Infectious
Many folks, including myself, prefer to use information sources that tend to suit our particular ideologies. I wonder, though, how easily we allow this to program our personalities through repeated access of such biased lines of thought. It is especially concerning when turning towards sources that provide predominately negative offerings or “dirt” on those people or ideas with which we disagree. It seems that if we are not vigilant, we can easily become enslaved to the act of finger pointing.
I’m sure I fall prey to this sort of excoriation, but I think it is important to remember that most of us are we are really more alike and loveable than we might presume. Further, we are significantly and positively changed by looking for the good in others. One of the most unsettling things I see in social media is the argument where:
“So and so” in the past was so bad and did many awful things and no one did anything about it then, so don’t complain about how terrible someone else is now -- and if you do, you are a basket of hypocrisy.
My take is that no one’s unethical or immoral behavior is made anodyne by any previous bad behavior of another, no matter the level of hubris. Surely goodness will never be a contest and wherever kindness and compassion are shared with others, it will often become infectious onto itself.