an extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury:
synonyms: abomination · cruelty · enormity · outrage · horror · monstrosity · obscenity · violation · crime · abuse · barbarity · barbarism · brutality · savagery · inhumanity · wickedness · evil · iniquity
humorousa highly unpleasant or distasteful object:"the house was a split-level atrocity"
Apparently we humans can be a bit dramatic. I don't think many architectural failures could ever meet the level of abomination that the Third Reich reached.
But we have plenty of things, both in war, in our government, in our news, in our schools and hospitals and homes that could be considered atrocities.
We have people with mental illness and drug addiction creating such things and people with great power creating them.
We have criminals creating them (over 10,000 murders a year--be aware, if you are killed in the commission of a felony, your fellow partner in crime is now guilty of murder, no matter who did it), and those that are supposed to protect us that are creating them. (about 1000 unarmed civilians a years for at least 3 years {couldn't legally track this before that} that are shot in the commission of--well of misdemeanors, of "see the man about", of routine traffic stops for bulbs out over license plates and flickering taillights and breakdowns on the road).
We have human trafficking in the USA, up to 800,000 individuals a years-globally with about 50,000 into our own country, most underage, most female and most placed into the sex-trade although child labor, service jobs and factory jobs are being implicated as participating. Greed and self-gratification are apparently enough to make normal, everyday humans take advantage of their fellow human travelers. This is not counting the locally born and not free to leave individuals that end up in the sex trade.
We have the lives lost to addiction: the opiate crisis--striking people that turned their nose up at those being laid low by heroin and methamphetamines and crack cocaine are now hooked through the nose by prescription medications. Our war on drugs is more of a war on those individuals that can't cope with life and need substance abuse/addiction treatment so we offer them prison and the opportunity to provide slave-labor due to a quirk of the 13th amendment.
We have School Officials covering up crimes against children to protect their own jobs and reputations.
We have Corporate Officials covering up crimes against women to protect their upper management team and their buddies.
We have running jokes about the casting couch and sexy old actresses declaring the sexual demands just good fun and rather complementary.
We have people telling jokes about cigars and white house interns.
We have recordings of powerful men bragging about being so powerful that they can grab women by the genitals, kiss them without their consent, kill someone on tv, and still be powerful and successful.
We have everyday atrocities.
We have children raised so isolated from view that no one notices that they are malnourished and their growth is stunted.
We have homeless people freezing during January.
We have livestock living so packed together that cutting off beaks is seen as protective.
We have people picking vegetables that can't afford to eat vegetables and people selling groceries and clothing and dogfood that can't afford to shop where they work or live near their job.
We have people dying of illnesses because they can't get preventative care, can't get early diagnostic work-ups and can't afford any medications they might need to live with the illness they have.
We have people with IQ's in the genius level that can't make it through high school due to their home demands and the lack of support, so forget about college--a loss for all society.
We have second graders that get their first toothpaste and toothbrush from the school nurse during the dental hygiene class. (if she is the only nurse in 6 schools, then chances of being in that class go down.
And we have atrocities by neglect--the person that sees abuse and decided its none of their business, the person that watches a person in power abuse that power, the person that knows about a worker embezzling, knows a boss that is always touching an underling, the person that always looks the other way when something is wrong with how things are being done..
When you watch a real life video showing something bad happening, someone was there and did nothing. If they notified authorities before filming or were truly scared for their lives but wanted proof of what they saw. I get that. But to just stand there and record while something horrible happens in hopes of a viral post or getting paid for the rights--that is atrocious.
And the person that watches wrong for years, the person that "knows that the person doing wrong is deep down a good person" so decides it's ok, the person that just doesn't want to get involved. Those people are culpable--if not legally, then morally--of the same atrocities they have ignored.
So before eviscerating the architecture of a new home or waxing poetic about the kid next doors prom dress, ask yourself--am I stopping atrocities, real ones, or ignoring what is important while playing into the hands of those that want me to stay superficial, shallow, and pointless in my life.
We simple individuals have not only the ability to improve the world around us, we have a moral imperative to stop atrocities when we see them happening.
That doesn't make you a hero.
That makes you a good person.
We have children raised so isolated from view that no one notices that they are malnourished and their growth is stunted.
We have homeless people freezing during January.
We have livestock living so packed together that cutting off beaks is seen as protective.
We have people picking vegetables that can't afford to eat vegetables and people selling groceries and clothing and dogfood that can't afford to shop where they work or live near their job.
We have people dying of illnesses because they can't get preventative care, can't get early diagnostic work-ups and can't afford any medications they might need to live with the illness they have.
We have people with IQ's in the genius level that can't make it through high school due to their home demands and the lack of support, so forget about college--a loss for all society.
We have second graders that get their first toothpaste and toothbrush from the school nurse during the dental hygiene class. (if she is the only nurse in 6 schools, then chances of being in that class go down.
And we have atrocities by neglect--the person that sees abuse and decided its none of their business, the person that watches a person in power abuse that power, the person that knows about a worker embezzling, knows a boss that is always touching an underling, the person that always looks the other way when something is wrong with how things are being done..
When you watch a real life video showing something bad happening, someone was there and did nothing. If they notified authorities before filming or were truly scared for their lives but wanted proof of what they saw. I get that. But to just stand there and record while something horrible happens in hopes of a viral post or getting paid for the rights--that is atrocious.
And the person that watches wrong for years, the person that "knows that the person doing wrong is deep down a good person" so decides it's ok, the person that just doesn't want to get involved. Those people are culpable--if not legally, then morally--of the same atrocities they have ignored.
So before eviscerating the architecture of a new home or waxing poetic about the kid next doors prom dress, ask yourself--am I stopping atrocities, real ones, or ignoring what is important while playing into the hands of those that want me to stay superficial, shallow, and pointless in my life.
We simple individuals have not only the ability to improve the world around us, we have a moral imperative to stop atrocities when we see them happening.
That doesn't make you a hero.
That makes you a good person.
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