The thing about today’s instant satisfaction world of 24/7 news and social media websites is that everyone thinks that there has to be a conclusion right now.
Or right now.
Or now.
Dangnabit, why not now?
What is taking so long?
OK, so I drove the point into the ground. But that seems to be the general feeling out there. We have to make declarative statements about what has happened before we really know what has happened.
The latest case in point is the cargo ship crash that took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland. Even before 24 hours had passed, there were people shouting from the rooftops that this had to have been some sort of terrorist attack. Or it had to be because the company was too woke because of its diversity. Or … insert whatever other conspiracy theory you want to throw in here.
I got a novel idea: How about we let the investigators investigate and then tell us what actually happened? Can we do that?
Yeah, I know that will take time, and the result won’t be as sexy as some conspiracy theory that you absolutely know was true no matter what those deep state cops find. But maybe let’s let them do a little bit of the job before we start jumping to conclusions.
Anyway, if this was some terrorist inside job, let’s just say I haven’t heard of many terrorists sending out Mayday calls to warn the victims of their attack that the attack is imminent to try and save lives. Just sayin’.
Or, maybe, people just don’t want to know the truth – and that’s even more frustrating. The truth gets in the way of their worldview, and having someone screaming at you online that it was an inside job is much easier to deal with than having to find out that maybe there isn’t a deep state controlling things or that one side is out to get the other (no matter what side you’re on).
Look, I’m not above having conspiratorial thoughts about things in the news (and there was an event pretty recently that my conspiracy flag was ready to fly). I just generally keep them to myself because I really don’t know the truth. Is what I’m thinking plausible? Sure. But is it likely? Well, let’s let it play out a little bit before we start crowing about it.
But let’s look beyond what happened in Maryland to the long-term picture. The Key Bridge is relatively new in the grand scheme of things, having opened in my lifetime. But when it was built, I’m betting that the cargo ships that used that waterway were not the size they are today. The margin of error in steering under the bridge has probably become much smaller. And if you were paying attention to the news, this is the THIRD time a ship has hit a bridge this year across the world. Also, don’t forget we’ll be hearing about supply chain issues again sooner than later, since that is a big hub for the east coast. Get your toilet paper now.
So do all your friends on social media a favor and take off your tin-foil hats. Be engaged with trusted news sites and turn off the Youtube or TikTok “expert” who is shouting that it HAS to be true because if they really knew it was true, you’d be seeing the “expert” being interviewed by someone besides themselves shouting into their selfie camera.
