One of the things that I see over and over in real life as well as on social media is blasting of groups for a perceived lack of action.
Picture this with me: a garbage can in a park with garbage at the base of it and an empty bag inside of it.
Many people would walk by that garbage can shake their head, and comment to friends and family about the state of society. And how sad it was that there was garbage outside of the garbage can. No one did anything about it. What a shame.
Social media adds a new dimension to this normal and all too often regular response to this sort of situation. The pictures snapped, meme is created, then many people posted and the problem gets amplified and outrage and commentary grows to an almost deafening silence roar on social media.
Another person walks by the garbage can with garbage up outside of it in an empty bag inside of it and stops. Looks around to make sure that it's safe and that hopefully nobody's really watching. Then picks up the garbage and puts it in the garbage can. They get messy, the drips on their pants and say a bad word, but they do their best to clean it up and do something about the situation. No pictures, hopefully no witnesses, and they rush off to wash their hands and get on with their daily lives. They may tell somebody when the home about the mess that they saw the park and try to teach their children that if everybody would just pick up a piece of garbage the world would be a much cleaner place.
I would hope that all Americans and all people that desire to be more American would do like the second one.
Sadly, the feigned outrage on social media is becoming the norm. And my fear is that that feigned outrage is an attempt to control others where if the person would just bend down and pick up even one piece of garbage instead of making an ugly noise and pointing fingers they would be making the world a better place.
