing others in a state of insecurity, stabilizes us somehow.
We need to stop. How many lives have we unknowingly unhinged? We must stop. How many lives have we destroyed. We have to stop.
Together our voices have power. The nameless masses control the world. We must wield that power responsibly.
Think about the last time you were mocked ruthlessly. Are you holding onto that feeling, that pain? Now multiply it by millions. Everywhere you look, everything you see is about you.
In the end, we are all just people. Remember that…
Yours Truly,
The Eternal Optimist
