Selfie Nation

Why we don’t solve problems in the United States:

A man commits a heinous act of violence against his fiance and our energy is focused almost exclusively on blame, of the man and the institutions that have clearly failed. We want heads on sticks and it basically ends there.

We ignore that we have a societal illness, where we take little to no responsibility for all of the ingredients and circumstances that foster widespread dehumanization of women and men who cannot control themselves, their urges and their emotions.

The same for racism.
The same for xenophobia.
The same for misuse of our planet and her resources.
The same for our animosity towards each other and lack of empathy for those less fortunate.
And on and on…

Looking for villains is a spectator sport, nothing more. Whether you like sports or not, too many of us are metaphorically just watching football.

Things like this do not happen out of the blue, they exist in an environment that fosters them. We are all a part of it and we can put an end to it, too.

Counterintuitively, it starts with empathy and understanding, slowly helping each other undo the impact of living in a very violent and oppositional world and prioritizing understanding ourselves and why we are the way we are. Not just some of us, the ones who are examples after committing terrible acts, but every single one of us. We must look more deeply.

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