New Rule: No More "Where's the Outrage?"

"Where's the outrage?!" seems to be the new rallying cry on many blogs, message boards, mailing lists and community sites. Pissed-off folks post information about their government officials and policies and then, as if expecting that taking five minutes to post about an issue on an Internet site will be received by the world as the ultimate in self-sacrifice, ask the rhetorical question "Where's the outrage?" It's getting old.

How about some of these people expending a bit more effort than what it takes to post something to their favorite community? How about moving out from behind the computer, getting off one's ass and spending a couple hours a week doing something?

The "Where's the outrage?" thing is starting to become obnoxious. It's almost like the people who ask this rhetorical question either...

1) Think enough of their writing skills that they think their words are going to spark protests and rioting the world over, which sadly is only the case in the rarest of circumstances, or

2) Think words are enough. They expect everyone else to get up off their collective asses and go organize the protests, write the angry letters to congressmen, show up at rallies and form interest-based organizations. Because. Their. Words. Mean. So. Much.

How about this? The next time you feel like writing "Where's the outrage?" take an hour out of your day instead. Draw up a petition and circulate it. Form a Meetup group around an issue and organize a meeting. Plan a fundraiser for your candidate of choice. Just DO SOMETHING rather than sitting there waiting for everyone else's outrage to boil over so that they can do all the hard work for you.