Bottom of the Barrel People/Without Empathy, Without Kindness, Without Compassion, You Are (a) Waste

A poem regarding the amount of laugh reacts and trash culture online in 2019, America.

Photo Credit: UnSplash

So tired of the laugh reacts

Of the it’s just a joke

Of the lighten up, the stop being so easily offended

Of the inability for people to act with respect and compassion

Online or anywhere

Online and everywhere

Of the inability of people to actually practice empathy

To actually take responsibility for their words, their actions

To trace them to their logical conclusions, to realize their power

To waste them in ways that cement and deepen and justify oppressions

As a writer my life is online

Much of the time

And I observe, I reflect, I write, I repeat over and over again

And when people share their hearts, or point out misogyny, or even, most recently, share articles about global warming and heat waves that will harm the poor the most

And people laugh react it

I am unable to understand that level of ignorance

That degree of hatred

To think it is somehow ok to laugh about things that harm people, that kill people

To think that somehow you are so exempt and superior

The cruelty in this nation has reached an alltime high

The ability to equate trump with Jesus is painfully mind blowing

Jesus was a radical

Jesus was on the side of the poor

Jesus was on the side of the oppressed

Jesus would flip out all over this place

And Trump people would laugh at him, lock him up, let him die, I’m sure

As Ms. Ford said of her rape, the laughter was the worst

The laughter was the most painful

The laughter was the most dehumanizing

And it is daily for some of us, daily

Laugh reacts for posts about rape, laugh react for posts about misogyny

Laugh reacts for posts about racism, laugh reacts for posts about poverty

What truly is so funny about peace love and understanding, right?

Apparently plenty for those who are living without souls and sanctioning a regime of hate

Apparently life’s a gas when propping up a dictatorship and celebrating oppression

Photo Credit: Author’s Personal Lectures

The pyramid of hatred and genocide is clear, the pattern is clear

Jokes and laughing at the lives of others forms the base, the bottom

It all builds up from that

When we dehumanize we enable injustice

Poetry is not a solution

Writing is not a solution

Sharing our words is not a solution

But my God, my God, my God it is a brave start

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer.