A Plea
Social media has many amazing benefits — the ability to connect from any distance, an array of creative inspiration, the opportunity to learn new ideas, laughter in a heavy world. But it is also a cesspool of disgusting human behavior. What gives any of us the right to speak to or about another human being with authority, judgment, hatred and rage? What level of detachment from our own hearts makes it feasible, and dare I say, desirable, to attack another human for their choices, their actions, and their expression. Who the fuck do we think we are?
Even opening the comments on a benign sponsored ad is met with a lack of respect and decency that it is almost impossible for me to swallow the reality of how we treat perfect strangers in today’s modern times. Years ago, it was a rarity to observe someone yelling face-to-face at a store clerk or shopkeeper. Now, the darkness that lives within each of us seems so easily expressed outside of us, whether in person or in the comfort of our own tiny keyboards. What we are ripping down with our ten seconds of hate are other people’s efforts, whether we agree with them or not, whether the price matches our own expectations or wallets, whether we think their offering is “worth” it, or whether we can find better elsewhere. Why do we feel the need to force our opinions, typically on things we actually know very little about, where they aren’t asked?
Perhaps this is the problem that goes in tandem with the value of the internet. Crowd-sourcing makes foraging through the myriad of choices in today’s world less overwhelming. It’s a brilliant approach to capturing human capital for free. Personally, I appreciate knowing the experience others had at a restaurant or hotel I may stay in. It leaves me with a lot less uncertainty when I get there. Yet, there’s a giant caveat to my interest in other people’s opinions. People who post for the benefit of others post with heart. Their posts show care for shopkeepers, waitstaff, and hospitality workers. They are posting to have their opinions be heard and utilized by others, not to be the loudest critic in the room. Barking loudly about our righteous judgments only fuels the fire that can never really be extinguished unless we actually want it to be. We look around and wonder why the world is so difficult to be a part of, and yet, can’t also see how we’re simultaneously making it so.
Within me is a enraged hurt heart and a plea for us to be different. Open your eyes. Become aware of what words you commit to the page and their impact on others. Care about others more than you care about your precious beliefs. Please, what are we doing here if not learning how to be better to one another before we die? You’re not getting out of this alive and you may as well not burn it to the ground before you go.