Millennial A.E. After Empire – The Allowance of Evil
Millennial A.E.
Year 0001 A.E., Week Two: The Allowance of Evil
It’s officially week two of our new calendar, and we are still collectively reeling from a deluge of violence. With the assassination of Charlie Kirk still fresh on the mind, and with the sociopaths online still celebrating, it’s easy to forget that plenty of other terrible things have been going on, one of which may be the single greatest indictment of our fellow Americans that we have ever caught on camera.
Now, I’m not easily shocked these days, especially when it comes to the actions of the average citizen. When our elected officials have a state-sponsored pedophilia ring that we know exists and nothing is done, it should really set the tone for the level of apathy you should come to expect from people.
I say all of this, but I was still viscerally disgusted by what happened to Iryna Zarutska on August 22nd in Somalia.
Wait, did I say Somalia? I meant Charlotte, North Carolina. If you confused the two, it’s understandable. One area has staggering levels of gang violence, a deeply integrated drug trade, and a total social disregard for murder.
The other place is Somalia.
I suppose the real difference nowadays is that Charlotte gang members wear clothes that were probably made by the children of Somalian gang members. But that’s neither here nor there, because, perhaps more horrifically, Iryna’s murder was not a product of gang violence.
It was entirely random.
Not only was the stabbing of the young woman unprovoked, but once the murderer got off the light rail car he and the victim were riding on, Iryna laid dying and surrounded by strangers… who witnesses claim then got off the train or watched her die. I’m not sure God uses a celestial merit system to decide when to chuck a rock Earth’s way, but I’m certain we got closer to whatever that threshold is.
If watching your fellow man celebrate the assassination of a US citizen doesn’t get your blood boiling, this has to. In one simple act – the disinterested shuffling out a transport car – we saw just how far our country has really fallen.
The murder is, quite honestly, a secondary issue. Truly deranged people exist and, assuming the reports that the murderer feared she was “reading his mind” are true, it is beyond tragic that such a young woman would cross paths with such a person. It’s doubly tragic that this man should have been in prison where he belongs, were it not for a light on crime judge. Footage also shows the murderer muttering about how he, “Got the white girl,” so I can’t help but wonder if this case would’ve gotten different attention if the races had been reversed. Isn’t it strange how hate crimes always seem to go one direction?
That’s all bad enough, but the people on the train… there’s your real threat to this country. Ten thousand gunmen can’t do as much damage as those tolerant of such evil.
I remember hearing about vaguely similar cases growing up: women running door to door, hoping someone would help them get away from knife-wielding nutjobs. But back then these stories hashed out to opportunity; one person may have ignored them, but most people weren’t in a position to help. Everyone would shake their head at the notion that someone could ignore a person in peril, but it wasn’t seen as the baseline for human interaction.
I’m certain that more people would act like this than we would like to admit. But what do we do about it? Well, we have to figure out where the black hole residing in people’s souls is, then fill it with something substantive. My personal theory is that this is a natural extension of the “self-care” movement.
Don’t go into work. Don’t worry about what you can’t control. Don’t stress. Don’t get involved in other people’s lives, it’s arrogant of you to think you could know anything about them or their situation. You need to worry about yourself. Don’t make yourself miserable, just wear your pajamas to the grocery store.
Ok, that last one might just be a pet peeve of mine, but can you blame me? Who in their right mind wears Disney feety pajamas to the supermarket? There’s only two valid career paths for these people: “padded room resident” and “guest star on Cops.”
Social media has, of course, exacerbated all of this. We inundate ourselves with the often-fake highlight reels of the people around us, leading to not just resentment of others, but a hyperfixation on our own lives. Suddenly, it isn’t enough to keep up with the Joneses, but we have to keep up with the ultra-outliers of society. Don’t confuse that with the ultra-liars of society, which we also obsess over.
Now, if all this accomplished was instilling a sense of gut-wrenching fatalism, I could live with that. At least most of us would adapt to conceal the hole in our souls with dark comedy, which I love.
No, there’s a much more dangerous side effect. When you constantly assign heaps of worth to yourself, you don’t get fulfillment from adopting responsibility. Your pride isn’t in being a good parent, it’s in being recognized as a good parent. You already identify as “a good parent.” You just want the world to recognize it. Your axis of meaning is aligned with external reinforcement.
Again, if this stopped here, we would just have a society of self-aggrandizing narcissists that are steeped in sickening levels of entitlement.
Wait a minute…
Nevermind, we can unpack that another time. The end result if you keep on this road is apparent: when you are the ultimate focal point of your life, then you act like you are all that matters. And if you are all that matters, there’s no drive to act on behalf of others. Why would you bother? She’s going to die anyway. Besides, you could get wrapped up in all of it. You’re better off just making sure you get home. Too bad about the girl.
We are a society hovering between two grotesque points. The majority of our populace is being trained to be vapid, empty, entitled narcissists that are jonesing for the next product that just might make them feel like they don’t suck so badly. The other portion is already so dead inside they’d step over your bleeding body and be annoyed that now they have to clean their shoes. After all, The Bachelorette is on and they have to find out which barely recognizable homunculi wants to legally tie themselves to 2000ccs of silicone.
Thankfully, the cure to this is fairly simple: take responsibility for something other than you. If you act like someone or something else matters more than you, you will begin restructuring your value system. Even if you have to fake it, act the part. Adopt a mission. Find or act out meaning. This is why so many people feel like having kids is the moment their life clicked.
We have come to a new, sadder precipice as a country. Adopting responsibility and seeking meaning is no longer something that would be nice to do. It is now necessary for the survival of our country. If we don’t pivot quickly, the degenerative rot of our values and sense of decency will ensure that America never regains a sense of unity. And if that happens, we will inevitably join those empires brushed away by a culture whose people do value something more than their own comfort. Maybe they would have saved Iryna Zarutska.
