Disliked

Here's an interesting social (media) experience for you: 

Go to the social media page of a local news network - local to wherever you live - and find a couple of political articles. Or, rather, what passes for political these days, which would be anything having to do with life as we know it. Economics, immigration, sexuality and gender, education, even actual politics. Anything. 

Now, look at the comments section. If your local news is anything like my local news (and the other random local news channels that for some reason show up in my feeds from places I have never lived), then you'll see overwhelming hatred and condemnation in the comments section of a political article. 

But you're not done. Now, go find another political article that seems to be tailored to the opposite side of the aisle. This shouldn't be too hard to do. On any given day, media love to pull us into our extremes as often as they can. Late last week, there were contrasting articles, for example, on Trump's latest articulation and Kamala Harris's public speech. (Just an example.) Now, read the comments section on this one. 

Guess what? It's full of hatred and condemnation, too. 

But you're still not done. Go find you a neutral article - something about traffic patterns or road construction or a board meeting. Something boring. Something that not very many folks would seem that interested in and, even if they're interested, they probably don't have a strong opinion about it. 

And...would you look there? Right there in the comments section, you're more likely to find hatred and condemnation than anything else. 

See, here's where this is important. 

If you read a headline that you either agree with or disagree with, as a gut reaction, and then you check in on the comments section and see them full of hatred and condemnation, you can only come to one conclusion, depending on which way you lean. If you were happy with the headline, then you assume that you are in the minority in your own community and you're surrounded by, let's say, "idiots." If you were outraged by the headline, then you assume that you are in the majority and the "big guy" doesn't listen to the "little guy" and you feel both disenfranchised and somehow also validated, all at the same time. 

But when you broaden your scope, when you read more than one thing, when you're willing to look from more than one angle, and you see the same hatred and condemnation pouring out, it's harder to think like that. It's harder to just conclude you're on the outs somehow and the whole world is messed up.

Because if that were true, then the same folks who take the time to comment with hatred and condemnation on the one post would surely take the time to comment with affirmation and celebration on the other. Wouldn't they? If this was really characteristic of the world you were living in - if you were really the minority or the marginalized and the world really is so messed up - then all the evidence would be pointing in the same direction. 

But it's not. Well, it is. It's all pointing in the direction of anger and hatred and condemnation. The only logical conclusion that you can reach is that we, as a society, are outraged. We are encouraged to be outraged. We are applauded for our outrage. We have become a people who are not afraid to speak hatred and condemnation toward the things - and persons - we disagree with, based purely sometimes on our emotional gut reactions to something. This is how we approach everything these days. Forget the "like" button; we need a "dislike" button.

We are most likely to use our voice to disagree. To condemn. To judge. To spew. 

Are we all really this unhappy with the world? With our lives? With each other?