Thread by @Stonekettle

I don't care, do you?

Okay, I care. I do. I care, sure. BUT it doesn't really affect ME. Not really.

I mean, abortion? Yeah, I think women ought to be able to control their own bodies, but *I* can't get pregnant so if they outlaw it, it's not really my problem.

1/

Black people get shot down in the street? Other people of color kneel in protest? Trump uses his position to attack those people? Blue lives matter and black lives don't? Sure, that's shitty, I care. But *I'm* not black. It's not really my problem, is it?

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Gay people can't get married? Trans people can't serve in the military? Your employer can fire you for being a lesbian? That's a bummer, dude, no doubt. But *I'm* straight and so it's not really my problem, is it?

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Trump starts a war? I'm retired from the military and it's been long enough now that they can't recall me. Maybe they'll draft my kid -- or yours. But *I* won't have to go. Not this time. So it's not really my problem. Not me personally.

4/

World getting warmer? Storms are getting worse? Air getting polluted? Oceans full of plastic? Rivers choked with garbage? We're drilling for oil in what used to be pristine wilderness? Species dying out? I'll be dead before it's a problem, so it's not MY problem is it?

5/

You're homeless? You don't have healthcare? You can't afford an education? You're hungry? You're poor? You're an immigrant? You're of draft age? You need a morning after pill? I mean, man, I sympathize. I do.

But none of those things affect me personally.

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Government corruption? Politicians openly break the laws? The president brazenly solicits a foreign power to attack his political enemies? Cozies up to dictators and daily attacks his follow citizens? Sure, that's bad. It's bad. But, honestly? It really doesn't affect me.

7/

I mean, sure, if it were affecting me personally, then maybe.

But I'm white. I'm male. I'm straight. I've got a reasonable income, plenty to eat, warm place to sleep. I've got healthcare. Dental. I'm high enough above sea level. I'm good, not great, but I'm okay.

8/

Don't get me wrong, I *care.*

Sure. I tweet about it all the time. I tweet furiously. I care.

Just not enough to DO anything. Besides, what if we make it worse? Is the risk actually worth it if none of this affects ME personally?

Isn't it just better keep your head down?

9/

Sure, people are getting screwed and that stinks. I care. I feel for 'em. Oh yeah. But isn't it better for THEM if we just wait out the bad times?

What if I say something and I lose my job? How does that help anybody? Right? You can see that, can't you? Sure you can.

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Honestly, folks, there's always evil in the world, isn't there? Always war, crime, the rich getting richer. Always something.

What's a little more at this point?

So long as it doesn't affect me personally? I can't fix everything. I care, I do. But why be a hero?

11/

What?

What's that you say? What a selfish shitty attitude? As long as YOU'RE okay, everybody else should just suck it up? Give up their civil rights, their freedom, maybe their LIVES?

WTF?

What a shitty selfish dick thing to think!

Yeah. It is.

It sure is.

12/

And that's EXACTLY what the arguments against impeachment I'm hearing from the Left are.

Oh, things are shitty, but they're not quite shitty enough for ME personally. Not shitty enough to take the risk. I mean, I'm not being oppressed, so keep your head down. Wait it out.

13/

And you know what?

Fuck that.

Because I DO care. I care about my friends, my family, my neighbors, my country, and the future. Because I can't stand by and watch the world burn.

Because I *do* give a damn about the world we leave our children.

14/

It doesn't have to affect me PERSONALLY before I give enough of a shit to demand that we take the risk.

If we try and we fail, then history will record that we at least cared enough to try.

But if we try and we WIN, well, then WE get to write that history.

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