Oh, the modern tragi-comedy that is today’s America! Just when you think the circus has packed up and moved to another town, they send in more clowns. The latest spectacle comes from a high school track meet, where a 17-year-old student, Austin Metcalf, met a tragic fate. Apparently, a small disagreement about where someone was supposed to be has escalated into a social media circus, complete with Twitter trends and Twitter pouts.
Now, the plot thickens as “white Lives Matter” finds itself catching some spotlight on X (what used to be known as Twitter, but that’s another comedic saga). But people are apparently getting tired of discussing the efforts to elevate criminal behavior, glorifying perpetrators over victims. But hush! We’re not supposed to talk about that—facts can be so unfashionable these days.
Meanwhile, the family of Austin Metcalf faces yet another low-budget drama: being denied the dignity of mourning without being publicly shamed. Is this a press conference or a reality TV drama? But heaven forbid anyone shows empathy during a time of mourning. What a scandal!
And in the midst of all this, the internet rallies for the perpetrator. It’s a GoFundMe extravaganza with fans seemingly championing him as the new O.J. Simpson. Perhaps in an alternate universe, standing in the wrong tent moments away from someone asking you to skedaddle is equivocal to being a modern-day Rosa Parks. Evidently, everyone needs a cause, even if it means standing behind a bad decision and calling it civil disobedience.
Elsewhere, mainstream media conveniently plays oblivious, focusing instead on a tale as old as time — well, at least since the 2016 election. New York’s Attorney General is, hilariously, in a pickle herself, facing the same accusations she slings at others. Mortgage fraud, anyone? It’s as if you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. Welcome to modern America; you wouldn’t want to leave the circus early, not when the next act promises even more absurdity. It’s a theatrical tale where pointing out these inconsistencies might get you labeled with the dreaded “R” word. But for those ready to daringly step into the “controversial” — it’s hardly a role worth fearing.
