Empathy a curse?

Sometimes I think empathy can be a curse. I wonder what it's like to be indifferent or ignorant of other people's problems. Or oblivious or whatever it is that makes people unable to see anything other that how something relates to them.

Normally I deal better with my thoughts but it seems when the hormones are raging full force, the overthinking, the not being able to let it go, really takes hold.

I get more frustrated, feel like there's no hope for humanity when they can't understand what seems so simple to me.

What's bugging me?

Racism, bigotry...and how some people refuse to acknowledge it's existence or that it is a huge problem that leads to so many more problems.

I don't know the numbers and I'm too lazy to google it and would it really matter? A lot of cops were killed this week...more than normal? I don't know. All I know is the backlash I see on facebook.

Don't get me wrong...it's horrible. Here's my issue...that to say anything other than it's horrible, is to be anticop somehow. And I'm not. I'm not anti much of anything...but I am anti bigotry.

This may piss some people off but hey I'm entitled to my opinion...hell, isn't that what society is all about anymore? Being entitled, being outraged by things....

I find bluelivesmatter even more offensive than alllivesmatter. Why? Well, I am not that great at expressing myself but I will try to explain.

Blacklivesmatter started because a group of people (black people) were outraged by what they were witnessing (an increase in police brutality towards black people). This outrage was directed at BAD cops, but some people can't admit that there are bad cops. They can't admit that black people are treated differently. So they make up excuses, they justify bad behavior, they try to throw statistics that are irrelevant to the simple fact that black people are treated differently. The blacklivesmatter is directed at one specific group of people: bad cops.

So it irritates me that people hijacked their justifiable outrage to say alllivesmatter...because it misses the point. No one ever said that all lives don't matter. This was to bring attention to a specific set of actions being committed against a specific group of people by a specific group of people.  Alllivesmatter...who are we speaking about? ALL people? and who is doing something against ALL people that needs to have attention brought to it? And what is it that is being done? Am I explaining why this hashtag isn't a movement? It seems the only message to get from alllivesmatter is that blacklivesmatter is an unnecessary movement (which it isn't).

That brings us to bluelivesmatter...ok so here we have a specific group of people. That's a step in the right direction. What is happening to them? Yes, some have been killed recently, more than usual, I don't know and I bet you don't know, you just hear about it so now you think it's happening more often, but is it? Isn't dying in the line of duty something that can happen to any cop, any firefighter for that matter. It sucks but is it not new and it is not something that anyone who joins the force is unaware of. They chose to join knowing this. Onto the third portion of what makes blacklivesmatter different. There is a specific group of people that are doing harm to black lives. With bluelives, one could argue it's a specific group...criminals. But in the recent incidents the cops weren't targets, as much as simply victims. The Maryland cops didn't lose their lives because the homeless guy hated cops, he most likely would have shot anyone who had tried to have him leave the restaurant. Have I explained the difference yet?

For me, it feels like people are one not being very imaginative in trying to express their grief by picking a hashtag already being used and changing it a bit to express their anger over a group of tragedies, that while tragic are nothing like what the movement behind blacklivesmatter is representing. I feel like it is somehow trying to diminish the original use of the "livesmatter" just as allivesmatter did. Perhaps the original hashtag should have been more specific...stopcopsfromtakingblacklives....that couldn't have been hijacked and makes my point easier to see...stopcopsfromtakingalllives doesn't make sense, right? stopcriminalsfromtakingbluelives seems obvious right?

And it may seem silly to be irritated by a hashtag. But it's more what is represented by the thought. Are there people who think that there's a large group of people that think blue lives don't matter? Is there a KKK of people that just get together and discuss ways to kill cops...I'm going to guess no...or we'd know about it. Sure there are pockets of people who hate cops, probably don't care if they are killed. But is it on the scale of discrimination that affects black lives?

If Trump wasn't doing so well in the polls, I would probably also be able to let it slide that sure racism isn't dead but we've made progress. But to see his rallies and see the people there interviewed and expressing their hate filled viewpoints scares me. How many narrowminded people are still out there? Do we really want a President who is not only condoning their bigotted views but in agreement with them?

It bothers me so much that people don't think for themselves. Take the time and think...do YOU really believe that ALL (or even most) Mexicans are bad people? Muslims? Can you really not put yourself in their shoes to understand what it must feel like to be profiled at an airport? Do you really believe we need a wall on our border? Do you understand NONE of us came from here? We all have ancestors that started as immigrants (unless you happen to be a Native American reading this).

That's our society now...me, me, me. I don't care about anything but me. People want to think that free college isn't about them...they can't see it helps ALL of us--all they see if "Wait..am I going to pay more taxes?" Because they don't stop to think...they listen to what Fox tells them and they believe it.

Another thought no one wants to hear...the one in a million times a "good guy with a gun" saves the day is brought up as a shining example of why we don't need better gun regulation (as if the two are even related--better regulation doesn't mean the good guy won't still have his gun). I haven't heard anyone ponder how it is that a good guy(two good guys) with a gun ended up dead after confronting one bad guy with a gun...and these were TRAINED good guys with guns...it just isn't as simple as "own a gun and you are safe" ....there are so many more instances of more guns not being the solution but let's not have any outrage pointed in that direction.

I watched Straight Outta Compton and have a feeling that I got a little more out of it than was even intended. I was left wondering about Compton. Wondering if instead of spending trillions on a war started on a lie if we had spent some of that money trying to fix communities like this, would it be possible? Do we just ignore the problem because they are black communities or is it because they are poor communities? Do we think it's a waste to spend resources there? Do we forget there are talented people being born there, not just musicians, actors and athletes but business leaders, doctors....what if the next Einstein is slipping through the cracks because of where they were born?

We see what happened in Flint--communities ignored until something really outrageous happens..but why aren't we outraged just by the crime and poverty that exists. Why do we throw up our hands in defeat, saying gangs own that neighborhood?

I was going to blog about the ridiculousness of the time, passion and money spent on the Super Bowl and that was before I watched the movie. My point was to be what if we were proud of our cities because of how successful our schools were or how they handle homelessness instead of how successful our sports teams are? What if we spent some of our free time volunteering instead of watching a bunch of grown men get paid millions to entertain us for a few hours? (and yes I volunteer, so I feel I can call on others to do the same).

Yes, I am a dreamer.....but wouldn't it be nice? Wouldn't the world be a little better if we all tried to truly imagine how it feels to be in someone else's shoes?

Or is it better to just live life not worrying a damn bit about anything outside your own little world? Empathy --a curse?