Prologue
Ms. Rodriguez, you might be a bit mad, but, unfortunately, I have to say that merely one paragraph is not enough. The concept of basic morals is so important especially nowadays, however, I feel like everyone is not paying attention to what morals they are constantly using every day. Yes, all of us want to live an ideal, moral life, yet as a society we are retrograding in our progress to do so; just let current politics, civil unrest, and even social media speak for itself.
This is one of my only opportunities to touch on this topic in depth just for a bit, because all these events in my life have haunted me for too long, and I want to find some sort of closure. I’ve cried multiple times and had many sleepless nights thinking about this assignment, and therefore this whole situation as a whole. Please, please, please, please, I beg of you to understand me with your fullest; put away any intuition that suddenly comes to mind as I share my most purest neutral perspective. I’m exhausted from feeling trapped and silenced, and now is my only chance.
What Is a Moral?
You may be confused as to how “erratic” the whole collage is; each column has two pairs of instances that contradict each other. That is the main point I want to get with morals; what are morals and ethics? More particularly, what are correct morals and ethics? You may respond “there is no right or wrong way to react,” yet some things are unconsciously sorted by society; there’s some unspoken rulebook that is inconsistently followed. Nowadays, when someone speaks their voice, it has become “speak up, but we’re not listening,” or “we understand but you didn’t get our message.” Here’s an example:
Let’s say I want to speak up against racism by preaching a devotion to my Christian club.
That’s considered good, but “not good enough;” according to many, I need to be actively participating in all of these marches everywhere, post and preach everyday, sprinkle it everywhere in my life, essentially.
I then respond like many others; I have … well … a life as well. I also have my own school work, family issues, personal hobbies, and, in general, other things that life naturally offers, and I have to attend to them more.
Many respond that I am exhibiting “white fragility,” because I am acting defensive and that I only “virtue signal” basically saying “I have good intentions,” but I am not good and considered a racist.
I respond that they misunderstood the whole thing, however society uses that against me and I get “canceled” in the long run.
You see what I mean? What is considered correct becomes paradoxical, making practically every moral in this world wrong. Nothing is right; that is why I’m tired of these controversial topics because it takes me back to my depression: where nothing I did was right. (And now you, whoever is reading this, will also say I “misunderstood” everything.”) Don’t believe me? Let’s apply this contradictory process to what I displayed in the collage.
Collage Examples
Let’s apply how each column contradicts each other.
The first column talks about ending racism. We know that it has been a problem for centuries worldwide, and I do agree we need to talk about it more often. But “more often” doesn’t mean “every second.” Remember, we all need to have balance in our lives as well; you’ve learned this before. So we can all understand that some of us can be too tired about hearing about all these crazy events happening; we need a break, heck you came out of 2020 as well so I don’t need to elaborate. Yet apparently “being tired of life’s problems” makes you a “crybaby fucking pansy”? And apparently that form of “general cyber-shaming” is considered “good”? Or is the guy that made that post the real crybaby because no one is listening to them?
The second column talks about the increased racist actions taken against Asians (like myself). Just recently, a teen named Christian Hall was dealing with depression and was holding a gun in contemplation of suicide, and was killed by police on a whim. Of course, this type of misunderstanding all over the place is not accepted, and therefore a new rise in awareness of Asian discrimination has sparked. So what’s with those messages on the bottom? Well, this is actually coming from a personal experience; long story short, I mistakenly put the wrong type of tags in my “Blackout Tuesday” post (during the uprising of George Floyd). These tags were related to politics that I didn’t understand in the slightest (I don’t follow politics, really), however in my whim I simply added them—because I was simply following what to add on my tags based on another acquaintance’s post. I got backlash from my other acquaintances, and the day after I posted, one of my closest friends was panicking because he was witnessing his group chat slurring at me for what I posted, resulting in those messages you saw below. And funnily enough, these are also the same people that started to support stopping Asian discrimination—I saw their stories on Instagram. Are they right for being hypocrites? And am I wrong for saying that “I’m not into politics” because of simply how much drama it can cause? Because clearly it seems like a force. Sure, maybe I could’ve done some quick research, but why am I suddenly “Republican?”
Collage Examples + Bottom Line
The last column talks about violence, physical and digital. We can all agree that while we needed something to be done in light of George Floyd’s horrible death, unlawful riots are not a way to go. But apparently what is accepted is “cancel culture”—a form of online shaming that essentially holds people accountable for what they did in the past. I do agree that the most heinous crimes (i.e. racism, pedophilia) do need to be put in light and at least settle them down between the general public and the person being called out; it’s common sense. What is not common sense though is how toxic this has become; I mean, look at what I’ve said in this whole assignment and I’ll surely get some backlash. But this backlash is different. People who are canceled nowadays don’t have a voice; when they try to apologize everyone wants a “more sincere apology,” and even afterwards that person’s whole social life is unrepairable. Modern cancel culture is basically saying “get over it, but we won’t.” You may be rich and powerful, but a fundamental social life is gone. So what about the posts I put in the collage? These posts are saying that “cancel culture doesn’t exist” and only “free speech” does, even though voices are CLEARLY being shut up? Apparently it’s in our “imagination,” an unnecessary moral panic that needs to end just to keep these immoral things going? What happened to “look through the past?” Or better yet: if you want your voices to be heard, why oppress others?
I could go on and on for pages and documents, but what’s my point? At the end of the day, I have the right to say that this society is decentralized. We want everything to be right but we don’t know how. We want things to end but also don’t. We want a moral and ethical life, yet we don’t know how morals work anymore. We are inconsistent; call society a lawful evil. We have contradictory bias but also don’t. We can’t progress towards a moral and ethical life if we don’t have any to start with. Because everything is wrong. Forget “don’t mind what they say,” because I know you’re already angry at this assignment as well. But what do I know, I’m only a Republican Asian. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