2️⃣072: that one problematic uncle 😬

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There's nothing like it. You're surrounded by people you love, you stay home and watch TV all day (mainly football, but this year WORLD CUP SOCCER TOO), you eat, and you're comfortable (mostly).

I say "mostly comfortable" because it's also a time of the year when we encounter family & friends we don't usually see. People who might have…differing views and opinions from our own. Ones that cause conflict.

This can be an overwhelming time for many, but it's also a source of humor for the internet. People everywhere talk about sticking up for their beliefs in the face of others who don't feel the same way.

But as the years pass and we grow, you learn that not all conflict is necessary. Yes, sometimes you have to stand up for things and let people you care for know their views are pretty fucked up (and even dangerous). But sometimes, it's best to just shut the fuck up and let things slide because nothing positive will come from that interaction, and it's not worth risking your energy or mental peace.

That decision is not for me to make. It's yours and only yours. All I can do is tell you what I believe. I believe the best way to make a decision (about anything) is to be properly informed.

Today, most people are not properly informed. Not only are they misinformed, they're also under-informed. They don't have all the proper facts and details, not because someone told them something that was incorrect, but because they've never taken the time to learn them. Or because the people tasked with teaching them messed up.

Over the past few months on the internet, I've noticed two things trending that caught me off guard with how casually people discussed these topics simply because they didn't have all the info.

What I'm about to say is not an exhaustive dive into either of these topics. But I feel it's necessary information to better understand what's happening around them and how you should approach your response. Also, please don't try to assume my views on a topic not mentioned here based on what I talk about. You could be wrong.

"Bush did 9/11"

Ever heard that before? It's from a Vine posted by a 14-year-old kid in 2015 (#RIPVine). In the video, his US History teacher is presenting about 9/11, and the student asks, "Mr. Varg, I thought Bush did 9/11." His teacher (surprised) hesitates and responds, "Uhhh." That was it. A meme was born.

If you've never seen it, check out the video below (you might have to open on a separate tab to play, the Twitter engineer in charge of keeping all the embeds for Vine videos working properly was fired by Elon Musk because he didn't like that his stream was louder and had considerably more backsplash when they were standing next to each other at the urinals).

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? I do.

We were sitting in Ms. Kelly's classroom. Ms. Van randomly came in and whispered something to her. Then she walked out. She came back a few minutes later and whispered something else. Then Ms. Kelly looked at us and said, "Kids, we need to stop the lesson. There's been an accident in New York with the World Trade Centers, two plane accidents." Then we all moved to Ms. Van's room at the end of the hall because she had 4th grade TV reserved that day. And we watched the news.

And the world changed forever after that.

Most of you might be trying to recall your very own 9/11 experiences (because most of you are my age or older). But many people out there (older than you might assume) don't have any 9/11 experiences to recall. People who don't know anyone personally affected, and who have never heard a story directly from someone who was there that day.

And because of that, they don't think it was that bad.

Now, you might think it's crazy. "David, two planes crashed, and thousands of people died. How could they think it's not that bad?"

Because, my friend, they are terribly under-informed.

Idk about you, but this past 9/11/22, I saw a flood of memes about 9/11 like never before. Tweet after tweet in the format of:

And it usually includes the picture of George W. Bush when he was informed of the tragedy. I couldn't find one from that day, but here's the format referencing recent events.

For those who don't understand, Robert Allen Chapek "Bob Chapek," was recently fired as Disney's CEO, and he will be replaced by Robert Allen Iger "Bob Iger," who was CEO before he stepped down and was replaced by Chapek. So, Bob Iger has returned to the Walt Disney Company, ifsofacto, a second Bob Iger term has hit the Walt Disney Company….(😩 that's my face of agony after having to explain a 9/11 - Bob Iger meme by writing it out and wondering what face you're making as you read this email while trying to inform you + keep my usual humor but also making sure not to make light of a serious situation because these are delicate topics and I know many people who are directly affected by what we're discussing today).

