whatsap groups and politics

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

I often find on whatsap groups that you  need to "pick your battles". 

The groups we are members of are often the light hearted, "happy morning" , hope you have a lovely birthday sort.

When a racially charged, politically incorrect or 'off center' post appears, we could get all bent out of shape, defending the innocent, or we can simply let it slide.

One would be wrong for assuming our silence, makes us complicit. 

Most have way too much going on in their day to daily lives to act on every *hard on* 

While some are epic and you cannot and should not  pass up the opportunity,  for the most part we are just in it for the ride. 

If we were to take on every demon and everything that smelled bad we would spend our time being "that person".

The one who seeks Political correctness in everything. 

The world is messed up. 

I get that. 

It's been this way ever since the first bully decided to leave his lunch at home. 

It's my duty to carry my own lunch and to protect anybody I see being bullied, but I can't spend eternity crying over the collective pain that was inflicked on the playground. While I might go on a crusade to help someone who is having a hard time, it does not define me. 

If you would like to be  the warrior, who champions the cause of the oppressed, I applaud you and will contribute to your cause, but I will not invite you over to my party, as you are sure to get up somebodies nose and spoil my party with your talk of the plight of the native Indian or the beluga whale. 

This group is such a meeting place. 

It was not created as a forum for activists, or even like minded people, but a clubhouse where people from different worlds can chill. 

If anybody wants to take the soap box and have a rant, against slavery or for that matter in favour of slavery they should be free to say what they feel.

We could counter, and present a different view point but we have to allow everyone the right to speak or we have become the very person we are struggling against.  The only thing that should be off limits is hate Speech, and even then it's often subjective. 

It would be naive to pass judgment on somebody on the basis of one salty post. And it is *hubris* to think that everyone on the group is too intelectually challenged to grasp the complexities or subtleties. Their silence being interpreted as either ignorance or assent. 

If there is anybody here who supports the "great orange one" and needs to make America Great again, I welcome you. Have at it. 

I don't understand how you reconcile your intellect with what the orange one says but I would not want you to leave. If anything I am very curious to hear your views, just to understand how so many people share your outlook.

We are all trying to broaden our horizons and find meaning in our lives. Some of us are further along, or appear from our set of biases to be further along, but we need to accept the fact the we don't know which end is the end of the line and which the beginning.

The only person we can really change, is ourselves. And even that is a hard battle.

M Parak

June 2020