Not long after the greater internet became mainstream, it was very common for the first five or six (minimum) comments on a video to be "first comment". It was annoying and stupid, but it was also foreshadowing to a cultural shift. Everyone wanted to be first, to see it first, to react to it first, and to tell it first, all on a global scale that was unavailable to us before.
Being the first with the news took a big hit when George W. Bush ran against Al Gore, and we had the infamous election of the hanging chads. In the media's rush to be the first to call a state's results, they predicted wrong. I was working at a small tv news station at the time, and the behind the scenes panic was off the charts. Big questions got asked about the media's rush to be first being put ahead of responsible journalism. These discussion were still ongoing when the unthinkable happened on 9-11. This sent use into a new kind of spiral, and desire for any and all information. The "Breaking News" crawl was invented and became a permanent fixture on our screen. A graphics trick that had formerly been reserved for national emergencies was now being used for anything and everything. The rules of responsible reporting slowly drained out of reporting. It was more important to tell it first, and correct it later if you got it wrong, but no one listens to the corrections.
Social media then turned us all into mini reporters. We started by reporting what we ate for dinner and what silly things our kids did. At some point, social media became about sharing outrage. Headlines are geared towards it. They bank on people not reading past the opening paragraph before hitting that share button. On top of that, when a shocking story gets shared, we jump to comment based on limited facts so that we can be within the first people to react.
The problem with reacting first and researching never is that more and more people have very firm opinions on subjects they have a completely false picture of. We have created an artificial multiverse within our lives, and when another person is not in the same fake world as us, we react with intolerant rage.
One recent example that comes to mind is the banning of a book. With a look at only the headlines, the entire state of Tennessee banned a book about mice living through the Holocaust. That sounds insane, I am pro-historical mice and anti- book banning. How dare they?! However, I have a rule that I teach my kids. If a book gets banned, ask why. Find out what the book is about. Why were its ideas deemed dangerous. There are places that banned the Bible, which I consider a holy text, so I don't blanket trust a government telling me not to read something. As it turns out, the book wasn't banned from the state, it was taken out of one state funded school system. They have that right, but again, what was the reasoning? Well, the ultimate reason was because it was a graphic novel with drawings of graphically naked mice in somewhat human form in it. Now the question becomes, what school librarian stocked a book with naked pictures for underaged children? To properly react to this story, you should ask how many schools actually had this book, was it assigned reading, were there complaints, can the book be obtained in ways other than getting it in school, who made the decision, what was the opposition's defense of stocking the book? If all you read was either the "book banning" headline or the "nakedness" headline, then you probably didn't know enough to react responsibly, and yet everyone did and if you disagreed you were a prude or a pervert. Shockingly, I think the truth lays somewhere in the middle, but no one likes to be in the middle.
Outrage has gotten out of hand. In our rush to react we have removed politeness and reason and no longer give people the benefit of the doubt when their first reaction is different than our own. I feel like the plague and the last election brought us to a boiling point, and we have all just stayed on a rolling boil for the last several years. I think the antidote is grace and compassion paired with facts and details, and most of all, a good dose of humility. Don't promote a cause you haven't researched. Don't share an article you haven't read. Don't look for reasons to be mad about everything. Take a breath, pause for reflection, and ask yourself if you have looked at the whole story or if you are just seeking "first comment" status.
*This post was pointed directly to a specific person. They know who they are because they are me. I have been guilty of this. I have jumped in with opinions too soon. A national event I was involved with changed that, and I have been trying to do better for the last couple of years. That being said, if you saw yourself in this, I hope it helps you find a reset of your own.
