See, the simple truth is that
It doesn’t affect us anymore.
Get it?
We
Don’t
Care.
And it’s not because we’re the bad guys.
We’re good. No, really.
We are.

Then, we see–
Guts spilling out onto the floor,
Glistening pink,
Knees buckling,
Bodies tilting,
Tilting
Towards the ground and bam -
They’re down, they’re done.
Would you look at that.
Machine guns giggling, spittle flying all around,
Their maniacal laughter echoing in rapid succession,
Screams of protest, of pain –
Turn off the news, honey. Too early for all that blood,
Too depressing nowadays.
As flesh meets flesh
And blood meets the frozen sidewalk,
Whimpers of stop, please, you’re scaring me.
No - you want this. I know you do, baby.
And little child soldiers, with
Guns and grenades, with
Emotionless eyes that belong to the dead –
Hey, that’s interesting. Maybe I can write that paper on it?
Yeah, like, you’ll get an A for that.
You think so? Good. That’s good.
Bright, crackling bombs sailing through the sky, and
Boom
The explosion takes someone’s leg.
Nice shot, nice one, as blood spurts uncontrollably.
Slicing off ears and noses –
Hey! I saw that before. What movie was that?
I dunno man, dunno. So many.
Torture chambers coated with gore, with the filth of human suffering –
Oh, that actually made me
Jump.
A charred form submerged in licking flames,
Crying out in agony,
Make it stop make it stop make it stop
Oh please, someone –
Make
It
Stop.
What’d they do this time? Burned someone alive?
Yeah, they did. What do you think they’re doing next time?
Next time?
Well, they not just stopping. Right?

Sure, there’s that initial
Fear
That captivating spark of
Sympathy
That conviction to
Act
That determination for
Change –
Gimme a second, someone texted me.
Scroll. Click.
What was I looking at again?
Oh, that. Yeah. Well.
Sucks, doesn’t it?
Sure does.
Really does.

But, you see, it’s not our fault.
Why?
It’s not new.
Get it?
We’ve all seen it before.
Reality isn’t so intimidating,
So shocking, so moving, so horrifying,
If you’ve seen it all, and more, in fiction:
In movies and books and shows and games and images and –
I was fed all of that
From age seven.
You’ll have to try harder than that to scare me.
And we like to name the villains,
Point them out, criticize them.
They’re doing this. We should stop them.
Yeah. We should.
Definitely.

But, someday, we have to
Realize
That it’s us.
We are
The bad guys.
Get it? Get it now?
Our silence speaks
A thousand words,
Our inaction symbolizes
Chilling apathy,
And you and I are just riding the tide,
Riding the red tide.