It's no secret that we humans make lots of mistakes, some of us are mistakes (if you know what I'm saying...), yet many people's lives are ruined because of them. Like Ashley Payne, she was a high school teacher, but was promptly fired when one of her Facebook posts contained a picture of her drinking alcohol. (http://mashable.com/2011/06/16/weinergate-social-media-job-loss/)
Ash (c-can I call you that?) lost her job because of a simple mistake. We all make mistakes, yet punish others severely for making them.
Why are we such hypocrites? Why do we crucify people for making mistakes and turn a blind eye when we are at fault? It's because humans are selfish, a little pessimistic depiction of humanity sure, but I believe it to be true. We all strive for perfection, acting perfect, looking perfect, smelling perfect, being perfect. A mistake proves that you are imperfect. We don't want to admit to being an imperfect race, so we attempt to dehumanize those who've made mistakes. "Oh," we say, "That murderer? I'll never be like him, he's a monster."
Yet, when we're the one in trouble, we can't dehumanize ourselves, so instead we beg and plea for forgiveness. "It's just an honest mistake!" We cry out, again and again, while those around us grow taller and taller, more and more unforgiving, intense, scary. We realize that we are a monster. We're failures, an animal when compared to the perfect beings, human beings in society.
Yet, at these moments, either dehumanizing or being dehumanized, we fail to remember that we all make mistakes. As the famous pop culture philosopher Hannah Montana said, "Nobody's perfect." We are selfish beings, we don't forgive others, "It was her fault she did that, besides it doesn't affect me." And we seek forgiveness, "I didn't mean to! Surely everyone will forgive me! I mean, after all, its me!"
"That's not true at all!" You cry out at your screen, "I get forgiven all the time!" Yes, faceless blog reader, you do get forgiven. You get forgetten by friends, family, people you trust who also trust you. We happen to be a little less selfish, and more selfless when dealing with people we love and trust. "Oh," We say, "That isn't like him, it must be a simple mistake, I can overlook it. Besides, if I shun him it'll hurt his relationship with me. And he'll never forgive me if I make a mistake."
But when dealing with strangers, we are much crueler. When we see a thief on the news, we don't stop to think about his family, or how hard it'll be for him to build his life back again after prison. All we think is, "Thank goodness he's off the streets."
Celebrities comes as an interesting part of this. They're only kinda strangers, we don't know them but still care about how they turn out. We begin to grow affectionate in regards to them. But not to who they are, but who we think we are. And because we haven't heard of them making any mistakes, we assume they are perfect beings. And we love that about them. So when that celebrity inevitably makes a mistake, it shatters what we knew of them. They feel like someone else, an alien.
Perhaps the best possible example of this is Josh Duggar, and by extension the entire Duggar Family. We all assumed that the Duggar Family was a perfect family. They seemed like it, they were marketed as it. So when we found that that Josh Duggar is in fact not a perfect being, it kinda ruined everything. Even though, by the time we found out Josh has recovered. He took his second chance, he rebuilt his life, he was a new man. So we began dehumanizing him, and his family. "I always knew that family was sketchy." "Josh always looked like such a pervert." "Those parents are terrible! Forcing the girls to continue living with their attacker!" But that issue was over, the girls recovered, Josh recovered, the family had recovered.
It's a similar situation with the man whose lawn I mowed. I didn't find out that he had raped someone until after I knew him well. But I didn't insult him, I didn't dehumanize him, because I had seen that he wasn't like that anymore. And I forgave him. If only other people were more like me! (Aren't I humble?)
So, yeah, those are my thoughts. Raw and unfiltered. I don't know what you should make of it, that's up to you. But I don't care. Because I don't care about you.
-The Madman
P.S.: I made some mistakes in this post, can you find them? And will you forgive me?
-The Madman
P.S.: I made some mistakes in this post, can you find them? And will you forgive me?
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