The Disturbing Push to Normalize Injustice.

As mankind supposedly advances, why are we turning more animalistic?

Over the past few years I’ve begun to notice how out of touch most young people are when it comes to crime and punishment. It’s to the point where committing wrongthink or causing minor inconveniences to others are regularly met with genuine calls for serious violence or life-altering retribution. I don’t see this pattern as stemming from exposure to violent music or video games, but rather a lack of empathy associated with low impulse control. I don’t believe for a second that our generation’s higher IQ scores equate to us being more intelligent than our ancestors were a hundred years ago.

This isn’t about our societal progression as much as it is the regression. The standards of mercy and forgiveness rose alongside Christianity, and it is no coincidence that these values would detach themselves from a widely secular society such as our own. The trend of common apathetic mob rule is followed throughout the rest of the West, with Canadian and Australian citizens’ widely turning against the minority in regards to Covid policies. When the majority of your country unironically advocates for throwing each other in a cell to rot for visiting your friends and family, you have to believe there is more than just a tiny problem within your populace. Humans are social creatures, but there is always an us vs them mentality. For the “others” of society, no punishment is too cruel. Most people want to be on the winning side.

This brings us to the internet, where accountability for your words is rarely considered. Here the depravity is highlighted- so many words with so few thoughts. Blind reacting to inflammatory headlines or events puts many of us on autopilot, the animalistic side of ourselves being on full display. This article was prompted when I saw a video (that turned out to be faked) of a McLaren getting its windshield smashed in an attack after rolling through a stop sign. The comments were offering almost full support for the attacker, mainly due to the driver’s poor stop or his alleged bad personality. It reminded me of the countless examples where an altercation breaks out between two grown adults and one is proceeded to be killed for using a no-no word. Public support then proceeds to favor the killer, claiming you win stupid prizes if you play stupid games. Contrary to popular belief, being rude and receiving literal death is not an example of karma working, and it should not be celebrated.

Everybody does have an ick somewhere, because we are all passionate beings. The thousands of real people I described in the prior examples exemplify this when a perceived intolerance happens. I tend to get similarly upset when I see injustice against that which is whole-heartedly good. Some can get to that point through something as miniscule as a sports game. It boils down to your level of self control. If you regularly turn viscerally angry in a matter of seconds, there might in fact be something wrong with you. For what it’s worth, this isn’t your fault.

If you talk to people who think with their feelings first, you know this isn’t overblown in the slightest. There are countless videos of zoomers being asked slightly provocative questions, only to react with undue hostility and the inability to rationalize their emotional outburst, oftentimes even realizing they’re wrong in the middle of their attempt. Maybe they just need preparation time, but in reality these are our jurors. These people vote, as the comments often point out. We already know this lack of emotional intelligence can be devastating to a society driven by the free market. With an actively evil government engaged in targeting dissent, it will soon be impossible to have a fair trial, much less receive public support with the media in their pocket as well.

Solving the NPC problem will take more than fixing our attention spans (if that is even possible). One of my constant inner battles is attempting to determine whether my generation “gets it” or not. There are certainly those who are awake to the plague of irrationality, but there are just as many who embrace it as a replacement for a personality. In the end, framing is everything. You can make any person believe anything if you know how to market your ideas. Note that while I don’t condone the entirety of their actions off camera, our greatest chance at reshaping the mental framework of our populace is unabashedly supporting the Andrew Tate and Sneako type figures- those who are controversial in the mainstream for asking the right questions.

You have to acknowledge it’s mostly women at the helm of this sinking ideological ship, and making a hard line in the sand to not compromise our beliefs will be necessary to get this to stop. Too many men silence themselves out of their fear of retribution from their female counterparts, and it has to stop. I’m not saying you have to go the incel route, but stop censoring yourself for women who won’t like you back regardless of or contingent on your politics. Call on your friends to be and act more masculine. Hold each other accountable to self-improvement. Don’t only know your worth, but strive to increase it. We’re just starting to fall into the hard times, and you can successfully counter the blind aggression against people like you by not giving into their dynamic of who you can and cannot look up to.