Outrage

It is interesting times we live in. This month my planned blog was about the word acceptance.   However trends in social media have been intriguing and it seems that so many comments provoke outrage. 

Most of the nonsense out there I personally ignore on the basis that I can only make change in me and trying to illicit that in others is often a lost cause.

It seems fascinating that so many people feel the need to show how outraged they are on a particular topic.  TV for example – if you do not like a show, do not watch it.  You have the power not to watch and even stretch out for the remote and change the channel as opposed to leaping onto social media to show your outrage at a show you disagree with.

I made a post about tyre companies and the lack of pricing and how do we know actual prices and if we are paying a fair price.  Someone had to comment on the fact that I spelt tyres as tires.  I replied “gee missing the issue by being a dick - gee thanks mate that’s helpful”   And that’s the point I am trying to make I guess.  Are we too busy being outraged about things that are not important that we are actually missing the message?  And before you get outraged yes grammar is important however if that’s all you focus on you may miss the message and yes grammar can change the meaning but let’s be honest most of us are smart enough to see the message.  God knows I have enough typos in the things I do but mainly because I am too sentences ahead (and yes it should be two – I am making a point), I am seeing the message not the details. 

Are we becoming so focused on what offends us, and essentially turning into an angry mindless mob? 

Do we need to maybe focus on what is real and needs our attention and look within ourselves to see the good?  My favorite band is OMD and there is a song called “New holy ground.” Here a few lines:

“We must now abandon, the people that we’ve been,
So take a look at yourself, and walk to the edge,
And take a deep breath, and be someone else,
Take a look at yourself, and see what is found
Step into the light.”

This song always makes me reflect on me and my behaviors and that sometimes taking a breath and being some else - as in being a better person may be a better option than venting in outrage. 

Racism, sexism, cruelty to animals and the environment to name but a few, they are things we need to stand up for.  However there seems personally so much outrage over inconsequential nonsense that it almost beggars belief.

Having said that environmentalists for example are all up in arms and would have us all driving electric cars.  Again I think they are too outraged about one aspect to see the big picture.  Personally I am not sure the technology is there yet and when it is I will embrace electric cars with open arms but right now I have a couple of thoughts on why I think it’s not yet time to go fully electric:

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• How are we generating that electricity for them (and not just in NZ but globally) and how are we disposing of the batteries in these cars.  Simply put - a significant number of these cars are going to be essentially nuclear powered.  I am, pretty sure if we use clean energy it does not solve the disposing of the materials in the batteries when they are at end of life
• And are we all ok with car manufactures consuming huge amounts of resources to make these cars? 
• I am pretty sure that right now from a saving the environment point of view it would be better to maintain our existing cars as that would essentially have less total impact on the environment. 
• From a Kiwi point of view where is all the extra power to charge these cars coming from.  What happens in winter when we all get home, turn on our heat pumps, cook our meals, charge our electric cars and then try fire up the devices to show our outrage that we are having power cuts as we have not invested in the resources to power this brave new world? 
• I am all for saving the planet but rather than being outraged at one aspect it’s a bit more complicated than that.

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Do not get me wrong as I am definitely not perfect in any of this and it is a case of just reminding myself of what is important and maybe just taking a breath and being a better person is a good thing. 
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Sorry if that was a bit long winded as it took on a life of its own. 

On the up side I have justified buying a classic car as it is saving the planet – go me.  And an Alfa like this one would be just the ticket
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Cheers - John