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People who hear about a common-sense rule or a boundary and immediately look for exceptions and defenses for why it shouldn’t really apply to them, as well as the people who, upon hearing about injustice, immediately look for justifications can pretty much fuck off forever.
I understand the contrarian impulse, the need for testing hypotheses to make sure they hold up, and a desire to avoid “the emperor has no clothes!” style compliance, I do! One childhood nickname for me was Young Bartleby!
But life is not an undergrad ethics seminar or high school debate club, there are no participation grades or trophies awarded for proving how special and smart you are by defending the indefensible.
It’s not okay to jack off during work meetings.
It’s not okay for grown men to try to date minors.
It’s not okay to risk untold lives for optional parties during a pandemic.
It’s not okay to mount coups or disenfranchise Black voters.
These are not radical statements.
It’s not okay for grown men to try to date minors.
It’s not okay to risk untold lives for optional parties during a pandemic.
It’s not okay to mount coups or disenfranchise Black voters.
These are not radical statements.
And yet everywhere I look, some Edge-Case Bob (credit to @jakobpunkt) is like:
“Will no one stand up, will no one perform Freakonomics on behalf of the person who got caught being an obvious asshole and harming others in plain sight? Debate meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”
“Will no one stand up, will no one perform Freakonomics on behalf of the person who got caught being an obvious asshole and harming others in plain sight? Debate meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”
So many supposedly bright, supposedly educated, incredibly fortunate people are so sickeningly invested in responding to obvious harmful acts as if they’re sorting grains of intent at the fancy co-op bulk bin.
“Are you sure it happened like that?”
“If it happened like that, and I’m not saying it did, it probably wasn’t that bad.”
“If it happened like that, ____ probably didn’t mean it.”
“If we can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ____ meant it, there’s nothing to be done!”
“If it happened like that, and I’m not saying it did, it probably wasn’t that bad.”
“If it happened like that, ____ probably didn’t mean it.”
“If we can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ____ meant it, there’s nothing to be done!”
“Oh, they did mean it? Well I’m sure they learned a valuable lesson, and isn’t that what’s *really* important?”
As if the harm certain people do is part of some lifelong internship, the effects of what they did don’t matter as long as they have a series of epiphanies.
As if the harm certain people do is part of some lifelong internship, the effects of what they did don’t matter as long as they have a series of epiphanies.
The amount of ink, pixels, breath, money, and energy expended on the project of “That Obviously Wrong Thing is completely fine, and this is why it would be Even More Wrong, Actually to help other people and care about what happens to them...”
...sometimes I cannot bear it.
...sometimes I cannot bear it.
At a certain point, I must conclude that people who live to over-complicate the prospect of having any rules or ethical expectations of one another, who live to endlessly debate & delay the project of caring for each other, are *invested* in keeping all of it too complicated.
And when there are so many vulnerable people and communities fighting to save EVERYONE, it makes me feel literally insane to have discussions on the grounds of “X well-off person probably didn’t *intend* for all those preventable deaths and abuses to be footnote in his journey?”
If there is some sort of program for “Enraging TED Talks By Furious People Who Are About To Fucking Lose Their Entire Shit,” I’m probably ready for my close-up.
The End
