Humanitarian War Crimes Hidden Safely Behind Paywall

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Trevor Collins started the morning of February 7th the way he did most mornings. A shower, a shave, and sitting down to breakfast while scrolling through the morning news. Trevor, like very few Americans, likes to stay current on world news. It was then when Trevor read a rather troubling headline, but before he could put down his croissant, he found the article was safely hidden behind a paywall.

“My morning was this close to being ruined, this close.” 

It was at this point in the interview that Mr. Collins displayed his pointer finger positioned impossibly close to his thumb. When interviewers leaned in closer in an attempt to observe and measure the space between the fingers,  Mr. Collins flicked our correspondent on the nose. 

“The thumbnail was this horrifying picture of a family’s home blown to rubble, the children sitting bloodied in the smoldering remains of their home. Sickened but also intrigued by the blood like any good American, I clicked looking to read the whole article and get context. I read the first sentence or two and shit was getting pretty rough, but thank god I reached my free article limit and would’ve had to pay to read more. Because damn it was a real bummer of a read.” 

While there are a number of dedicated free news outlets Trevor could have gone to at that moment to get the whole story. None of those outlets advertised on the short form media platforms that have come to rule every waking hour of Trevor's existence. So in Trevor's mind the world is only so bad as the first two sentences of any given news story. 

“In a way it’s very freeing to live in a world without context. If I only ever go by the thumb nail I’m free to flex my creative muscles and rationalize away nearly anything. That family I saw in the picture probably had it coming. There’s been any number of foreign wars going on my entire existence that I’ve been dimly aware of. Just because the innocent are being slaughtered daily doesn’t mean I have to be aware of it. I’ve got to be in the office by 10!” 

At press time, Mr. Collins' biggest concern is the Robertson Account, and getting home in time to watch the latest episode of HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. No spoilers please, we’ve read the novellas but are waiting for all the episodes to come out. Many populations around the world continue to suffer atrocities almost too gruesome to believe. But it’s nothing a little sweet treat wouldn’t take your mind off of.