Lately it seems as if we human beings are acting like total screw-ups. Well I think we’re not seeming to be screw-ups: we just are. We’re designed to overthink and under-plan. We try and fail, and try the same thing again and again hoping to get a different (non-failing) result. We learn from some mistakes and don’t learn a thing from others. To quote a certain insurance company’s tagline, it’s what we do.
After we mess up, we go public and show off how screwy we are. The videos on YouTube are massive in volume and popularity, and somewhat strange. Who knew everybody could be so readily armed with cameras to catch that fall or shot to the shorts so nicely. We even have programs like “America’s Funniest Home Videos” which are just collections of our human errors competing for cash prizes. That’s us: rewarding the strangest things.
For the non-visual human error aficionado, there are the politicians running for public office to assault your ears. Just ask a politician a question and keep your finger on the microphone mute button while waiting for the gem of stupidity serving as their answer. In a world where a second of silence loses your audience, nobody seems to think before speaking. A moment of care can prevent a lifetime of regret, but of course it doesn’t make for good campaign entertainment.
Persons behaving badly, be they public officials or celebrities of any other kind, hide behind embarrassment or the cover language of their legal representatives. Wouldn’t it be a great teaching moment if one of them actually came out and came clean about exactly what they did and why they think they did it? One celebrity in particular comes to mind who could do the public a great humanitarian service by fessing up, even if this person’s public image is beyond repair. It seems some of our brightest and most admired people, when their reputation is found to be less than stellar, go to ground and hide, when instead they could just come out and talk about it. People like Paula Deen, of course, who admitted to human error, lost their reputations anyway, but at least we heard the truth.
When it comes down to the basics, we’re all human. In terms of good and bad, we all take that roller coaster ride of sanctity and sin, and none of us can be considered incorruptible. We just can’t give up trying, and sometimes we just have to laugh at those little shots to the shorts on television.
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