Love Everybody Always

Kanye West earlier this year really changed my life. When he came out with several tweets urging people to say I love you, to make love the new normalized instead of hate, that spoke to me. That is Christ’s message in a nutshell and that is how we’re going to make a long-term impact that goes beyond just now.

Fights online, mobbing and attacking people… what does that do? One, it just makes everyone involved angry and resentful. Two, the optics of the situation are so bad that the person you’re mobbing against usually comes out with a bigger and stronger base of support than before because normal people tuning in see the ugliness that’s going on.

I saw Bob Goff speak last night, and his message too is to love everybody always. It’s a powerful message and he’s an extremely charismatic speaker. But it means working on it in earnest. It means reaching out. It means trying to act in good faith love and caring about people.  And not just people who it’s easy to care about. It’s simple to care and love your friends. We’re called to love people who disgust us, who make us feel weird to be around. That’s the hard part.

A movement I started has really turned into an online outrage mob, one like I’ve seen several times in different arenas from politics to sci-fi. It’s really easy to get sucked into it. It’s really easy to go out there and attack and not realize you’re part of something that’s snowballing into nasty comments, death threats, etc. We don’t see it because one, usually the direct people around us aren’t engaging in it to that extreme, and we don’t see the overwhelming combined effect it has on a person. It’s hard to notice until it happens to a friend, or to you.

For a movement to thrive and move forward for what it’s intended (any movement), it’s going to have to be about more than hate. It’s going to have to drop the hate entirely. I call on my friends, fellow creators, fans, and everyone to look at things this way:

1. Don’t go on YouTube streams and descend into smack talk about people / gossip. The streaming’s fine, but keep it topical. It’s a bad look to have hours of content saying bad things about individuals.
2. Watch what you post. Think about the person you’re posting about. Are they in a position where they’re hurting and you’re just making it worse?
3. Look at your actions. Are they out of love? Can you truly say that? If it’s not, it needs to be reevaluated.

Think about it. Think about people you’re outraged at or hate. Say “I love ______” aloud. It’s weird, isn’t it? But it needs to be done. This is the only real way to affect change for the positive.

And if you see something, speak out. Say “we shouldn’t be doing this guys.” When one person does it against a mob, it’s hard. If a lot of people do, the mob is no longer a mob. It goes away.

I’m definitely guilty of not loving everybody always, but I’m doing my best to try to make a difference. We’re never going to be perfect as humans, but the least we can do is try.

Zaira and her crew try very hard to love her people, and even her enemies as she seeks a cure for the giant’s blood serum withdrawals in The Blood Of Giants. Check it out here.