Another day, another level deeper into the mud of clickbait outrage, heels dug yet further into the trenches of social media warfare. The yells, screams, and explosions ring out high above us; as the culture war takes up all the oxygen within a delicate conversation that deserves nuanced understanding, and detailed discourse. There’s no point in discussing the intricate and impossibly intertwined risk factors of violent crime, or the complex picture of those at risk… not when there’s some outrage artist whining about bears, and drawing a line of equivalence between ‘men’ and a 600 lb, 8 foot tall, apex killing machine. And so the bridges we’ve carefully built, and channels of conversations we’ve slowly opened over the years, are stomped upon and snuffed out in moments, by the boots of pseudo-intellectuals, the terminally online, and sassy-finger-snapping boss kweens. So, what do you think of the man or bear meme? Has it helped, or harmed discourse? What do you think? ~ Images by Blake Cheek, Daniel Mirlea, Federico Bottos, Andy Holmes and Getty.

2024-05-08