Rant with Randi: A polarized nation

I’ve been on Facebook for the past few years, but I’m one of those people who love to scroll around to see the adorable animal videos (the one with the bulldog that rolls down the hill over and over again is a personal favorite). I also love to see pictures of kids growing up and reaching milestones, vacations and all the funny quotes. In other words, I go to Facebook for entertainment. I do not, however, go there to read political views and their negativity. And lately, that’s all I see.

I don’t know what’s going on in the world today. We have become so polarized about everything that it’s making people behave incredibly uncivil towards each other. I guess it started to really bother me around the time the gorilla, Harambe, was in the enclosure with the toddler at the Cincinnati Zoo, after the boy climbed in. There was so much rage towards the boy’s mother for “not keeping an eye on her child” that it was almost as if people wanted her kid to die in there to teach her a lesson. Of course it was tragic that Harambe had to die, but which would you rather have, a dead child or a dead gorilla? On the heels of that atrocious situation, came little Lane Graves, the 2-year-old who was drowned by an alligator near a Disney World resort. It was 9:30 p.m. and he was dipping his toes in the water, something you do on vacation, when he was dragged into a lagoon by an alligator. I can’t begin to fathom what his parents went through during that horrific ordeal. And rather than an immediate outpouring of support, which I fully expected, this family was shamed for letting their 2-year-old out that late. What the hell is wrong with people? When my son was 10 years old, he went to the Super Bowl with my husband and was out walking Bourbon Street at midnight. That’s what you do on vacation.

I just unfriended a friend on Facebook because every time he posts something, his friends leave the most ignorant responses I’ve ever seen. After months of getting pissed off about it, I finally decided to drop him. The funny thing is, this last post wasn’t even that outrageous. He posted about Pokemon Go, and said that he didn’t know much about it, nor did he care to. I left a comment saying, “ I freaking love it because it’s getting kids off of their butts and outside with groups of friends.” Before I knew it, his FB friends were telling me that it’s all fun and games until my kid dies, blah blah blah. That’s when I decided that I’m done. I mean, really? I’m so sick of reading the negativity and refuse to let that impact my day.

And how many articles are we going to read about fat shaming? Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers thought it was OK to take a picture of a naked stranger at her gym and post it on her Snapchat account. She collaged the picture along with a picture of herself, trying to contain her laughter/disgust and says, “If I can’t unsee this, then you can’t either.” TMZ. How could anyone be so cruel? She tried to apologize in several ridiculous tweets saying that it was an accident. She said that she meant that for a friend and was new to Snapchat so she didn’t realize it would go viral. So let me get this straight, she thinks it’s OK to photograph a naked, vulnerable woman, shame her, and then send that to one person and that makes it OK? This is how creepy our society has become. Where does it end?

How about this Dani – don’t be a jerk. I’m not suggesting that we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but this level of disrespect, negativity and invasion of privacy has gone way too far. I’m not sure how we got to this point of polarization in our society, but whatever it takes, it needs to end so we can come together at the end of the day and be civil once again.

What say you? Email me at www.randiccrawford@gmail.com.