Thread by @JoseTorresAZ5

Please ask people why they go #SQUIRREL on twitter to talk about things that aren't the top item.

Fast food for Clemson is #NotRelevant. It is like rubbernecking a traffic accident.

#TopTierItems:
funding government
health insurance market stability
cyber defense
voter reg.

POTUS is a genius at distracting people.

Admit that to yourself. Give him credit for that.

THEN, don't fall for it.
AND, ask better of others.

#TopTierItems:
Opioid crisis
Veterans suicides
Kids in cages
drug use causing violence, chaos in Central America
Syria
N Korea

Why don't more people talk about #Distraction s?

All he does is cause yet another distraction to distract y'all from the last one.

#LatherRinseRepeat
#LatherRinseRepeat

Distractions have no power if you CHOOSE NOT TO GIVE IT TO THEM.

#Seriously
#ChooseToKeepYourPower

#OutragePorn

I don't know where I heard the term, but all of these stupid #Distraction s are dumbing us down as a country.

Most people know that Forrest Gump is not whip smart. But he's wise enough to know that
#StupidIsAsStupidDoes

When we react with outrage to OutragePorn..

...(do I have to say it)?

You're jacking off the person who sent the outrage.....

Does that put a disgusting picture in your head? Yeah, it was tough, but here's the truth.

We have a TON of REAL PROBLEMS to solve.

Ones that require grown up sol'ns, compromise & integrity.

But not outrage.
Not division
Not hate
Not anger
Not emotional @#$%@E?!

#TopTierIssues
wide inequality growing wider
people left behind in the economic recovery
toxic bigotry
Nazis parading in the open
Injustice is routinely visited upon African Americans
Pharma complicit opioid

Of course, the biggest issue may be a Russian mole in the government, and that was BEFORE the 2016 election.

See @th3j35t3r, @20committee, @counterchekist and more.

But for now, we must wait for the professionals in Law Enforcement to deliver official facts & findings.

So...

while we wait,

How about lets NOT encourage more outrage porn?

Sure, @twitter probably likes us tweeting more about outrage porn.

OUTRAGEOUS!
OMG
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Yeah. The pattern has been there for years.
In the past, Journalists used to decide what was news-worthy.

I mean, can you just imagine Edward R Murrow or Walter Cronkite spending time on fast food being served to a college football team?

uuuuuhhhh, no.
No.
Nope.
Nuh-uh.

Pick one.

yet that was all over my feed today. (ugh!)

I'm a big fan of the 4th estate doing its job right. So

JOURNALISTS:

Can you come up with a NOT IMPORTANT category?
I mean, I tell my kids *every day* how not-normal the current national climate is

You know it
I know it.
Edward R Murrow knows it.

how about you tell the people this:
We believe this story (X) 2B negligibly important!

Then you say, as briefly as possible, what the issue was.

We report that POTUS fed the Clemson football team fast food due to the WH staff being furloughed while the team visited during the shutdown. You can read all about it in our *PICAYUNE* section if you like.

And move on.

Journalistically, you'd continue:

As a news organization, we are adapting to the tactics of the media manipulator's massive genius by getting people outraged to talk about things that when put into perspective, really aren't all that important.

While we allow you the reader ...

... to decide, we put it in the *PICAYUNE* section, we are making an editorial comment simply by putting it there - that this is not important.

We tell you that because JOURNALISM is talking about issues which matter to people's lives, and this story doesn't rise to that level.

Can we do that? Please? What would it take?

And people - can we all admit that while it is or can be fun, it takes our eyes off the ball - the critical things facing our nation right now?

At least, during the Antebellum and lead up to the Civil War...no...wait....

I was going to write that they all took it seriously.
I was going to write that everyone thought secession was a big deal.

Nope.

People came with picnic baskets to watch Manassas/Bull Run #1. Sat up on the hill in proper clothes. As if watching men die was entertainment.
hmmm

Well, America, I love you.
I really do.
Flaws and all.

I just can't sit by and watch us turn into #OutragePorn zombies.
Repeating past mistakes.
Not building consensus
Not acknowledging humanity
Not feeling compassion for one another.

The solution comes from talking about

#ImportantStuff

Not all things picayune.

I mean, it was nice for Americans to tell ourselves, "WE WON THE COLD WAR."
Did we?
Or did Vladdy just come up with a new battleground - psychological & cyber terrain - to fight on?

Oh - and success isn't beating the other guy to a pulp

Success in the cold war isn't beating the other guy into a pulp.
NOPE. Jesus would not agree with that

Success is living well. And co-incidentally, so is the best revenge.
So back away from the #OutragePorn,
Start acknowledging each other's humanity
And address #TopTierItems💯

P.S.

I just know too much history
& I have too much pride & knowledge of what Makes America Great (Already)
to not lift my voice in calling for us to grow and become better as a Country and People.

God Bless the world with a competent, strong, and benevolent America
💯🇺🇸💯🇺🇸💯