Think About Intent
Jan. 29th, 2014 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kokopelleI saw a meme today that said “Where’s the Justice? – A human person blocking a construction of a Tar Sands pipeline for 10 hours can receive up to 2 years in jail – A corporate person spilling 1 million gallons of Tar Sands and causing $1 billion in damage gets ZERO jail time”.
I reviewed the comments of this meme and saw incredible outrage that include obscenity. I also saw comments that basically said “it is about the intent”. So true, and I believe that our society is larger clueless about intent.
Observation of intent is a powerful tool that’s not used often enough. The person blocking the construction did so with an intent to cause harm, no matter their justifications. The person / people who spilled the oil did so accidentally and without malicious intent. I suspect that the oil spillers were punished in other ways, perhaps as much as losing their jobs and getting a black mark on their career. Is this all fair? No, but an awareness of intent is not about fairness.
On the topic of intent, the creators of the meme fully intended to spark outrage and rally people to their cause they embrace. The creator of this meme does not want to hear about intent or have their audience think about intent. Instead they want burning rage, along with the promotion of some larger agenda. Shame on us for going along with their mind games. Think about intent when you see memes on FB. Think about intent when you hear about people doing stupid things. The “rest of the story” may surprise you.
I reviewed the comments of this meme and saw incredible outrage that include obscenity. I also saw comments that basically said “it is about the intent”. So true, and I believe that our society is larger clueless about intent.
Observation of intent is a powerful tool that’s not used often enough. The person blocking the construction did so with an intent to cause harm, no matter their justifications. The person / people who spilled the oil did so accidentally and without malicious intent. I suspect that the oil spillers were punished in other ways, perhaps as much as losing their jobs and getting a black mark on their career. Is this all fair? No, but an awareness of intent is not about fairness.
On the topic of intent, the creators of the meme fully intended to spark outrage and rally people to their cause they embrace. The creator of this meme does not want to hear about intent or have their audience think about intent. Instead they want burning rage, along with the promotion of some larger agenda. Shame on us for going along with their mind games. Think about intent when you see memes on FB. Think about intent when you hear about people doing stupid things. The “rest of the story” may surprise you.
