Enough with the lazy outrage

EM RUSCIANO has had enough of recreational rage on social media. Suddenly everyone is an expert, and Samantha Armytage is a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

OPINION

Hey, guess what?

Sunrise host Sam Armytage isn’t racist, SBS presenter Scott McIntyre shouldn’t have lost his job for questioning Anzac Day celebrations and we REALLY need to talk about the permanent rage cycle we’re all in danger of being caught in.

This week has been a particularly robust one in the media for those looking to partake in the public shaming of TV personalities. Over the past few days, Sunrise host Sam Armytage (who seems to be the favourite whipping girl of many columnists and media outlets other than her own) said something that lead to her basically being called a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Sunrise had two women on the show, who are non-identical twins, from parents who are an interracial couple. Their father is Polish and their mother Jamaican. In a twist of genetic fate, one twin came out fair-skinned and red-headed and the other came out dark-skinned and brunette.

Or in more startling terms: one twin is black and one twin is white. When Sam was introducing them, she congratulated the redhead on taking after her pale-skinned father.

Cue Kochie shifting uncomfortable on the communal modular and the Cash Cow passing out.

Obviously, when taken out of context, with no prior knowledge of the show and Sam’s regular comments on her weak, prone-to-burning-in-the snow skin, which she got from her Dad, it kinda could sound like she was saying: “Hey Whitey McWhite White. Good job on being white. Yeah WHITE!”

She really wasn’t. She unintentionally said something that sounds horrendous. Sometimes bad words happen to good people.

And instead of giving her the benefit of the doubt, the media/outraged general public chose to go full force STACKS ON that white supremacist, Nazi blonde.

Why do we love it so much when a prominent person gets inadvertently served a “gotcha” moment? It almost seems to energise some people when it happens. It feels like a race to the keyboard to see who can post their hurt feelings the fastest.

SBS presenter Scott McIntyre DARED to voice his objections to Anzac Day on Twitter this week and found himself unemployed and the victim of severe online trolling and threats.

Wonder if the poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers pause today to consider the horror that all mankind suffered.

— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015

Remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan.

— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2015

Did I agree with him? For the most part, no. Is it OK to question Anzac Day and Australia’s involvement in past wars without job loss and EXTREME public vitriol. Yes, I believe it is.

Here’s the thing, I believe that the digital revolution has given birth to something I like to call: LAGE.

Lage = Lazy Rage.

Real rage is something you feel at your core, it’s deeply personal. It messes with your DNA and becomes your reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

Think Liam Neeson in any of the Taken movies. (He will look for you, he will find you and he will kill you.)

Recreational rage has taken over and we can’t get enough of the stuff. When the media presents you with a bite-sized, unexplained tidbit of possible controversy, you take the bait. You punch out a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram post and then happily go back to making dinner, feeling slightly energised and a much better person.

It’s a low-effort way to show we have conviction.

“I’m totally ANTI RACISM, just look how hard I just re-tweeted that other person’s outrage!”

“I am PRO-DIGGER because I just wrote how disgusted I am on the SBS Facebook page.”

What did they have to do to prove that? Virtually nothing!

I’m not saying I haven’t been there, I’ve been a rager once or twenty times. A few weeks back I spent 800 words taking down Mark Latham over some comments he made about mental health and I thoroughly enjoyed being the spokesperson of the offended. I get that there is something enjoyable about chucking a virtual tanty. I remember the heady days of my childhood when I could throw one with reckless abandon. Face-to-face as an adult, you have to keep yourself in check …. but online you can rip someone to shreds anonymously and not have to worry about them being a complex person with feelings.

I’m not saying that there aren’t some benefits to all the people everywhere having an internet connection and an opinion that they feel is totally valid and worth sharing. We can now, as a collective, have very public conversations about, and to, politicians, the media and big corporations and feel heard. It’s the new face of democracy.

I just think we should try to cut back on the lazy rage you guys, maybe save it for things that really warrant gut churning anger like … I don’t know … Just off the top of my head …. Lack of climate change action, foreign aid, refugee intake, marriage equality and the forced closure of remote indigenous communities in Australia.

Just off the top of my head.