Indifference is the new hate

I have uncovered the reason so many things get banned. See, people who really love something can actually live without it. They think, “I really, really love this thing. But if it wasn’t here I guess I’d find something else”. Friends, family and pets excepted of course. On the other hand, people who really hate something can’t live with it at all. It eats them up inside. The mere existence of this thing is a pox on their livelihood. “I cannot enjoy life until this thing, however easily ignored it may be, is eliminated from being!”

And for this reason there are protests against things, front-page articles about the state of things, instant-opinions from melodramatic current-affairs shows and naïve, uninformed bumper stickers.

How often do you see a front-page spread about how much people love their local park? Or a current-affairs segment on the nations indifference towards supermarkets?

That’s not news, that’s just life.

Let’s say something exists. This thing is hated by some and loved by others. The haters express opinions; this leads to articles, television-induced opinions and new adornments for your car. The lovers sit back and watch all this take place while they bitch and moan to other lovers whenever they get the chance. Eventually this thing gets destroyed/cancelled/discontinued/eliminated. Both haters and lovers now move on to something else. The haters find something new to hate, the lovers find something new to love and the media finds something new to link to P.

In the end, no one really cares any more.

So why did this thing get disappeared? It's because even though love and indifference make up two-thirds of the emotional spectrum, they only account for about one-eighth when it comes time for action.

The moral of this story is not ‘If you love something, fight for it’. That’ll just cause more front-page articles. The moral is this: if you love something, and its very existence is being threatened, it’s best to become indifferent to it quickly. That way, if the haters succeed, you’ll be first up not to care, and if they fail you can fall in love, all over again.