“We live in the comments section” — Aziz Ansari

Great comedy has an ability to pierce through the fabric of society and shine a light on why things are so f***d up, but do so in a non-threatening way. The other night I watched Aziz Ansari’s Netflix special that he filmed in NYC back in 2021. I’m a fan of Aziz and his sardonic, witty comedy, and in one line he summed it all up — “we live in the comments section.”

In the age of information, where it’s been cataloged and available 24/7, we choose not to be educated but to instead stand back and let misinformation flood the internet. We choose to let it be sold to us time and time again by simply engaging in the comment section and only caring about superficial things that have no impact on our daily lives.

Think about it. We shut down the world for almost 2 years, finalized a vaccine that had been in the works for over a decade, and developed new medicinal treatments and testing at “warp speed.”

If we really wanted to take an educated stance:

- We could solve world hunger.

- We could stop war.

- We could be better people.

Instead, what we really want is to be deeply involved in whether Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez will stay together and talk about it on every social media platform available. Why? Because it’s easier. It requires no thinking, it requires no empathy, it requires no humanity.

It’s time to get out of the comments section and be a part of the story. Another great comedian, Chris Rock, once correctly said about the gang mentality that has formed here in the US that anyone who makes up their mind before they hear the issue is a f*** fool….be a person, listen, let it swirl around in your head, then make a decision.”

In the end, it’s all pretty simple.

Listen, learn, and get educated.

Be better, do better, and #bekind.