Injustice of the day

AA: Good morning! Glad you’re finally awake. Listen, this is very important…

Huh? Relax dude, I just woke up. Why are you bombarding me with this right now?

AA: Sorry, but not sorry. There is an important {$injustice_of_the_day} that you need to be informed of. {$group_1} is undergoing an unprecedented {$injustice_type} (ex: social, moral, economic, psychological) battle and {group_2} must be stopped!

Wait. Who are these people again? Did this just start happening today? Why am I the person that needs to be on top of this issue?

AA: Now is not the time for your quabbling about the context. This {$injustice} is occuring right now! And you need to be participatory! {$group_2} is an existential threat…

Hm. If this was/is so important to the functioning of society or so many people’s well-being then why is this the first I’m ever hearing about this? Even so, what is it exactly that you expect me to do upon hearing this information?

AA: Well for one, we need to stop {$group_2}. They are an imminent threat…

Right okay. And I’m supposed to ‘stop’ them how exactly? And I’m guessing this puts my allegiance toward {$group_1}? I wasn’t even aware of either of these groups or this entire issue like 5 minutes ago and now I need to be willing to die for {$group_1}.

AA: No one said that. But you can start by supporting {$group_1} and stopping {$group_2}.

Again. How exactly am I supposed to ‘support’ {$group_1} or ‘stop’ {$group_2} in any non-trivial way? Not to be rude, but I don’t know that I allotted any significant period of time today to being a superhero and ‘stopping’ this {$injustice_of_the_day}. Not to mention this {$injustice_type} isn’t really an area in my forte and I’m not sure how much I am qualified to be speaking or acting on the matter…

AA: Shame. You sound just like {$group_2}. How can you be on their side? They are the unequivocal evil here.

I didn’t say that. I’m just not sure I grok the context enough to be in a position to ‘take a side’. Even so, I’m just asking questions to see if a side even overlaps with any real-world experience I’ve had or even just some ethereal value I hold dear. It’s not that I don’t care or can’t sympathize with {$group_1} (or {$group_2} for that matter), it’s just that I am struggling to see why I should be so opinionated on this topic that is fresh to me. Also, pragmatically where I can be of any real utility to {$group_1} with this. It seems reasonable and fair to both sides that I shouldn’t ‘pick a side’ until I really feel like I’ve gotten the full context of what is going on. Rarely is it so simple that {$group_2} is evil and {$group_1} are saints. If I had to guess there are reasonable and smart people on both sides…

AA: Look. I’m not upset at your skepticism - that’s a good thing. But you should trust experts who say we should be supporting {$group_1}. It isn’t the time to be questioning things with everything that is at stake.

Sorry, isn’t it always a good time to ask clarifing questions? Especially about a topic that I have little to no context for and is not in my direct area of expertise. Also, I don’t think blindly trusting ‘experts’ or whoever paid for that title is a sustainable strategy either. Who again are these ‘experts’ that I am supposed to hang on their exery word, ready to be whipped up into a frenzy at the drop of a hat? I don’t even have pants on yet and you want me to do… wait, what exactly am I supposed to actually be doing about this again? Helping a vague {$group_1}?

exit silly dialogue

In order for me to care about the {$injustice_of_the_day}, I loosely put forth the following three criteria:

1. Is it me, and specifically me that should care about this issue? Do I have requisite knowledge, skills, or information such that I am particularly suited to understand and be vocal about {$injustice_of_the_day}?
2. Is it now, at this exact moment; day; year that I put aside all other commitments to champion this issue. Is this issue urgently demanding my attention?
3. Is it possible for change it? Could I (#1) to do something now (#2) that would be able to incite an appreciable change (#3)? Would any efforts I put forth statistically be in vain? Or is action too ill-defined or the the issue too geographically slippery?

For those that love their panel of ‘experts’, unfortunately I do not subscribe and do not gift expert status arbitrarily. The world is too rife with black holes of attention, money, and time for me to be code red in an instant. One must be cognizant of where their efforts and attention lie, and who it might be vying for them and why.

I would love to apologize for my skepticism, but I’ll instead invite you to share in it. For while it might seem like an annoying way to live, it is actaully much more peaceful and you are relegated to items for which you are truly convinced of their relevance to you (#1), temporal urgency (#2) as well as your ability to exert your autonomy over them (#3). Come, ask questions and you are welcome.