I am beginning to wonder if our culture has become addicted to fear and anger. You would think that we would avoid such unpleasant emotions, but in fact we seem drawn to them. Social media and the 24 hour news cycle have nothing that comes even close as a motivator of engagement or clicks as good old fear and anger.
But even in real life, when we get a hit of fear or anger, we are eager to pass it around our circle of family, friends and colleagues.
This week I witnessed a small firestorm spread around our school community. It was sparked by an innocent misunderstanding which I was not directly involved in - I watched from the sidelines. But even as I saw it unfold, I had a knot in my stomach because I could envision the incident metastasizing into a rumor which would hold a powerful appeal to both fear and anger.
In fact, what I predicted came to pass. The rumor proved unstoppable. And a friend of mine was hurt as a result. Deeply.
Sadly, we are addicted. And we're not even close to admitting we have a problem.
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