Justin Orsino edited by sarina e. guerra
The past week reminded me why I stepped away from political debate in 2018. I always followed the news, but I rarely spoke up about my own views. Maybe it was fear of looking uneducated, or of being ripped apart by people who seemed more informed. In today’s culture, if you can’t back up every word, you risk being “canceled.” And no one wants to be…
the
Little Bitch
…in a battlefield where allies expect you to be the best keyboard warrior you can be. I say it jokingly, but that means something. Words can change minds. But when social media rewards dog-piling and public shaming, staying quiet felt safer than exposing myself.
So, I stuck to posting about video games, movies, and stayed silent during moments that literally shaped our history and present day culture. It wasn’t until 2020, when division and hatred spread faster than that virus thing itself. At the time, it became clear to me how bad things have gotten. And maybe I’m guilty of not taking part in the discussion, but now, I’d like to put a little more effort in sharing what’s on my mind.
Here’s my wild opinion: disagreeing with someone does not make them deserving of harm, let alone death. People have been committing political violence for years, I get that. Yet, as I stand on this rock and speak to you all, I will say this, it takes one decision to change it all. Our beliefs, whether about guns, religion, or anything else, can be debated, but they cannot justify violence. That distinction keeps a society civil, because once that line is crossed…
Chaos takes Over.
When people say others should die for holding a belief, they abandon the civic ground that allows reality to function without sliding into said chaos. It’s bad rhetoric that doesn’t take into account the foundation that allows us to live side by side without tearing each other apart.
Social media accelerates this rhetoric, believe it or not. Those apps don’t show what’s real, all they do is highlight the most extreme, horrifying posts because, we all know this, but outrage is addictive. Meanwhile, all those billionaires that own these tech companies quietly profit from us, pumping money into a system that thrives on keeping us furious. Military strategists call this kind of manipulation “psyops.” You don’t need bullets to destabilize a society, just keep its people at each other’s throats, until they forget they ever shared…
Common Ground.
The truth is, the real enemy isn’t your neighbor with different opinions. It isn’t the person across the aisle who votes differently. The real enemies are the ones that target our local communities for profit, resulting in a neighborhood that never comes together, choosing isolation over solidarity.
Charlie Kirk’s death, and the many others before him who were killed for a belief, show how far we’ve fallen. Violence, justified by ideology, is always a sign of corruption deeper than the individual. Unfortunately, the average person is too distracted to truly see what surrounds them. But I’m here to tell you, and for you to tell others, that this system we partake in only works if we keep feeding it. And the secret they don’t want us to know is… we don’t have to. We can starve it.
David Ryder / Getty Images
That begins not on the internet, but in real life, baby! Meet your neighbors. Reconnect with your town. Support citizen journalism. Choose conversation over dunking contests. Reject the algorithm’s trap and choose humanity over tribalism. It feels small, but it’s…
rebellion in its
Purest Form.
You don’t need permission from your tribe to stop believing the lie that politics is only left versus right. This is a fight between those who feed on chaos and those who refuse to. Choose unity. Even when things seem bleak, and unity is broken to you, find a way. Don’t give up. What I urge people to do is see the person before the politics, and never let belief alone be mistaken for a death sentence. This how we rebuild trust, one human conversation at a time.
May God bless us all, and let us bless one another.
Featured photo 1: Trent Nelson / The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters
Featured photo 2: Alex Kormann / Star Tribune / AP
Featured photo 3: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters
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