What Outrages Us? PF Warning.

[Flick James]

I was listening to the Adam Carolla podcast recently, and he was talking about something that I’ve often thought about. One of those unfortunate things about current society that seems to suggest that we are doomed.

It has to do with what our society gets outraged about. It seems our outrage is either horribly misdirected or just outright vacous.

For example, in 1988, a Libyan named Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, bound for JFK Airport from Heathrow, that killed 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. He was imprisoned and then released in 2009 because he was sick, apparently “at death’s door,” and given a “compassionate release” because he was supposed to be weeks from dying and would probably not live to see if his second appeal of wrongful conviction would be successful. First of all, boo-f**king-hoo. Then he should have died in prison. Were the 270 people who died let out of the ground? Who the f**k could justify such a decision?

Then he was returned to Libya to a hero’s welcome when he got off the plane, as if he were The Beatles arriving in America in 1964. Can you imagine the horror of the relatives of those people he killed seeing that? Where was the outrage? Where were the loud-mouthed celebrity activists then? Where was the outrage from the people? We heard a little bit about it and then it just got largely ignored in favor of the latest Hollywood break-ups.

It is now over two years later. Gadaffi is dead and this piece of s**t who was on death’s door is still alive. Not dead in prison where he should be. Alive with his family in Libya. Do we even hear about this? Is there any significant outrage?

Of course not. No, instead these are the kinds of things we get outraged about:

Mel Gibson yelling at his wife.

Alec Baldwin yelling at his daughter.

Whether or not Kim Kardashian married for ratings or not.

What Ashton Kutcher broadcasted on Twitter.

A joke Kathy Griffin made about Bristol Palin.

THOSE ARE OUR HEADLINES!

We have no problem demonizing and shutting down businesses with Occupy Wall Street riots, but we don’t really care about a man who killed 260 people in a deplorable act of hatred being released from prison and being treated to a hero’s welcome, do we?

Where have our priorities gone as a nation and as a society?

Sorry, I’m in a bit of a bad mood about it and just felt the need to vent.

[ulthar]

Where have our priorities gone as a nation and as a society?

I don't think it is an accident...an incredible display of sleigh-of-hand is being given, only with people's lives rather than playing cards or handkerchiefs.

Greed and selfishness are strong motivators.  I know a dude who recently said we are not selfish ENOUGH, that the world would be a better place if we were even more self-centered.  With attitudes like that around, I can see how "who cares about the other guy...wasn't MY family, didn't happen HERE" perpetuates.

[The Burgomaster]

I've seen some ridiculous changes in peoples priorities during my lifetime.  In particular, I am SO tired of the whole "political correctness" thing.  Two examples of the types of things that bug me:

* Saying stuff like "Holiday Party" instead of "Christmas Party."  Okay, fine.  If it's a generic holiday party, then call it a holiday party.  But if it's a damned Christmas Party, then call it a Christmas Party!

* "Spring Spheres" instead of Easter Eggs.

Don't even get me started on the fact that kids can't play Cowboys and Indians anymore.  Now they need to play Cowboys and Native Americans.

WAY too much time and effort is spent on making a big deal when someone says something that is "politically incorrect."

[Flick James]

True.

What kills me is that this goes beyond a simple matter of disagreement over ideologies. This lands squarely in the the middle of "don't we have much bigger fish to fry?"

Uh oh. Don't tell PETA I said that.

[RCMerchant]

Personally I don't give a dam about who flash in the pan celebertiy is f**king who.
I don't give a good Gawd dam if Charlie Sheen is or isnt on drugs.

I DO care about the insider trading by politions who take advantage of-and dictate-policy to line their pocketbooks.
Or why celeberties get slapped on the wrist for crimes that would land my ass square in a little room with bars.
Or how US forgein policy covertly backs facist goverments and then reverse ourselves when it blows up in our face.

Priorities? People nowadays are playing video games and watching Xeech Factor-they don't give a f**k who wins for President...they care who wins on American Idle.

[Flick James]

Personally I don't give a dam about who flash in the pan celebertiy is f**king who.
I don't give a good Gawd dam if Charlie Sheen is or isnt on drugs.

I DO care about the insider trading by politions who take advantage of-and dictate-policy to line their pocketbooks.
Or why celeberties get slapped on the wrist for crimes that would land my ass square in a little room with bars.
Or how US forgein policy covertly backs facist goverments and then reverse ourselves when it blows up in our face.

Priorities? People nowadays are playing video games and watching Xeech Factor-they don't give a f**k who wins for President...they care who wins on American Idle.

I propose a new election process. Let's select our elected officials via an elimination based reality show? Forget party affiliations and primaries. We can just have X number of candidates for President, Senate seat, Governor, etc. compete, and the voters of that jurisdiction can vote them off each week, one at a time. Instead of registering to vote as a particular party, people would just register their mobile numbers to vote. And the people that don't have a mobile device that can vote? Simple, there would be locations, just like a polling place, where people could go and vote for their candidate to stay on the show.

 

[RCMerchant]

  And they have to SING their speeches! While dancing! And they gotta have stupid haircuts and tight,flashy clothes!

" I'll bomb Iran, because I can-I'll do it-Myyyyy Waaay!"

[Flick James]

And they have to SING their speeches! While dancing! And they gotta have stupid haircuts and tight,flashy clothes!

" I'll bomb Iran, because I can-I'll do it-Myyyyy Waaay!"

American Politicians Have Talent

[Mr. DS]

Flick I actually won't argue with anything you brought up here.  Its been on my mind recently with the whole Kardashian nonsense.  

I mean yeah she has a slammin' body, probably one of the more perfect ones I've seen in a while.  Still, she famous for being famous and now the world gives a s**t about her divorce.  Stupid.

[Flick James]

It's not like I care that people want to be interested in trivial items. I mean, hell we're all into bad movies, right?

I'm just saying it's more than a little disconcerting that this stuff makes HEADLINE NEWS! I mean, the front page of the Entertainment section, maybe. At some point the winner of American Idol became our front page news and something like the example I brought up with the Lockerbie bomber gets buried. There's just something fundamentally unsettling about that.

[indianasmith]

I was furious at the authorities for letting that barbarian go free, and even more furious at the hero's welcome he got in Libya.  Had I been President, I would have had a Predator drone hovering near the airport when he landed, and right as Ghadaffi shook his hand . . . BOOM!!!!

Two problems solved, message clearly sent.

BTW, what is a Kardashian?

[RCMerchant]

BTW, what is a Kardashian?

It's a blow-up doll possessed by the ghost of Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Oh-and it's also possessed of millions of dollars donated by idiots who have nothing better to jerk off to.
I'll take porn any day. 

[FatFreddysCat]

I work for a newspaper and on the front page of our daily this morning was a big story about the Kardashian Sisters' book signing at a local book store. This is front page news? *SIGH*

Get this, apparently, 700 people lined up outside the store and waited in the rain for hours for the chance to meet those airheads (well, two out of three of'em anyway, apparently the hot one was absent cuz she had better things to do)... and when the sisters left the store promptly at 7:15 PM, saying they "had to fly out somewhere," there were quite a few disappointed "fans" still left outside... and even though you'd expect those folks to say "F*** 'em, they're never getting a nickel out of me again," some of them actually said "It's OK, we understand, we still love them."

(Slaps forehead)

[tracy]

It still amazes me at what people find interesting....all those fake celebrities and their phony lives. I'm afraid that some people simply don't have the ability to distinguish what is really important or that stuff like that is easier to handle. They want to know every idiotic thing about these people's lives yet they will park in the Handicapped spot "only for a second" and block it for someone who actually needs it. Where are their priorities?

[alandhopewell]

I was listening to the Adam Carolla podcast recently, and he was talking about something that I’ve often thought about. One of those unfortunate things about current society that seems to suggest that we are doomed.

It has to do with what our society gets outraged about. It seems our outrage is either horribly misdirected or just outright vacous.

For example, in 1988, a Libyan named Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, bound for JFK Airport from Heathrow, that killed 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. He was imprisoned and then released in 2009 because he was sick, apparently “at death’s door,” and given a “compassionate release” because he was supposed to be weeks from dying and would probably not live to see if his second appeal of wrongful conviction would be successful. First of all, boo-f**king-hoo. Then he should have died in prison. Were the 270 people who died let out of the ground? Who the f**k could justify such a decision?

Then he was returned to Libya to a hero’s welcome when he got off the plane, as if he were The Beatles arriving in America in 1964. Can you imagine the horror of the relatives of those people he killed seeing that? Where was the outrage? Where were the loud-mouthed celebrity activists then? Where was the outrage from the people? We heard a little bit about it and then it just got largely ignored in favor of the latest Hollywood break-ups.

It is now over two years later. Gadaffi is dead and this piece of s**t who was on death’s door is still alive. Not dead in prison where he should be. Alive with his family in Libya. Do we even hear about this? Is there any significant outrage?

Of course not. No, instead these are the kinds of things we get outraged about:

Mel Gibson yelling at his wife.

Alec Baldwin yelling at his daughter.

Whether or not Kim Kardashian married for ratings or not.

What Ashton Kutcher broadcasted on Twitter.

A joke Kathy Griffin made about Bristol Palin.

THOSE ARE OUR HEADLINES!

We have no problem demonizing and shutting down businesses with Occupy Wall Street riots, but we don’t really care about a man who killed 260 people in a deplorable act of hatred being released from prison and being treated to a hero’s welcome, do we?

Where have our priorities gone as a nation and as a society?

Sorry, I’m in a bit of a bad mood about it and just felt the need to vent.

     What you're feeling is called "righteous indignation", and you have no need to apologize.
As a nation, we're a mess, with no moral center, except a vague concept that says that everyone has a "right" to whatever they want to have a right to. We tell our children that to stand for something is to be intolerant, that some nebulous "somebody" MIGHT get offended by our words, much less our actions.

     Y'know one of the reasons I came to Texas? It's because this is one of the few places you can still shoot some joker for breaking in your house. I don't own any guns, but I like the common sense concept that if someone breaches my door, uninvited, particularly if he seeks to do me and mine harm, he's got one comin'. It makes me sick that, in some places (4-X, my home state of Ohio) criminals have successfully sued decent citizens who were defending themselves.

     How can we teach the next generation right and wrong when we've got a system that says that the individual gets to decide what that means?

    We need less law, and more justice, less tolerance, and more common sense.