It's always nice when OTHERS share SOME of them. The BBC recently cautioned against jittery twits who tweet "PRAY FOR..." any time something happens.
First off, WHO the HELL are you praying to? You're praying to the GOD who caused the disaster? GOD has created a hurricane or an earthquake or a famine, and YOU are telling people to do what? Second-guess God's decision? The Lord moves in mysterious ways so SHUT THE FUCK UP.
This wasn't exactly how a BBC writer put it, but I appreciate that he tried to alert people as to how hazardous it is to make a mush out of a #hashtag emergency:
While not as life-threatening when it's on FACEBOOK, it's just as annoying that knee-jerks can't do anything better than panic and demand everybody PRAY.
Not even donate. Not go out and help. Just PRAY.
It reminds me of the old joke that all the hack comics used to tell circa 1960. It goes like this:
"We were aboard the airplane when we ran into turbulence. An engine blew out. A woman stood up and said, "EVERYBODY PRAY!" And I said, "I don't know how to pray." And she said, "DO SOMETHING RELIGIOUS!" So I took up a collection."
A variation on it ends with, "...so I started a bingo game."
Fortunately cooler heads prevail. Most people don't behave like ostriches and instead, they take action in an emergency. If they are old, incapacitated, or nowhere near the disaster, they feel better and assuage their guilt by sending a donation to the Red Cross. They can send money to Planned Parenthood so there would be less idiots in the world who live in ridiculous locations that are always having hurricanes and earthquakes. Or they can send a few bucks to Amazon and buy a copy of Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying."
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