There are a few fundamental beliefs at the core of my worldview. One is that people, on the whole, are generally good. That we are collectively moving to be better. That those of us who are deliberately malicious and cruel or dangerous are the wild exceptions. Some days I have to dig deep for this belief. But some days, as Fred Rogers said, its easy to look for the helpers and see nearly all us. We’re generally trying our best to be good.
But then I start watching Tiger King and I am so shaken by how awful every single person is on that show that I feel like I’m questioning my core values? I jumped on the bandwagon because no one would shut up about it this last week and there are some cultural waves you just have to dive into to be able to participate in conversations. Cara and Lin were feeling the same way so we’re virtually watching together — we knocked out four episodes yesterday and one this evening, two more to go.
A snippet of our live watch text chain tonight:
Cara: Of course he’s a fucking libertarian
Lin: GUN CONTROL
Lin: UGHHHHH
Cara: Hahahahaha
Me: *screaming emoji*
Lin: Jesus Christ
Lin: Jesus carol
Cara: Ewww so predatory
Me: What
Me: Don’t shoot at people
Cara: Jesusss
Lin: OH MY GOD
Cara: What the actual fuck
Me: No
And so on . . . basically it’s been us swearing, screaming, and ranting about the immediate need for more gun control. I’m pretty sure the only way my faith in humanity will be restored after this is if it ends with all the tigers eating everyone, as they fucking deserve to.
I guess I’m glad I’m watching it — it is truly the most insane thing I’ve ever seen and I cannot belive any of it was allowed to happen (where was the law???) — but it is not an easy to show to binge for me. It’s fucking intense. I need some Brooklyn 99 to water down my brain for the night.
With Love,
Natalie