š§µ View Thread
š§µ Thread (20 tweets)
You know... I have a lot of feelings about this. Projecting from my personal experience ā I think those idiot kids are clearly clueless about the depth of what theyāre facing. My sense is, they showed up to dick around, as idiot boys always do. But watch the boyās face closely https://t.co/PCue5ZIOQp
A lot of these idiot āits just a prank broā ass-clowns donāt really have anything significant going on in their lives, other than doing dumb shit to bond with their buddies like defacing things. IMO, theyāve never truly witnessed anything as pure and sincere as a Native protester
Iām reminded of this video and comment I saw on reddit a long time ago. I donāt remember it perfectly ā but basically it was a young white guy trying to pull some sort of prank in a fast food place ā McDās or BK, I donāt recall. His task was to do some dumb, outrageous shit...
Iām not remembering it perfectly, but I think he deliberately spilled drinks and food everywhere, and then jumped onto the counter? Maybe? And he was supposed to yell some slogan, maybe ādeath to capitalismā or āI am the antichristā ā doesnāt actually matter what it was
You could see that the workers were just tired. Just dead in the eyes. They didnāt even yell at him. They just knew, quietly and tiredly, that they were going to have to clean up his mess. And you could see, in the video, that the kid realized this halfway through his āprankā
He choked on his words; whatever he was trying to say. He tried to laugh it off, and stumbled out of there. And someone wrote a really thoughtful comment about the whole thing ā about how, in that moment, maybe he realized for the first time, properly, that other people are real
The loser kids are mostly there to dick around. They have no deep convictions, they have no real purpose or meaning in their lives, and so they donāt *quite* recognize it when itās in front of them. But when one has real āsoul in the gameā, like this protester, it comes through
I feel like thatās kind of what seems to be happening here. Most people wonāt make a dramatic turn-around on the spot. The kidās probably still wearing his MAGA hat and hanging out with his idiot MAGA friends. But I donāt think heāll be forgeting the protester anytime soon
Prior to the protester, who could this kid have interacted with? His fellow idiot friends, his probably idiot family, his probably boring and maybe also idiotic teachers. I remember what it was like to feel like that. Everything is stupid, so letās just mock and insult everything
Looking at the other videos in the replies, you see some of the other kids making cringey, mocking gestures, making fun of what theyāre seeingā what theyāre incapable of comprehending in the moment. But- lazy mockery has a half-life. 2 hours maybe. A Nativeās pain spans centuries
None of this is to justify the sickening behavior of dickish kids. And I recognize that Iām being *very* hopeful with my interpretation. Statistically speaking, homeostasis is powerful. Experiences and memories that donāt fit the narrative can and do get discarded
Is this kid going to ditch his hat, do some reading, and try to be a more compassionate person? I wouldnāt bet on it. Itās not likely. But I hope to hell that he does it. I know itās possible, because I went through a version of that transition myself https://t.co/cUTbeQAz0M
I was a lot more belligerent and disagreeable when I was younger, in part because I simplistically thought playing other peopleās games was a sheep-like way to live. Why should I support other peopleās dumb games? Why not mock them instead? Itās easy, and intoxicating
I do wish I could talk to him. The frustrating thing about large media pile-ons is, in the narrow window of opportunity where he might be receptive to change, if he gets hit with a bunch of (completely understandable) antagonism, heās much likelier to dig deeper into his position
I wish I could take him aside, and ask him what he thought. What he thought the protester was up to, really. What his friends were hoping to accomplish. I would ask all of this with the gentlest, sincerest curiosity I could muster from the kindest, most patient part of my heart
Why so much effort? Why care so much? Because, honestly, in my experience... the particular crossroad that I sense heās on, or seemed to have at least glimpsed, for those few seconds... Itās the choice between a nourishing, compassionate life, and a hollow, vacant one
Heāll probably never see this, and Iāll probably never see him againā maybe a hollow, forced apology or a dumb doubling-down of stupidity one news cycle away. But I felt compelled to write this anyway, for the rest of us. We all owe each other better. ā¤ļø
In the climax of Scent of a Woman [1992] ā Al Pacino defends Charlie, whoās being subjected to a kangaroo court. āHis soul is intact,ā he says. āItās non-negotiable.ā The protester sees right through the boyās insecure laughter. The boy has never before met a non-negotiable soul https://t.co/mDbe0fHmkl
flipping one kid at a time https://t.co/PS6yO3BhUM
It sucks that this is true, but itās true: imperfect reactions from sensitive, hurting people can and will be used as recruitment fodder, which then perpetuates the cycle of mistrust and hate. Only way I know to maybe-reverse it is via the above method https://t.co/jY3P2o5STV
@visakanv Hereās the video from the deleted tweet: https://t.co/tjbxGkohEd Hereās a Wayback machine link to the deleted tweet: https://t.co/sVdQq0EMhM Hereās a video telling the slightly more complicated picture around the actual situation: https://t.co/1DhZ8UxdT2 https://t.co/O6V7ATVjMK
