A friend of mine showed me a screenshot of a notification from a school to which she applied years ago. The notification was about a security breach at the school recently. My reaction to her was that it happened every week nowadays. What does it matter, one more breach?
That’s when it hits me. I am so used to this hopeless beat-down notion that our online identity is eventually leaked and misused. What does it matter that it happened today?
The feeling isn’t exclusive to myself. You and I can see it everywhere.
A friend of mine from Belgium didn’t vote in the election last week. When asked why, he said he didn’t think his vote would matter, in addition to his disagreement with the way EU was functioning.
We are so accustomed to scandals and misdemeanor from this administration and the President that anytime it happens, we just shrug it off and let it buried after one day or even a few hours of the news cycle.
Personally, I am so used to the deaths in traffic accidents in Vietnam that whenever an accident is reported, however horrific, I am numb to the shock or disappointment. I just absorb it and move on.
Should we succumb to this type of pessimism? Maybe not. If someone wants to criticize this surrendering attitude, as they may say, they are in their rights to and they may have a point. On the other hand, the pessimism isn’t necessarily unjustified. As we grow older than the time when we are full of youth and optimism, we gain more life experience and, as a byproduct, more interaction with the harsh reality. Yet, we are too powerless to do anything. And if you look closely at what transpires every day, how can you blame them?
The majority of folks, including myself, tend to just get on with our lives, carrying with us the distrust caused by constant disappointment. However, when enough people in our society subscribe to the “it wouldn’t matter anyway” pessimism, a group of people will benefit. And they will benefit greatly.
Minh Quang Duong 