Take the recent United Airlines controversy. Ill ignore for a moment how the story’s timing is suspect as a diversion from recent political moves, and just focus on what happened.

A seated, paying customer whose seat was confirmed was beaten unconsciously and illegally forcibly removed from an airline in the US.

My reaction was essentially
1) Can they do that? Is it legal?
2) What are the laws exactly?
3) What recourse do we have against this?
4) ..

And so on. Usually followed by a lot of research to get the facts straight on exaxtly what happened (with varying degrees of probability), legal protections, consumer rights, etc. The character of the guy being dragged off was pretty far down the list. Even if someone is a complete scumbag waste of life, it DOES NOT justify giving someone carte blanche to violate the law and wrongfully accuse them. There are many people who cant seem to grasp this concept.

“Yea what United did was wrong, but the guy deserved it!” While ignoring key facts that paint a completely different picture than what is claimed.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/04/united-passenger-removal-reporting-management-fail.html

They also are the same people who get angry when you substitute the people/events and repeat their argument back to them. “The Nazis were justified in any illegal treatment of the jews because the jews were behaving badly.”

Then there are the people who already know whose at fault before they know any details. Their story changes from “The guy agreed to the contract ahead of time and it must be honored”, then upon hearing that it was the airline who broke contract, change their story of what’s the most important issue.

And then theres the people who want to avoid all conflict and browbeat anyone who makes such a big fuss over such minor issues. They just want to bury their heads in the sand while surrounding themself with people of questionable judgment.

In general I dont invest much in news or current events anymore. However, I DO care about what TPTB can get away with as a guage of what to expect going forward. The way people react to events like this shows what TPTB can get away with.

But most importantly, seeing how people react to these kind of issues grants a window into their worldview.

The only people I trust are those who want to know all the details before assigning guilt, or who refuse to be treated unjustly. Ive lost a lot of potential friends over “little things” and have been accused of making a big deal out of nothing. But every time I needed a close friend when I was in a bind, they didnt dissappoint.

Observe those around you and act accordingly.. your life and freedom could depend on it someday.