In the last few days, there’s been a story exploding all over the internet about a kid who was arrested. There were a lot of speculations going around as to how and why, but in the end, it turns out it was probably a PR stunt initiated by the kid’s dad.
We’re told that everything is hazardous. We’re told that everyone’s a potential terrorist, or rapist, or criminal, or whatever. We’re told that killing babies is protecting freedom. We’re told that America is the greatest country in the world that has ever existed, and ever will.
And the funny thing is, people believe it.
What it boils down to is this: It’s easier to believe things that are convenient.
It’s easier to believe that convenience is more important than, well, anything. Because it’s convenient for us to believe that.
It’s easier to believe that everyone else has a tolerance problem when you’re being discriminated against. It’s easier to believe racism isn’t a problem when you’re not being discriminated against. It’s easier to believe happiness can be bought when you have money. It’s easier to believe that it’s someone else’s fault when we fail.
Easy, easy, easy. We assume, we gullibly believe, we swallow everything we’re told as truth. There are entire websites devoted to debunking things for gullible people.
It’s too difficult to say “you know what, I’ll reserve judgement on this until we have more facts.” We’re not allowed to say “We don’t have enough to go on yet, we just don’t know.”
People are quick to spread things they’ve heard, without ever wondering (or caring) if it’s even true.
We are no longer a nation of thinkers… we’ve become the nation of “likes” and “reshares/retweets.”
I’ll challenge you, dear reader, to think about what you see and hear. Caring about something is great. But do your due diligence. Make sure your brain is in gear before you engage your mouth.