I started this blog with a story about my father and how in is view television would turn America into a nation of idiots so I can’t help but wonder what he would think of today’s internet generation. You see if TV was going to make us idiots, the internet and social media have driven us right past Idiot Ville and right in to the land of fools, morons and hate mongers.
Just to be clear, the internet has done a lot of good and provided us with lots of useful tools. The internet has given us google and Wikipedia, so now we don’t need things like encyclopedias and dictionaries in hard copy any longer, we can now just go onto the internet and look up whatever we want at any time of the day or night. Everything that we need is at our fingertips, including things like books, shopping, movies and TV shows. We can even use the internet to talk to friends and relatives all over the world via programs like Skype. The internet also gave us Social Media, so that we can communicate with our friends, relatives, politicians, and virtually anyone else that we want to communicate with. Through social media we can find and communicate with old friends, and long lost relatives, we can exchange photos and talk to each other in real time without ever having to pick up a telephone or write a letter. Young people have used social media to create seemingly completely foreign language that only they understand.
So, why is it that I think the internet and social media is turning us into fools, morons and hate mongers? In my not so humble view, the internet and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have become the preferred method of spreading hate and fear throughout our great land. These outlets have without question made it much easier for racist, homophobes and other haters to crawl from under the rocks that they were hiding for years and begin spreading their hateful views throughout the land. Sometimes it easy to tell what these folks are up to because their just plain blatant about it, but in many cases they hide their comments behind political statements, cartoons and other items on social media that many of us view and pass on. Think about a scenario like this; you see a political statement that says the president is doing a dope and is crappy job, so not being a fan of said president, you agree with the statement and decide to pass it along on your Facebook or Twitter page because you think it’s cute or funny, or you just plain agree with the statement. This is seemingly a harmless gesture, but had you clicked on the comment section of that post, you might have second thoughts about reposting or liking that post. In many cases the comments contained in such post are filled with both racist and homophobic rants, some refer to women in less than flattering terms as well. The reason that I know this scenario is because I reposted something several weeks ago and had a good friend contact me to ask if I had read the comments contained in the post before forwarding, to which I had to say no. Had I taken the time to read the comments prior to reposting I would have never done so, because some of the comments contained therein were both vile and disgusting?
When I started reading some of the post sent by both friends and family, blacks and whites, I realized that I needed to review every single comment section before liking or reposting, or risk perhaps presenting myself who I am not. It’s unfortunate but I even had to unfriend one of my own grandsons because while I didn’t want to put a damper on his social life, the things on his FB page and contained in some of his friends post were just not socially acceptable for the world in which I live. I still love him, and perhaps one day when he’s a little older I’ll be able to bring him back, but for now it’s just easier to let him be himself, living in his youthful world.
Ok, so that’s my pitch for more civility on the internet and especially on social media. Listen, I know better than to think that everyone in this or any other country is going to always love one another, but despite that, there is no reason that we can’t treat each other with dignity and respect. It’s good to have disagreements because that’s what helps to make us great, but just remember that if you need to call someone a vile name to win an argument or make your point, you should probably rethink your position. Almost everyone has a political view, but if your political views are causing you to hate people who don’t look or think like you, perhaps you need to rethink your political views. Finally, we are all judged by the company that we keep, so if my social media friends comments are viewed as intolerant, those reading those comments will be left with the view that I too am intolerant. If my Twitter followers post messages filled with hate, my other followers will have little choice but to believe that because of those messages that I too am filled with hate. I say all of this to very simply say to you, please READ THE COMMENTS ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS!
I’m Just Sayin