December is here and with it all sorts of magical, fuzzy feelings. Goodwill towards man! Charities a'ringing their bells! Hugging in the streets! The busy hustle and bustle of winter before the hatred for cold weather sets in! The lights! The music! Fuck you all!
Here we go again.
There's a thing circling on Facebook where everyone changes their profile picture to a cartoon character to show their support for or against child abuse. I suppose its supposed to be anti-child abuse, but as they say, any press is good press. Now, things like this are always happening but there's a sudden influx of them around the holidays. Sort of like the influx of venerial diseases around Valentine's Day. There are generic posts about showing support for the troops going around like swine flu through an elementary school, and more charities out whoring themselves for spare change than hookers. I find it all just so disgusting.
The thing is I support the troops. Hell, I love war. I don't want our boys and girls dying over there but you know what? That's the job they signed up for and its the job most of them are proud to do. I support the shit out of that kind of courage. But I don't feel the need to post about it on my Facebook. We all support the troops, why do we need to say it that particular way at this particular time of year? Have we admitted more democracy-hating Soviets into the country than before? No. Then what the hell? The soliders won't see it, they're in fucking Iraq. Write them a letter, send them a card, buy them some Christmas presents.
You won't, because your support for them is as shallow as mine. Let's be realisitc people. Of course you want them home safe and sound. We aren't monsters, we're people and so are they. But you don't think about them. How many of the people posting those status updates about it will give them a second thought that same day? The day after? The answer is very few. Even those of us with family over there don't devote every second to the war effort. Why? Because we're not directly involved and we have other concerns. We're too self-involved to give it much more than the occasional heated debate. That isn't a sin, that's human. So don't get all on your fucking high horse because Christmas is three weeks away. It makes you look pathetic.
Likewise, I'm totally against child abuse. If I saw a dude kicking the shit out of his kid, I'd make it a point to smash his face in with a brick. But some silly, bullshit Facebook gimmick doesn't do anything more than make you feel less guilty for being so privileged as to not be beaten every day. That's all. You aren't donating money to help these kids. You aren't going to work for social services or CPS to try and save as many as you can. You're sitting at home in your middle-class neighborhood going, "Gee, sure sucks to be a child abuse victim. Haha! I can change my profile picture to Goku and that'll save someone's life! I feel so much better!" Fuck you, you are an asshole.
If you really want to help those kids, go volunteer. Don't spam me with some bullshit like this, because then I have to go all the way to Blogspot and get pissed off about it. Doesn't anyone have a charity to support angry bloggers? Come on, I need money too. It's Christmas time, for gods' sakes, how will my family survive with me being so angry all the time?
My point is this: If we are too self-involved to give a shit about the needy or the homeless or the erectile dysfunctions for the rest of the year, what the hell changes us around Christmas? Guilt. Plain and simple. You feel guilty because other people live in squalor and filth and poverty. Big fucking deal. They live that way in August too, but you don't care about it then. The worst part about it, is that you make other people feel guilty by proxy.
Say, for instance, you post that thing about the soldiers and then change your picture for the kids. Now you have a friend or relative that makes slightly more money than you do the sees that and suddenly feels shitty because you're actually less fortunate than they are, and you're so tender-hearted you're helping out anyway. It's like Keeping Up With the Fucking Jonses: The Guilt Trip. Your friends do it, you feel less important for not doing it, so you do it too. You aren't saving anyone, you aren't contributing to the moral fabric of humanity, you're saying "None of you are better than me! I FUCKING LOVE SUPPORTING CAUSES! I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF FACEBOOK CHARITY!"
Give me a break.
The problem is easily solved. If you really care, then care all year long. Post that shit, volunteer your time, donate your money when you can. If you don't really care, then don't fool yourself and don't try to fool the rest of us. And, most importantly, stop inviting me to this shit. I'm not moved, I'm not motivated. I'm irritated. And if I have to be the only asshole honest enough to say "Oh, Jimmy got beat up by his mom again? Guess he should take some fucking karate classes," then I'll be that asshole. Because I don't feel so guilty with what I have that I need to justify my station in the world by pretending to care about things that don't matter to me.
Like I said, Go America. Win that war. Kill the bad guys. And don't worry, kids, eventually someone with a heart and proper training will come along and either save you from that abusive home or fail miserably because their job is too difficult and not rewarding enough. Either way, the great and powerful Guilt Machine will make sure you know there are lots of people out there that support you, but none of them that care enough to adopt your sorry ass.
It's bleak, but so is winter. Let's move on to the part where we hate each other, all of this fake goodwill is starting to give me diabetes.
Loathsomely Yours,
-S.R.
No comments:
Post a Comment