The Daily Mess Confronting Selective Outrage

Published: March 7, 2023, 4 a.m.

March 6, 2023 A new term? An old experience just hidden away? Selective Outrage. That’s how Chris Rock describes the moment Will Smith hit him a year ago at the Oscars. Research shows it’s outrage against a moment. An incident that’s aligned with your ideology. Not being neutral. Using your own filters to accept the news and rejection of it. Selective Outrage. What is the source? Is it truly a choice or an open wound? I’m not expert. I do ask a lot of questions. One of them being bad dreams about jobs we had a decade or more ago. To experience them is an indication of regret. The goal is to unveil what hasn’t been resolved. Not moving past it can serve as a line of connection with Selective Outrage. How long has it been festering? Talking about it creates awareness. I write daily to keep myself in tune with good bad and very ugly vibrations. We’ve all endured moments of Selective Outrage. Nothing feels worse than the minutes and seconds after.