10.18.2010

A Serious Question

How do you criticize the exploitation and ultimately shallow message of a campaign that is intended to prevent people from killing themselves without seeming like you don't care about dead people? Because I do. I do care about dead people and I wish they weren't dead. But "It gets better" is the new "Just say no." Well-intentioned but ineffective. Such pie-in-the-sky, touchy-feely rhetoric sounds good, but what about right now? What can we say to people about how to make their lives better right now, in the moment (when it matters most!), as opposed to making them believe that if they're patient, it'll be OK later on. Eventually. Someday. If there's one thing I (think I) know about people, it's that they're not patient, especially in today's reliance upon instant gratification. Everything must be instantaneous. Everything must be tangible. Everything must be right now. Not five years from now. Not five hours from now. How do you tell someone that there will always be bullies and there will always be bullshit and that's part of life without seeming like a bully yourself? How do you criticize something so well-intentioned without seeming like a bully? Can you say anything? Or should you just keep your well-intentioned cynicism to yourself?

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