The technology we use today provides mostly positive additions to the world, such as access to information that would take a long time to find otherwise, connecting us with the world around us and allowing us to talk to strangers halfway across the world. Our digital lives have also brought an overhanging cloud of negativity.
You see, along with all of the preserved and categorized data available via our magical devices, we are also presented with useless information. People are captured making mistakes, sometimes speaking improperly and making gestures they probably shouldn’t have been making. What happens next is a phenomenon that occurs only because of the Internet. People are instantly and terribly offended by those actions.
Sometimes the outrage is appropriate, when someone is blatantly racist or offensive. Other times it’s an innocent mistake that causes a stir. One of the most recent offenses, as reported by Kotaku, is about a French soldier who happened to wear a mask similar to a character in a Call of Duty game.
Thanks to the Internet and its power of connectivity, this issue was introduced to the public, who then boiled over with indignation at the audacity of a soldier to wear such a disrespectful thing. I mean, really. Why would he want to be similar to a popular character from a game about war? I never.
Or maybe he wasn’t trying to emulate anyone at all. Balaclavas are common in the military, and according to the article on Kotaku, the skull balaclava has been a popular choice for the soldier with a eye for fashion.
If you’re wondering what the commotion is here, you’re not alone. Thanks to the recent public basing of violent media, many people are overly sensitive to news like this. They find it distasteful because they’ve been told these things are bad and therefore shoudn’t be emulated in the slightest.
When you really boil it down to its essence, people like to get riled up about things they find offensive. Or, they are genuinely offended by this turn of events and now have a forum to bring it to light and complain to like-minded people.
We need to grow in our ability to let little things go and not be so sensitive about issues that we have no control over. People make poor choices, and we have the right to criticize them, but do we really have to?
It’s pretty stupid if you ask me.
Cameron Simek is the Opinions editor for the UVU Review at Utah Valley University. He can be reached at camsimek@gmail.com, and on twitter @Skabomb. www.uvureview.com
