By Editorial Board
-Editorial-
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Have you ever heard of this quote from Buddha? Although it’s an old saying, its truth resonates today.
A lot of people are holding onto this rage as we speak. Anger at politicians, anger at the media, anger at family and society in general, at the dog who barked at them once, the kid that looked at them the wrong way — angry at everything and everyone. In reality, many of these people are angry in general, angry with themselves, but unable to express or quash it.
Generally speaking, bitter people will be mad at anything; it’s just a matter of what they choose to direct it at in any given moment.
Politics is the big one today. You see bitterness and corruption on both sides. You do something the other side doesn’t “like” and they bite back with petty threats and actions.
When it comes to politicians, they’ll do anything to protect their own. An example of this is withholding information from the media because of a story or report that they didn’t like, even if it was true (*wink wink,* McKees Rocks).
It’s certainly not an uncommon practice for politicians to cover up the wrongdoings of fellow party members from the media. But in doing so, they’re hurting the taxpayers — the public who have a right to information — and the people who vote for them.
What exactly are they expecting to gain from doing so? All they’re doing is adding oil to a fire they created in their own home.
In ideological contentions, certain individuals find it completely justifiable to ruin other people's lives because they have a different opinion. Here we're talking about different opinions, not actual hate spewing. No, these are just your average people who want positive change like the rest of us; they just have a different idea of how to get there.
This has become a common practice called “cancel culture,” wherein the public doxes and shames an individual, group or company because they don’t agree with one group. This can destroy a person's life when information has been shared with the whole world.
The sad thing is, this is becoming acceptable behavior in adults. If a three-year-old rages like some of these adults, you put them in time out and take away their privileges. You teach them right from wrong and how to control their emotions.
Somewhere, somehow, it seems vast swaths of these people were never taught these lessons and slipped through the cracks. Now we’re left with 30, 50, even 80-year olds who throwing temper tantrums just like a toddler.
Part of refusing to embrace these poisonous tactics is for folks to keep standing up to those who want to quash our voices because when we go along with cancel culture, the beast gets stronger.
When ideas clash, we need to be able to sit down like mature adults and try to figure out a middle-ground or workable solution.