Phase 1.

Context:

"It feels good, doesn't it?
To post a Facebook status praying for the victims in Boston.
It makes you feel good, doesn't it?
How American of us! 
To think that by sitting on a couch and posting on Facebook we have somehow helped those in need.
But why do we really post these things?
Maybe because of our desire for the instant gratification of a "like," and our propensity to fit in.
Or maybe it's a reflection of our innate need to be "better than that."
To show our peers, and therefore ourselves, that we hold some moral superiority over those who hurt and kill others. 
Because we prayed for them.
What happens to our love of others in the absence of tragedy?
Everyday we all abuse the people around us for our own benefit. 
Just living the Naperville lifestyle means that we knowingly live everyday with too much, while others have nothing.
We lie and we deceive and we hurt others on a daily basis. 
Sometimes, for what seems like no reason at all.
We're just like them. We're all human."

~Kyle McElroy. 15 April 2013.

Let me start out by saying I have much respect for this person and I am in no means criticizing the individual as a whole, but I want to analyze the significance of what he wrote. Ultimately I believe he is pointing out an injustice in society and hopes to create change, an admirable goal. I was very impressed with the eloquence and fluency of his speech, it's something I can see quoted in official doctrine. I'm sure my analysis can be heavily criticized, but opinions always are.

Analysis:

Yes, I agree. Posting the facebook status does make you feel better. It is the main reason people would post it. He addresses why by saying it shows moral superiority. Why else would one post this on a social media site? While it is important to inform the public as a whole, it is doubtful that high school students truly care about the public in general. Ultimately, I believe Kyle is criticizing the lack of action high-schoolers are taking and simply trying to use this tragic experience for their own well-being. Despicable, right?

Or is it really?

As residents of Naperville, most of us are living a comfortable life. We have all our basic needs met, and live in a relatively safe community. In terms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, we have met the first level of happiness. People need to meet their more basic needs before they can move up a "happiness" level and if not met, will stay at that level of "happiness" until achieved. A crude, but effective diagram of human cognition. Using this diagram and various other sources, I have formed my own opinion: People have a need to feel important. Common sense, I know, but this simple statement carries so many ramifications in human behavior. In society today, there is a huge lack of emphasis on the individual, we have allowed numbers to give an efficient sum of our lives: Whether it be grades, number of friends, points on a basketball game, our worth is measured through our actions. Things are moving too fast. Too many goals to be met, deadlines to be reached that we have forgotten our basic necessities. This can be seen through fast food, faster vehicles, CISPA, long job hours, etc. To be a more productive society is to create a society as efficient as possible since life and resources are limited, it is only natural to want to improve the process. Relating this to the Hierarchy of Needs, we have essentially forgone the esteem level of happiness that includes: self-confidence, respect from others and pride in achievements. People are so focused on meeting their own goals and getting respect from others that they don't realize... there is no one left to give that respect. So then we look for this respect unconsciously by creating a facebook post about the Boston bombing, hoping to see someone care about us. Quite honestly, I believe this is a safe, harmless outlet for a person to feel some sort of gratification from their peers and I honestly don't see that this behavior as being something we should look down on. People who make these kind of statuses generally feel a need to be accepted and respected by their peers since there is a lack of such in real life. It is a direct result of a from an underlying fault of society... we have stopped TRULY caring about others. It is much easier to 'like' a facebook status than it is to show appreciation in a person, so this is just a small favor we can do for anyone who is unconsciously hoping to be respected. In his post, Kyle has criticized the American public as a whole, and not point out the individual itself. This is extremely important as to the reason his post is well-received. It is easy to read this post and think: "I, the individual, agree with this. There is something terribly wrong with society when people try to feel better about themselves by taking advantage of this horrible tragedy." But it is often easy to forget: WE are society. By making the judgment above itself ultimately shows our need to feel important, a way of thinking that we are above society because of said judgment. This is what I like to call 'level thinking'. In poker, there is a level of psychology involved to be successful in the game. I have personally attributed my success to understanding this. Knowing the strength of your hand is only a fraction of the game. It is important to take into account external variables such as your opponents' hands, the community cards and your opponents' actions. To break down this level idea...

Level 0: Intuition

Level 1: Thinking about what cards you have
Level 2: Thinking about what your opponent thinks you have
Level 3: Thinking about what your opponent thinks you think he/she has.
Level 4: ...

Now to apply this to a societal level.

Level 0: Physiological (Basic Needs)
Level 1: Society (A civilized structure of thought to progress humanity)

Level 2: Person who makes judgment on flaws of Society based on logical reasoning, ultimately hypocritical
Level 3: Person who condemns Level 2 person for being arrogant in his reasoning, ultimately hypocritical
Level 4: ...

In poker, it is easy to think that each level higher up gives us a better understanding of our opponent's hand and how to best play in relation to it. We feel more secure and confident by deluding ourselves that we have achieved a level of thinking above the opponent. Similarly, we delude ourselves by transcending society's level of thinking, believing us to be more enlightened than the barbarism that is civilization. This kind of delusion is very easy to fall for. It is also more harmful than posting a facebook status to feel better about oneself because it unconsciously distances us from those who do make this kind of status which then counters the very thing these people are looking for -- acceptance from others.

So is it wrong to take advantage of the Boston incident in order to feel better about ourselves? Maybe yes, maybe no. Rightness is a human concept that is relative. However, I truly believe that it is these little comforts of unconsciously filling our need to feel important that keep us from going insane. If not the Boston incident, we will find some other way of filling up that need to feel important so long as a society we continue to ignore the real need of being respected. A person completely in the doldrums that can't seem to find any acceptance may turn to more drastic measures such as violence, rape, drugs, etc. We horribly look down upon these people as being the "scum of society", but again, WE are society and as Kyle says, "We're all Human."

So why did I write this? Probably because I had a need to feel important and this idea been etching on my conscience for a while. Is it really so bad that we use incidents such as these to make ourselves feel better? I don't know the answer, but I don't believe so. Again, these are just my humble thoughts that I'm sure are far from perfect, but that is what is great about being in society: We can constantly rebuild off each other's ideas and through these kind of discussions, build a more enlightened society.