Purge

For those horror fans out there, I’m sure you’ve indulged in the twisted Purge films. I myself have, as well. One thing that has always plagued me is: could this happen?

I’m sure many of you are thinking, it’s just a movie, this kind of free rain anarchy to murder at random could never happen. Are you really sure of that?

The everyday use of social media platforms have shown that our society is completely disconnected from feeling empathy towards one another. For instance, a woman tells a story of heartbreak on her Facebook account. She receives some tender responses to “hang in there,” or “I’ve been there myself,” yet she also gets bombarded by mass amounts of hate comments. “Keep your business off Facebook,” “This is why he left you, you’re just whining,” “No one cares about your problems.”

If this woman were sitting on a park bench crying her eyes out and these same people saw her, they would either stop to talk to her politely, or just keep going about their business. In no way would they scream these words to this woman’s face if they saw her in person. Or would they?

When we find ourselves in that same situation, we feel the same way that woman does. So why the disconnect? Have we become numb as a whole?

I recently saw homeless people reading “mean tweets” about themselves online. One read, “If home is where the heart is, then the homeless must be heartless.” Another read, “Maybe I would have more sympathy for the homeless if they cleaned themselves up and smelled better.” But the lines between people stating these hurtful words typed online, and spoken to people’s faces have come dangerously blurred.

The political climate in our country has made monsters out of most of us. Name calling instead of having an adult debate about topics. Tiki Torch Nazis waking the streets. Random people getting victimized because of their sexual orientation, skin color, political point of view, or religious beliefs.

Can’t you feel the temperament rising?! Rapidly. Police being told by our own president to show more force to criminals. To stop protecting their heads while putting them in police cars. When did we come to this? We treat animals more humane than this.

Our president has been stated saying he wants his people to stand at attention and show respect like the dictator Kim Jon Un! A man who is more feared then respected. Children being ripped from their families at such young ages. I never believed this would happen in our country. Land of the free, where we welcomed those escaping from suffering or persecution. The giant mixing bowl that literally made this country.

When do the lines become so thin that this scenario becomes a reality? There’s constant proof in our world today that those lines blur on a consistent basis. Look at the number of shootings happening.

According to an article by CNN, the number of deaths by shootings in our country a day this year have reached a high of more than 1,800! It’s become the norm to hear of mass shootings in schools. We grieve, we argue on social platforms on what the one true solution to the problem is, then we go on taking selfies as if nothing happened.

Again, we are screaming out in rage. What’s to stop us from deciding that perhaps venting all this unrest within us, is to take one night to “hunt” free of consequences? Nothing in this current situation in our country can surprise me anymore at this point. Maybe we need to teach the future generations to be better. Lest we end up in the purge.