Eric's blog - why do we dismiss outrage? Because it's easy.

Yesterday, this photo taken by Amanda Lowe and posted to social media sparked outrage. Not a whole ton of outrage, but some. And even a little bit of outrage is enough to infuriate people who HATE OUTRAGE!

Think about this for a minute – how many people do you know who fall into this category? That of people for whom being outraged at the ‘outrage industry’ is in itself an industry?

There’s an easy way to spot them – or to determine if you, yourself are a part of this furious anti-outrage industry. Do you hear the phrase ‘PC thugs’ coming out of your mouth? How about ‘fake outrage’ or ‘outrage industry’? ‘Do-gooders’? ‘Who Cares’, ‘Just get over it’, ‘Bleeding hearts’, ‘self-righteous pricks’? You might be one of those people. And why do those people get so much of a voice? Because it’s easy. It’s easy to mock Glebe residents who want to bury power lines. It’s easy to write ‘who cares’ or ‘get over it’ on Facebook. It’s easy to get people on your side when you paint the complainers as losers with nothing better to do. What’s more difficult is coming up with a reasoned, logical argument as to why those who are outraged are full of crap.

Here’s the thing – sometimes those people are right. So often, there is some faux outrage over something innocuous that doesn’t deserve it. For example – are you a new parent? Have you ever been on one of those Facebook parenting groups? The ones that lose their minds over the way Ryan Reynolds is holding his baby in the baby carrier? The ones who insist that if you push your baby in a stroller you are pushing them away from you and are therefore a bad parent? Yeah. There’s a lot of nonsense out there.

But when getting angry when people voice their outrage is your knee-jerk reaction to everything, there is a huge problem. And that problem is that this bitterness with the ‘PC do-gooders’ leaves no room in your brain for a very important idea – what if the people who get upset over something have a point? What if their outrage, while exaggerated, comes from a reasonable place that allows for middle ground?

Let’s take for example this guy in Confederate shorts. As far as I’m concerned (just my personal opinion), he should not have been booted from Bluesfest. Nor should Bluesfest have to apologize, or should any action be taken about it now. Also, in my personal opinion, this guy is a douche. I can’t imagine anyone thinking it’s okay to wear this symbol, today. This symbol has been in the news every day for a month. If you’re alive, you are now aware that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate, intolerance, racism, slavery and segregation. So much so that in areas of Europe where you can be jailed for flying a Nazi symbol, the confederate flag is the symbol of choice for far-right racist hate groups.

Which brings me to the arguments I’ve heard this morning:

1. A month ago, nobody would have cared about this. Undeniably true. So what? Because the vast majority of people were ignorant about the meaning of this symbol a month ago doesn’t change the fact that they damn well better understand it now.

2. The flag controversy ignores the real problem (guns, domestic terrorism, etc). Yes, there may be bigger problems surrounding the Charleston shooting. I tend to agree that guns are a bigger problem than the flag. But the world does not focus on only one problem at a time. Why should you? Fight the good fight on guns if you like – I happen to agree. But call the flag out also.

3. That flag just represents Southern pride and tradition to many people. What people? Complete imbeciles? A cursory search of the history of the flag shows that NOBODY flew that flag from the time the civil war ended for almost 100 years. It was brought back in the 1960s because of the civil rights movement. It was intended solely as a way to remind black people in the south that they were not the equal of white people. That’s your tradition. That’s your pride. There is nothing else, no matter how diffused the issues have become over the years.

4. It’s an American thing. Who cares, we’re Canada. No. It’s a universal thing. Is the swastika only a German thing? Is the Isis flag only an Iraqi thing? Symbols mean something.

5. Get over it. Seriously? What’s the matter with you?

No, calling this dipshit out for wearing confederate flag shorts is not PC do-goodery, it’s reasonable. Calling for firings, apologies, or bans – yeah. Way too far. But calling out a dipshit for being a dipshit? Completely understandable. Times change. Change with them. Digging in your heels makes you complicit in the problem, and that’s all.

Two other examples of things that allow the anti-‘outrage industry’ industry to vent their spleens:

Temper your knee-jerk reactions. Think for a minute. And realize that often when people complain about something, they have a point.