Social media has now become the town square where people come to watch everything from weddings to funerals, christenings to birthdays and more recently witch huntings and burnings to hangings. only now, even those closest to us are not exempt from the gallows.
“Oh look! A fire!” And we all come running to see what or who is burning.
Yes, I’m referring to what’s happening in our country right now.
I offer these words as hopefully a light to show us all that we are not going to heal by torches and pitch forks but rather by our individual and internal conversation with ourselves. Our own experiences. Our own thoughts. Our own lives. Our own beliefs. Our own individual reactions.
Social media is not real life. It’s scripted. It’s edited. It’s beauty filtered. It’s interpreted. It’s infused with as many beliefs, bias’, agendas and opinions as there are people behind the screen. It’s worse than TELL – A – VISION. It’s a live reality show with each individual’s projection on a screen that we swipe up or down depending on what we want to see.
Oh and there’s so much to see. We’re definitely living out Shakespeare here. “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.”
Personally, I love family photos, recipes, your pets, your parties, your triumphs and sorrows and especially your babies. 😊
I’ll get to the point…the social media town square is getting dangerously cruel. I’ve been seeing a lot of things that are more divisive than ever and I’m worried. I’m worried that many of us are more concerned with what we project than who we really are out in the real world. Yes…I’m speaking of protest posting.
The way you live your life is what matters, not pandering on social media or in front of cameras on the nightly news. It’s so transparent it’s sickening. Not everyone who does it is insincere, but it appears suddenly, protest posting is the new “thing.”
So many high profile people, as well as every day citizens, are shaming others for not doing or saying on social media what THEY believe others should be doing or worse, pandering out of fear they’ll face backlash or humiliation in this public square, for not doing what is expected of them and it’s so disappointing.
Guilt is not a healthy motivation and very often ends in resentment or worse, the exact opposite reaction than what you want.
The response to guilt when it gives you a favorable response is also most often insincere. Sadly, yet most importantly (I can’t even believe I have to say this) not complying to the shaming and what is becoming “social media” bullying dictates you should do, doesn’t make you a racist.
What gives anyone the right to dictate to others how they should respond to anything, as if they’re some morally superior being?
I’ll tell you what…absolutely nothing.
We all have to be accountable to ourselves, not the herd. Individual accountability is where we learn, NOT obedience. Obedience is deadly to the human spirit. That’s what got us here in the first place. Obedience is acting out of oppression and someone else’s power over you. Be careful with that.
It seems that friendships and family members are now being “cancelled” (I believe that’s the term for blackballing) simply because they aren’t following the dictated “protocols” of protest. “No excuses!” Yeah okay… like you know each and every person on your friends list’s personal circumstances and what they’ve done or not done to protest and it’s your job to police your friends and family to assure they’re towing the line.
“But you didn’t post on your FB about it! But you didn’t denounce it so obviously your silence is condoning it!”
WRONG. Maybe some people don’t feel the need to because they know in their hearts who they are and how they’ve lived their lives treating their fellow man with love and kindness. Maybe they prefer to not create drama or anger on their social media? Maybe they simply handle things differently than you?
Guess what? It’s not your business how people react nor your right to judge.
How about living your life in such a way that leads by example? How about if you see injustice, open your mouth and say something in that moment? How about kindness, understanding and constructive conversation to learn and grow as a human being? How about worrying about your individual social responsibility and leave others to their own journey?
Whatever you choose to do to speak out against anything is YOUR CHOICE and YOUR RIGHT but shaming and “canceling” others simply because they have taken another path to show support is the real shame. Oh and if you’re protest posting and judging others because you’re afraid someone will think badly of you or you’ll be ostracized well…
Maybe that’s about you, not them.
Author P.S. Bartlett 