A Lawton City Councilors DUI & The Court of Public Opinion

If you're anything like me, you did absolutely nothing this weekend. And I don't mean you hung out around the house doing honey-dos to occupy your time... I mean you did nothing. I watched a dozen movies, hours of YouTube, and did exactly one load of laundry.

No wife, no kids, it was glorious.

Much like most people in Lawton, I did spy the news that hit social media on Saturday that Lawton City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Jay Burk had been arrested in the wee hours of Saturday for a few charges filed under drunk driving.

I can't quite describe the feeling I felt when discovering this news. There was as much a sense of humor as there was embarrassed empathy for the guy. It's a complicated feeling. Like you feel sorry for the guy in your click that caught VD from that girl at the local honky-tonk, but you're all going to give him maximum hell for it too.

What I wasn't prepared for was the onslaught of random strangers vehemently arguing with each other about this news, a situation none of them are included in.

Some defending a poor decision, others trying to cut the guy a little slack, little-to-nobody having an opinion somewhere in the middle... It's curious.

The Court of Public Opinion is dumb.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand sitting around a table with your close friends and having a debate. It's one of the few things I treasure more than anything regardless of topics. You see, as smartphones have made the collective knowledge of the entire world so accessible to anyone, it's hard to have a debate without at least one of your mouth-breathing friends giving it a quick search and killing the fun.

Arguing on social media isn't the same. The familiarity you have with the people you're debating is what makes it fun. You can take little pot-shots and callback to epic debates of nights past. You can't do that with strangers on the internet, which is why any debatable topic that could be light-heartedly clowned around usually turns into a gigantic pile of vicious Karen's and Jared's spewing some of the vilest hyperbole on the net.

But that's just how social media goes.

As much as the world has revolted against Social Justice Warriors, Virtue Signaling, and the Woke culture in recent months, it sure has gone mainstream within the average American since the start of this pandemic. It's like both sides use the same tactics trying not to win, but rather just to trip each other up.

It's like watching Voldemort try to kill Voldemort, but instead of casting actual spells, it's played out as contrasting thoughts in his head.

It's been a real trainwreck of people showing their true ignorance... half the people wanting to march to city hall with tiki torches, the other half just as guilty in absolute blind defense. Why is there no middle ground?

It goes to show, if people had debates in person, they'd be a lot cooler to each other. When sticks and stones can reach bones, words generally become a little kinder.