Our Country is so broken

[Sierra SeaSong]

Another day, another mass shooting. Another day, another hate crime.

The oligarchs power is in keeping us divided, people are people, we are all after the same thing, happiness and a good life.

Agree to disagree and treat others with respect. I am sad for all of us.

[Dylan Windwalker]

There's not a day that passes in my life that I don't think about that. And I'm not even talking about just the Semi-United States, where the divide is so blatant...

[Bailey Jade]

I have to admit, this is a topic that I talk about almost every day. How bad things have gotten, the lack of respect for one another. How people have gotten so sensitive that they need to label others in a negative way. How people are so upset with their own life's that they have to end others. How people who fought for our rights only get a few days to recognize their achievements, while other's get entire month. How history is being teared down, how historical landmarks are being vandalized. How so many things are taking out of context. The saddest part, there are so many other things, that I just cannot list them all.

It is very sad in what this country has become.

[William Sunstrider]

OH OH OH!!! I know! Let's play the 'Make yourself a victim game!' Or how about the 'Virtue signalling I'm offended game!' Or maybe the 'You are harshing my safe space game!' No no...Wait. How about the "Entitlement me mine me mine for free Game!"

Seriously. You wanted to know what was wrong with the country. Could any of these things make a person turn into a mass shooter? Are certain people so destructive and toxic that it drives people crazy? By no means am I justifying the actions of a murderer. I am saddened by the loss of life. Maybe just maybe moving away from toxic political special interest group oppression and toward open communication, patience and understanding would be helpful. You can't have a conversation if one side only knows how to scream, cry and whine about things. There are snow flakes in the forecast. I just know it.

William

[Sierra SeaSong]

There are so many mass shootings we don't even here about half of them, we are all being numbed to the horror.

[Cosmos]

I don't think our country is nearly as divided as it seems. I'll be the optimist in the thread by saying that our differences are being amplified to be way larger than they really are.

People just need to talk to each other. Learn where other people are coming from instead of being stuck in social media echo chambers that otherize outsiders. Learn to realize that people who have different opinions are people too. When you really get individual people to sit down and talk without anyone screaming names or threats or walking-off because they can't handle it, you realize we aren't so different after all.

That is also why I've consistently called for open communication and reduced censorship in other threads: social harmony is done no favors by segregating people by their beliefs.

Being sad about it though? Sounds like an unnecessary stressor to me.

As the great Stoic saying goes:

Some things are up to us and others are not.

[Willowdreamer]

I don't think our country is nearly as divided as it seems. I'll be the optimist in the thread by saying that our differences are being amplified to be way larger than they really are.

I remember a time when the people reading the news didn't add descriptive adjectives to their reports, simply stated the facts. I also remember how political commentary ALWAYS had to include the "other side" with the opposite point of view.

Sensationalizing horror and omitting any counterpoint with positive aspects, such as the heroic efforts of first responders, hospitals, etc., only serves to raise the anxiety level of the community as a whole. It may sound trite, but this Fred Rogers quote really speaks volumes:

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'

There are SO MANY more helpers out there in the world than there are evil-doers right now, if we could only see them -- the unsung heroes who volunteer for the Red Cross and other agencies, the small churches serving meals to the homeless, the neighbors who look out for each other. They almost never make the news. If they do it's for 30 seconds at the end of the broadcast.