If there’s one thing the internet is good at, it’s fake outrage of the day. For the people stirred up, it isn’t even fake. The passions are real. But the reason people stir it up is for clicks and engagement, not about any concern about an actual topic.
The danger we run into is there are very real abominable things that occur, like the Virginia governor covering for killing babies, and it gets lost in the mix of all the fake controversies out there.
I try to only stick to real topics, real issues in our society that matter, but it’s getting overwhelming out there with people flailing from one topic to the next — it’s not even a political thing I can point to with the SJWs anymore, it’s just everyone trying to out-outrage each other for attention.
I’m hesitant to bring up examples of what I’m seeing these last few days, because I’ve gone into a couple of different forums pointing out problems I’ve seen with fake outrage both left and right — and I was met with hostile results both times. Trying to say “this narrative is bogus and a waste of everyone’s time” only gets a mob pointed at you for daring question them. Your loyalty gets questioned, you’ll become a target of “defending” whatever they’re outraged about, when your point is actually to try to help the group.
Because when someone not invested in the outrage story sees the outrage and sees people flailing like crazies over it, the optic is that the outraged people are the problem in the situation. It actually dilutes the topic they’re upset about because the story becomes about them. It turns off more people than it turns on about the topic.
So be careful with what you react to. If you react all the time in a panic, people will see you as a person who cries wolf. If you are measured except for rare instances when it really requires it, you’ll be more persuasive because people will know it’s something important that moves you.
Sorry to vaguebook today but I think putting any context will just make the wrong point and become a political team thing, which is not the intent of this post.
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