Missing Men in Bucks County, PA

I’ve been following the story about the four men who are missing in Bucks County pretty closely.  I live in Bucks County, so naturally, it’s all over the place.  Internet sleuths are commenting with their *thoroughly researched intel* (read: bullshit) that they are all drug addicts, etc.  It is amazing to me how quickly people judge complete strangers.  Until July 9th, most people did not know who these men are.  Commenters, however, from the extremely limited info provided, are apparently psychic mediums who can “just tell” that these guys are up to no good.

I watch this stuff happen all the time.  It feels to me that somehow addiction makes people less human, or suitable candidates for judgement and dismissal.  It seems like the caste system is alive and well, and being an addict (Which these guys could completely be or not be, there is literally nothing about this in the articles) qualifies you for a death sentence.  The callousness of internet warriors baffles me.  I could just imagine one of these men’s mother reading perfect strangers shitting all over her missing kid.

I get it, the internet is what it is, and shitty people are shitty people.  I guess, I don’t understand why one addiction is less palatable than another.  The people sitting there for hours on Facebook commenting on things that are completely unrelated to their life/casting judgement and aspersion are addicted too.  They’re addicted to an app that allows a voyeuristic view of life.  An illusion of connection.  Is it really any different from a drug? In either, you are escaping reality.  In either, it’s not a healthy coping mechanism.  In either, it’s not an actually productive use of time.  In either, it’s truly none of my business and none of yours.  Whatever happened to live and let live? Or, live and let die haha.

Now, too, the person of interest – Cosmo Dinardo – is on record as being involuntarily committed to a mental institution.  My eyes are rolling at the bullshit I am sure is starting.  Why do personal tragedies become platforms for agendas? There are four families who may have lost their sons, and inevitably, it will become a pissing match of Gun Control needed, as he will be a case study of both why gun control succeeded and failed.  He was charged with possession of a gun when he legally could not have possessed it due to being 302’d.  So, he illegally obtained a gun, but the law gave police a charge to hold him.  And of course, he’s crazy, so now it will be more assessment into mental health, and how we all need to talk more about mental health (instead of, say, doing something about it…) I get it, I talk about mental illness a lot, awareness is needed, compassion is needed, but to use people/tragedies as platforms is kind of fucked up, no? What is the threshold whereby (if he even did it) Cosmo’s involuntary admission/apparent mental illness is the culprit of the crime?

In reality, no one knows anything.  He could have been 302’d for being high on special K while using his junk as a sword attacking police, he could have attempted suicide, he could have been/done a million things.  Speculation serves no one but the rumor mill and agendas.  Moreover, these are still people with families.  These are people, and whether or not they are addicts or mentally ill, they don’t deserve to have some troll sitting online ripping them apart based on their own hypothesis.

I truly don’t understand how life can be commoditized.  “Oh look another bunch of addicts missing” as if their lives are worthless or worth less than someone else.  Moreover, if Cosmo Dinardo is the perpetrator, his mental illness will be the culprit as well as the victim.  It confuses me. It seems as though people use tragedies such as this to help them feel better – “at least I’m not that crazy” or “see, that’s what happens when you do drugs”.  It puts me in mind of Vicarious by TOOL.

I guess, it is easy to sit at a keyboard judging other people as you escape your own reality.  It’s easy to delude yourself that someone’s palpable addiction (which is currently not even substantiated) is less palatable than your socially acceptable addiction.  It is easier to lump people into categories of addicts and/or crazy instead of exercising compassion and non-judgement.  I guess it’s easier to be an “expert” of your opinion then admit you are clueless and just filling up space with vapid words to pass the time.

For me, I suppose, it’s easier to view the world as a bunch of cavemen doing whatever the hell they want acting like they’re evolved.  It’s not a where is God, or drugs are the devil, or crazy people are crazy.  There will never be a solution to these equations, because there are too many variables contained in every human.  Nothing is ever as tidy as Criminal Minds, CSI, etc. would lead you to believe, because unless you are the perpetrator or the victim, you haven’t a clue.  Hell, the perpetrator and victim may not even have a clue.  The world was never neat and tidy where bad things only happen to bad people or vice versa.  I just hope for the best for the families.  I cannot imagine the pain they are in, and no one even knows if these men are alive or dead.  I think that’s what is eating at me.  These guys could be getting tortured right now or a million possibilities and human beings are attacking these human beings with nothing more than their opinion.  At least cavemen had more productive things to do with their time, like, ya know, surviving.