It
doesn’t matter to me what you believe about politics, religion, or finances. I
don’t care who you support politically and I won’t hate you if we disagree.
So
what if you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or a carnivore? It simply has nothing to do with me. More
importantly, if you’re Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or Agnostic, if we’re
friends or family, I will look past our differences and look at what we have in
common. Moreover, I will listen to you with compassionate and empathy.
You can post whatever you want, wherever you choose, and I am ok with that!
That
said, if I feel you’re open minded enough to have a debate, I might debate with
you. But trust me on this, I won’t
unfriend, unfollow, or disown you if we disagree. I enjoy a great debate and I won’t hold your
opinions against you regardless how heated our debate might become. The truth is that no matter what our
differences might be, it has no bearing on me personally. I won’t take your
opinion personally because it has nothing to do with me, even if your comments
are directed at me. It is merely an opinion.
Since
the Paris terrorist attacks on Friday, November 13th, 2015, social
media have been flooded with personal opinions. There have been numerous
comments on the event and the fallout on social media was swift. Many people
have unfriended each other based on what these comments meant to them. To be
sure, there were some very ugly comments in the newsfeeds. Emotions were
volatile and by and large people held very strong opposing opinions. Terrible
things were written, and shared widely, largely to people who didn’t even know
each other.
Which
begs the question, is social media making us inflexible and jerks? Are we becoming more egocentric, in that we
believe our opinion matters and is paramount? I think, yes we are and yes, we
most certainly do.
And,
I also think social media gives us a false sense of courage, and ironically our
anonymity online makes us feel important. The fact is because we are not
face to face, looking into the eyes of a person, that we have the courage to
espouse our unfiltered and sometime knee jerk reactions to something we have
read online but really this can be an act of cowardliness. Furthermore, more
often than not we are not held responsible for the fallout that ensues after
certain comments are posted. We can simple disappear from the conversation or
troll silently following the discussion thread, feeling self-important.
If
we exercised a sober second thought about what we write on Facebook, Twitter
and blogs, we might never even post online. For me, this is certainly true that
I delete more comments I begin to write after thinking about it than I actually
post. This is particularly true if I am commenting on something that has
annoyed me. Sometimes, I will read
something online and say to myself, “OMG!” “idiot”, “Does that person not fact
check”, “WTH”, etc. Then, I will quickly write a critical and judgmental reply. But then, I have trained myself to pause and decide
whether or not to delete my comment because my opinion on social media to
virtual strangers in the greater scheme of things, does not matter!
Thankfully,
humanity is culturally diverse with varying points of view. I can’t imagine
what this world would look like if everyone thought like me. Well, I can, and
it would be pretty awesome. But, I
digress!
On
the whole, my opinion is that if you want a simpler life and keep your blood
pressure in check, don’t take everything you read on social media as a personal
affront to your character, integrity, morals, or ethics. The more you let go of your ego, the freer you
are and the less of a jerk you become. And
if you are tempted to lash out in haste, it is very therapeutic to put down in
words exactly how you are feeling. But take a deep breath and then delete it!
The
foregoing was my personal opinion and hopefully was not an affront to anyone
who reads it. That said, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t comment. LOL
Ditto!
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