THORSDAY THUNDERBOLT: The Half-Life of Outrage

Here we are once again—after a week off, due to some vile enchantment laying The Prince of Asgard low—ready to continue the fight. This week Surly Thor would like to talk about outrage and its short lifespan in this day and age.

On Midgard thou art both blessed and cursed with news now being a twenty-four-seven, three-hundred-and-sixty-five event. Thou would think with all of this that a fair share of the cycle would be stories to lift the hearts and spirits but alas those stories don’t sell anymore. The odd adage Odinson believes is if it bleeds it leads. So on a daily basis thou art fed a steady diet of the worst things Midgard hath to offer and some of it can produce in many cases well-deserved outrage. E’ery network wants to be the first to break the new outrage, and as a result thou hast seen the quality of reporting decrease in order to be exclusive. In the first twelve hours after Sandy Hook look at how much false information was given out and later taken back by networks not bothering to check sources—short of understanding that someone’s brother’s cousin’s former roommate said it was true and running with it. Boston was, at the onset, not much better. These inconsistentcies then help the bottom feeders… Jones, Beck, and the like gain traction by pointing out “truths” about the events that have been changed and spinning tragedy into conspiracy.

The problem stems when somewhere around ten-to-fourteen days later something worse comes along and suddenly no one is mentioning the last offense even if still on-going. Surly Thor calls them causes d’jour, and thou hast a large percentage of people wandering thy realm who hop from outrage to outrage. The real rub of all this is whilst thou art embedded in one cause several others possibly more worth fighting slip from thy grasp.

Remember the IRS scandal? It was the outrage that was replaced by Paula Deen’s mouth and lawsuit. Remember the outrage over Paula Deen’s less than quaint southern charms? It was the thing that had people up in arms before the Zimmerman trial. Now we just wait for whate’er horrible thing will draw us away from that verdict and onto something else. Tis almost a full circle, as most people went nearly a full year not caring about the Zimmerman case between the actual arrest and the trial.

Sorry, Odinson doth know tis an unpopular opinion to have, but Martin and Zimmerman will be forgotten soon. Hel even as Surly Thor doth type this the rage machine is already ramping up o’er Rolling Stone placing the Boston Marathon bomber on its cover. Thou dost remember the Boston bombing, right? Tis the thing that got brushed over once the IRS scandal broke. The Jones-heads will come out of their bunkers to talk about how he is a patsy for the government. Those with delicate sensibilities will condemn the magazine for making a celebrity out of him, and some of us will sit back and realize tis most likely a compelling piece of background information of what could have caused someone to go to such an extreme.

The worst part is there art those out there that not only enjoy this cycle of outrage d’jour but make their living upon it. Without the cycle spinning story after story of mortals taking each other’s lives Nancy Grace would be out of a job. Without the cycle scrambling to turn up e’ery faux pas in the White House, Sean Hannity wouldn’t be able to go on air and rant for a hour about how sources confirmed President Obama left the toilet seat up in the Lincoln Bedroom last night.

Oddly this is one of the few things happening in the States United that isn’t partisan. Both sides do this with equal zeal, though those on the right hath been known to continue to bludgeon the horse well past its expiration. Odison is looking at thy ongoing Benghazi coverage Fox News. In the past year the Conservatives have hopped from protecting Chic-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby from the filthy commies and homosexuals to condemning Home Depot, Sears and the sponsors who dropped Rush Limbaugh for their support of Muslims, homosexuals and sluts respectively ( the irony of course here being those who pride themselves on loving capitalism and the free market doth not understand how it works) The left lept to the same causes just on the opposite side of the picket line and these art just the causes that came to Odinson’s head as this was being typed. Allfather knows if one wert to look back over the past year the scandals, causes and outrages could fill a column without explanation.

Now Surly Thor doth not to demean e’eryone who doth raise a banner to fight for what they believe in, tis actually one of the most noble things one can do and in this day and age of growing apathy it can be refreshing in moderation. This is to say, pick thy battles, thou can’t go to war for e’erything as it leaves little time to stop and remind thyself that Midgard is not as full of monsters as the talking heads want thee to believe. At some point the abyss will stare back, and tis good to sometimes let it slide, as chances are hundreds of others will flock to that banner. Sadly Surly Thro feels at time some can’t live without the fix so to speak, the outrage and resulting conflict art what drive them. Also if thou art going to get involved in the fight, see it through to a logical end. If thou art upset about, say, the farm bill being stripped of food stamp subsidies whilst corporations art still given tax breaks in the same bill, don’t give up until the bill is either dead or passed. Keeping the pressure up is the key to any issue, and if thou and others leave that fight mid-battle to go fight another way the senators and congressmen will stop receiving calls telling them how far up their asses their heads are and assume tis just business as usual. Solid commitment to one idea from beginning to end is much better than a half-hearted try at half a dozen things, no matter how well-intentioned.

Until next week, do good things.

ST