When the Kid was little and having a tantrum or doing something to cause problems, I would stop him ans ask “Is what you’re doing helping or hurting?”

I find myself wishing I could sit large parts of the population down at the moment and ask them the same thing.

For example- do you really think death threats are helpful? (Jezebel link disclaimer)

And with so many horrible things happening in the world, is spending time worrying about the state of the presidential ween more helpful than spending time worrying about rising unemployment?

In the middle of all this, a woman who was kidnapped 18 years ago (just a few miles from my home at the time) is finally free from the wankstain who kept her as a rape slave. Yay! In the mean time 9 women are missing in North Carolina and no one gives a damn and I post about a missing girl and the only comments are either crickets chirping or racist drivel. Is that helping or hurting?

And people are bringing guns to town hall meetings and wishing the president harm. Is that helping or hurting?

The Kid got the concept at 4 years old. The people in the stories above are grown ups who would rather cause harm and (as Wonder put it so well, once upon a time) “stand there in their wrongness and be wrong” than do something useful or helpful or good or kind or thoughtful.

It makes me sad and angry and embarrassed to be part of this planet, all at once.