This Is Not A Movie

This Is Not A Movie

John Paul Derryberry

And there it was, the image that summed up where we are as a society. My heart sank, my stomach turned, and my head bowed for a couple of seconds to process this lack-of-understanding-of-the-moment image. Someone had tweeted out an image where one half was president Zelensky of Ukraine and the other half was American actor Jeremy Renner. Underneath the image, was the sentence, "I know who plays president Zelensky in the movie" We are in the middle of watching a war unfold where people are dying defending their country. Civilian areas are being bombed, and as a population, we have decided it's already time to treat this event as less than serious.

Who plays Zelensky in the movie? The bleeping events are still unfolding. Bombs are falling, people are fleeing, and you want to have a casting call? We can still help keep that man alive with small acts in our own country. Yet a particular, not serious, section of our population decided to turn a horrible event into an opportunity for likes on social media. The next series of actions among numerous world leaders that will have long-lasting consequences for our existence was turned into a punch line a mere 5 days into a horrific war. We have been inundated with images on our screens and such a fast-paced news cycle that we almost always think the event will pass quickly. The next big thing isn't really that dangerous, and there is an angle for the elite to manipulate this process.

And while I'm not naive enough to say that news coverage is cut and dried and that's it's honest; it's not. And, that is the case no matter the channel you are watching. I'm well aware people will attempt to figure out a way to ensure they profit off this. A bunch of them did during the pandemic, to the tune of billions. (hint-hint: check the gas and oil companies' quarterly profits during this ordeal. It's not inflation driving up costs; it's corporate greed). Serious consequences are occurring from people hurting in different countries, social-economic brackets, and sexuality groups. It's not a movie. It's someone's life, with hopes, dreams, doubts, and worries, just like yourself.

Even though we are more interconnected than ever, the lack of connection is a worrisome trend. As we intervene in each other's lives more and more, we somehow have found a way to distance ourselves from each other, through posts on social media, videos, and echo chambers where the only viewpoints we seek out are our own. We craft a crude version of the events at hand and quickly turn them into plot points in the show in our own heads. It's dangerous but, more importantly, it's callous. It's the exact opposite of who most say we want to be when we look in the mirror.

Maybe turning the war into a funny image is a way to cope for some of us. But it's a flawed coping mechanism. It reveals that your view of this is from the privileged state of: you think it's separate from your life. It could not occur in your world. But it can. And, while I hope for my family's sake, it never arrives at my doorstep; if it did, I wouldn't want the outside world to be already conducting a casting call for the movie; no matter how cool it would be for Jeremy Renner to play John Paul Derryberry's live-action.