By Tyler White | Reporter
Opportunism is defined as “the art, policy or practice of taking advantage of opportunities or circumstances often with little regard for principles or consequences” according to Merriam-Webster. Sadly, this practice of opportunism is often utilized in society today. Whether it’s taking advantage of a minor inconvenience for a personal gain or as drastic as using a tragedy for political push, opportunism plagues our lives.
While it’s important to reevaluate ourselves and try to rid any opportunistic mentally from our lives that harms or endangers other people, I think what truly needs to be addressed is the problem of using tragedy for benefit.
Nowadays, when something tragic happens in our society, just beyond the mourning and sympathy lies the motive to use this as an opportunity to push for beliefs and demands.
In a study conducted by P. Sol Hart, Sedona Chinn and Stuart Soroka, they looked at the politicization and polarization of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Through this study, they found politicization was highly noticeable in newspapers and evenly distributed across news networks. Through this politicization, they noticed a great amount of polarization across the political parties in how people reacted to government response and expert recommendation.
Though they didn’t look at viewer reactions, there is an evident effect that this politicization impacts viewers and their personal beliefs. In the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the politicization of the pandemic led many people to rely on the beliefs and opinions of politicians rather than looking at the facts from the experts.
This led many people to grasp onto political beliefs surrounding the pandemic and become misinformed about what was actually going on. As a result, people took sides and argued on what they had been fed through their respective news source.
People began to remove the tragic side of the pandemic and instead used it as a means to establish what they believed was politically right — usually whether the government was being too harsh or too lenient.
It’s important to have such beliefs and opinions, but when you’re deconstructing a tragedy and interpreting what happened during it for political gain, you’re no longer just stating your opinion. Instead, you’re taking the tragedy, removing the tragic aspect of it — the side that calls for sympathy or understanding — and using the situation for your own gain.
Another situation where this happens all too often is when shootings occur. For this, I’ll specifically be talking about the shooting that took place in Nashville last month.
What took place in Nashville was an absolute tragedy, with six lives lost within a Christian school. It is devastating news that should be mourned and sympathized about, and people did mourn about it.
But not long after, people took to social media and took their sides on gun control almost instantly. Going on Instagram the next day, people had their stories filled with whatever best represented their political view, and it almost felt like any sincerity was completely bereft of the whole situation.
We go from such a tragic incident, with mourning families and a hurting community, and immediately turn to social media to say, “We need more guns to protect” or, “We need more gun control so people can’t have access.”
Why is that the first thing that crosses our minds, not how we can help the community or the suffering families?
This is no longer just a political belief: it becomes a selfish act of taking tragedy to prove a point. Whether you think you’re right or wrong in what you stand for, it’s unfair and unsympathetic to take those crushing moments and use it to highlight your side.
It pained me to come across posts that said, “This is a devastating incident” and turning around and saying, “Now here’s why we need X, Y or Z.”
None of this is meant to sound politically controversial or as if I’m taking sides, but it should be a challenge to the way we think of situations. You can have whatever political belief you want, that’s up to you and what you think.
When it comes to tragedy, don’t use it for your benefit or understanding. Instead of just amplifying your stance, you’re also tearing down those affected by the tragedy in the process.
