There are people out there who profit from turning us all against each other – a few thoughts on why we don’t have to play along.
Firstly, an apology. This column on the site runs pretty much every week of the year, but due to personal matters, this is the first new article in three weeks.
If you’ve not found this section before, it’s a weekly spot on the Film Stories site where we chat about mental health, wellbeing, things that are happening, and just basically take a deep breath. Not everything we run is of use to everyone of course, but this section has been part of our site for years now, and hopefully there’s something in the archive at least that’s of some use to you.
This particular article lands at a point in the UK where there’s a fair amount of unrest, and people looking at the UK drawing conclusions about what’s happening from thousands of miles way. This is not an article about that per se, and please respect that in the comments section. But instead, this piece is an observation, and hardly a radical one.
What we’ve seen in recent years is a lot of people getting very rich of more and more extreme views. Or of trying to turn us against other people through an assortment of rhetoric and viewpoints. Everybody’s entitled to an opinion of course, and human beings were not built to agree with each other. Just look at the reviews of Deadpool And Wolverine for evidence of that.
But it’s proving a far more profitable enterprise for a bunch of people and outlets I have no intention of naming to turn us all against each other. Calm waters don’t make for interesting reading, or lots of likes, or reports, or whatever. Tales of everything being awful and – even better – anointing people to blame, irrespective of whether it’s their fault or not, are much easier to sell. What we’re seeing is a bunch of people who are very good at it, stirring people up and counting their cash as a result.
There’s enough division in the world without me naming those I think are practicing this, and instead the point of the piece is this: to just ask that we all take a breath. That we stop for a minute and question why the person or outlet telling us who to blame is doing that. What’s in it for them? Are they doing a public service, or are they lining their pockets?
It’s not a fun world at the moment, and the metaphorical temperature could really do with coming down. Please stay safe, please take care, and please be excellent to each other. Best to you all.
