There’s a scene in the
movie “Meatballs” that I just love. It’s the “It just doesn’t matter” speech
given by Bill Murray’s character Tripper. Some of you may remember the speech.
You can Google those words and bring up the scene on YouTube to refresh your
memory. It just lasts a couple of minutes so you should do it now if you don’t
know what I’m talking about. In the movie there is a rivalry between a two
summer camps. Tripper is a camp counselor at North Star, the underdogs. They are
losing badly, as they have done 12 years in a row to the Mohawks. In the scene
I’m referring to Tripper is giving a “pep talk” to rally the troops. In the
talk he says that whether they win or lose the really good looking girls are
still going to go out with the Mohawk guys because “they’ve got all the
money.” My favorite line from the scene
is, “It just doesn’t matter if we win or lose.”
Social media is getting
uglier by the minute whether a person has a few friends or a few thousand.
There’s a reason that I’m bringing it up today as the doomsday election draws
ever closer. As we fast approach the time when our earth becomes a burning
nuclear cinder circling the sun it might be worth considering being a little
nicer to one another in these end times. After all, anybody can be a jerk in
difficult times. It might be harder, but shouldn’t we choose being nice(r)
instead?
I’ve had to unfriend some
people from Facebook because their posts were just too personally offensive.
There are lots of posts of the nature of if you’re voting for ________(Fill in
the blank.) you’re stupid or a special kind of stupid, or ignorant, or an
idiot, or…oh, just fill in your favorite pejorative. Those are mild examples.
There are posts that go way beyond mild. Being generic doesn’t make them any
less insulting, offensive or personal.
At this point in time
what we say or do, other than voting, really isn’t going to make any difference
in the overall scheme of things other than to incite people to anger and/or
cause hurt feelings. Whether people are interested in reaching out or not the
point to consider is “It just doesn’t matter.” It would be wrong in the current
atmosphere of extreme hyperbole, mistrust and incitement to make assumptions as
to who friends, family or acquaintances might be supporting or what ideals they
might hold. The person being called a
name may even be a loved one who knows better than to state their position
openly because of the comments that have been made. It has EXACTLY the same
effect if you post a generic meme that says “If you are voting for Hillary, you
are a complete idiot” as if you posted on my timeline, “Keith, you are an idiot
for voting for Hillary.” Next time you’re tempted to share one of those memes,
think about the effect it may have on your Facebook friends.
Here’s the deal though
and I think this is important. How we interact in our social circles big or
small isn’t really going to make any difference in the big picture. Shelley and
I have already done our homework and know how we’re going to vote. I believe
this to be true for the majority of the voting population. The smaller number
that haven’t made up their minds, the undecideds, regardless of their
affiliation are the ones to whom people should really be reaching out on behalf
of their candidate. I don’t believe that insulting people is the way to put a
best foot forward for the candidate being supported.
Our vote is just a grain
of sand amongst others (which is not to say it is not important). But how we
act with each other is important and has consequences. We are examples to
others whether we like it or not. How we express ourselves speaks to the ideals
that we hold. If we say that we’re of the faith or people know that information
about us then they will view us through that filter. With that in mind I
believe that we should be able to justify what we do and how we act, especially
to the younger ones. I think that we should be able to do that without
insulting people who aren’t the main characters in the show of life that we’re watching.