Here's a simpler one (I think):

As I scrolled the internet on 9/11/22, casually laughing at tweets such as, "A second dish of gabagool has been prepared at the Soprano household." I thought to myself, "We're all laughing at these, but we realize how fucked up they are, riiiight?"

Turns out, no.

The realization happened when I saw someone post, "Yo, you need to check out this 9/11 documentary!!! That shit was serious! I posted all these memes because I thought it wasn't that bad. Like 3,000 people died! I had no idea! I had never even seen any videos of the planes before!"

And you might think that's a rare occurrence, but I'll venture to say it's not. Since you're informed (I hope) and you know the details (I hope), then you understand how bad it was. But, you can know about something without being properly informed.

Here's how: That girl who posted about not knowing how bad it was knew what happened. But she didn't know what happened. "A lot of people died in a terrorist attack like 15 years ago" is vastly different from "I just saw a video of a 110-story building full of people collapsing after an airplane crashed directly into it and blew up, and people were jumping out of the window killing themselves while thousands of people ran through the streets covered in ash and smoke trying to escape one of the biggest structures ever created by humans breaking in half in downtown Manhattan."

And that's what I mean when I say we are "under" informed. We causally discuss the idea of something that happened (or happens) without going into the details. We react (publicly) to breaking news stories because we need to let the world know where we stand (so they don't think we stand on the wrong side) without taking the time to ask ourselves:

Should I really be sharing this, or should I maybe wait for all the info to come out?

I mean, you've made me tap the sign several times this year….

Can't burden my mind with all that shit. I'll just repeat the headline. The rest doesn't matter.

And when we lose the details, when we fail to even give ourselves a chance to learn and be properly informed, we jump to conclusions. Most of those conclusions are probably harmless, but some can be quite the opposite…

"But is it antisemitic if…"

Let me stop you right there. Yes. Whatever you're going to say after that statement has a 99.9999999 (nine nine nine nine nine) percent chance of being not only ignorant and antisemitic but also extremely dangerous.

I was thinking about diving into the definition of "semites" and "anti-semitism," but after researching the origins I think it would make us all pretty confused because it's a recently (last couple of centuries) coined term to try and highlight similarities amongst pretty different groups of people and there's some back and forth about it. So let's ignore all that academic nitpicking and stick with this (which there is no back and forth about).

If that's not enough, here's a link with more specific examples. And if that's not enough, here's a link with videos since people prefer to watch videos.

Here's something that is completely a fact, and no ignorant/dangerous Kanye West Instagram posts you like (yes, we see you liking them, you know your likes are public, right?) with shitty ass logic will change: The Jewish have people have been persecuted for THOUSANDS of years.

All the same tropes you hear being parroted today have been in use for a ridiculously long time (why do you think people confidently repeat them now?). And, like basically everything else in the history of the world, some crazy ass shit happened in the past that gave rise to certain beliefs and prejudices, and certain groups of people used them to justify violence and discrimination against other groups.

Luckily, as time passes, we learn from our mistakes and stop parroting dangerous beliefs. But, sometimes, those beliefs endure. One of the most dangerous things about content and media being spread today is that the dangerous beliefs are hidden and buried deep within other information that might appear right but isn't.

That's how they get you. They bring one small kernel of apparent truth to hook you and then peddle a smorgasbord of lies, pure shit, conjecture, and dangerous conspiracies. Then you start repeating and possibly agreeing with dangerous ideas that have been used frequently over time and lead to tragic occurrences.

I've made it pretty clear I think the "do your own research" trope is usually a load of bullshit (because we're not scientists or doctors, those people spend years researching to be experts, not 10 minutes while sitting on the toilet). In this case, yes, please do your own research. It's called history. It's called talking to people in your life who are the victims of these dangerous lies and who understand the real consequences.

And don't approach it like it's a "woke" thing to do. As that term continues to be butchered by people who find it too hard to grow and adjust their beliefs, please realize it's just empathy.

Being aware of and understanding that different people of different cultures are trying their best and trying to survive just like the rest of us.

It's okay for someone to have different beliefs or views of the world, but when those views seek to bring harm to a different group of people for simply existing, we cannot allow them to continue. That's where your "free speech" ends.