We are living in dark times. Universities across the country face unparalleled levels of scrutiny and attack. Friends and families have been torn apart by political differences. Institutions in this country and others have been eliminated or weakened within the last year. We find ourselves constantly short of money for ourselves and our programs. Human rights have been cast aside. Conflict plagues half the world’s shores.
Amidst it all, we persevere nonetheless in the pursuit of our own normalcy and the accomplishment of our degrees. As we cope with a turbulent world, it’s easy to get lost in our phones and the rage-bait interactions we are forced to have. No matter the issue, there is and always will be the backlash to the backlash to the backlash to some controversial event.
In this paralysis of rage, there is but one culprit: corporate social media and the economy of holding your attention. To them, you are meant to doomscroll. You are meant to get wrapped up in the mindless rant of someone you politically disagree with. You are meant to, after leaving an angry comment, keep scrolling and think nothing of the advertisements they are paid to put in front of you.
On a daily basis, we are confused about what is really important: the last reel you watched, the last news article, the last comment section debate you had, the last shouting match, the last ‘I told you so?’ Is all of it as important as it seems?
It depends, but I believe not; rarely is a mind changed by name-calling on a public platform. More common is how a perspective can change from a casual conversation on a bus ride. More common is how entire groups of people can break down walls through a simple sharing of bread.
I believe we find ourselves in a moral wilderness, plagued by a hyper-fixation on nuance, circumstance, and taking a side. This column seeks to cut through that — to achieve a degree of focus and clarity on issues that truly matter.
It is not enough that we denounce violence or that we pray for others or call for legislation that will prevent violence in the future — it is entirely necessary that we the people of this planet sit and listen to each other with renewed patience and care. Anything less will result in an incomplete application of any legislative solution or otherwise.
Never will I purport to have answers that you don’t already have, nor will I claim to offer a point of view that nobody has had before. I will not claim that I am immune to the disease that precedes my diagnosis, it is because of my own failings that I campaign against it. I will always claim, however, to not half-bake my ideas or opinions; to remain ever faithful to the idea that while opinion is reactive in nature, it can spur proactive change.
We are not damned to a fate of divisiveness. I believe that together, there is a way through the wilderness and that a dogged adherence to kindness, empathy and even-measured sensibility can underpin every spurious disagreement we find ourselves in. This column seeks to lead by example.
Ever bound to the confines of a simple newspaper column, I know my words may not cause change. Instead, I intend to empower you to force it. The plague of our ragebaited society is the command it has on your attention. Because it has locked you into a spiral, you are likely paralyzed to inaction by it. Your priority becomes knowing more about who is saying what instead of whether we are reacting with empathy and good intentions.
Why do you think people believe so ill of each other until they have a conversation about their favorite burger joints? Why do you think people believe in the villainy of each other until one of them holds the door open for another?
I hope this column makes you pause. I hope that its phrases make you reassess yourself as much as they make you reassess each other. A compass points north. When you are directionless, let this column guide you back to where you belong.
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Paul Caruso is an Opinion Columnist and a second year MPA student in the Brooks School of Public Policy and the Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society. His column, Caruso's Compass, focuses on politics, international affairs, and campus life. The column seeks to identify issues with the status quo and provide solutions to them. He can be reached at pcaruso@cornellsun.com.
