What’s happening on social media has been bothering me for a long
time. Although I’ve alluded
occasionally to the personal feelings of frustration and anxiety caused by it,
I haven’t written much about it. Now
that it’s spilling out onto the streets of the “real world” big time, however,
I believe I need to try harder.
The first time I noticed it, about eight years ago, the “crime” was
perpetrated within a closed social media group I administered for writers. The purpose of the group was to share with
one another our experimentation with the written word. Creative minds experienced with the use of
prose could “safely” try their hands at poetry or vice-versa. Constructive criticism and collaboration was
welcome in the form of comments upon a post. It seemed such a lovely, supportive little
group, promoting exploration and self-confidence. Until someone began plagiarizing the work of
others; copying the images and feelings created by another’s words and pasting
them elsewhere without permission or attribution. I was shocked by the theft. We were, I’d thought, a happy little
community of like minds. As writers, we
knew what plagiarism was. I hadn’t
thought one of us would do to another in a virtual environment what he wouldn’t
dare to do in the “real world”. As
administrator, I exiled the “criminal” but the damage had already been
done. No one was ever as confident again
that personal thoughts and feelings expressed as art would not be stolen. Several of the published authors left the
group, trading the joy of experimentation for the certainty of copyright
protection. Looking back on it now, how
tame was the “crime” that had so shocked me!
The next time I noticed it, about seven years ago, the “crime” was to
do with personal grievances about how “they” were colluding against “our”
culture. Social media was blowing up
with all these “warnings” that we couldn’t wish one another “Merry Christmas”
anymore, “In God We Trust” was being removed from our money, and “they” were
going to confiscate our guns. I asked
several people WHO had ever told them it was wrong to wish someone – anyone! –
“Merry Christmas”. Had a single person
been told by another, “That offends me because I’m Jewish” or “Please don’t say
such a thing to me because I’m atheist”?
Nope. Not a one. But every December that same trash is tossed
up as a warning. Last time I checked,
“In God We Trust” was still being printed on my money. What about yours? As for Democrats coming for our guns … I’m an
Independent but I’ve voted for Democrats just as I’ve voted for Republicans. I own a gun.
I have a carry permit. Mine’s
still in its holster. Please tell me
which of you has had your legally obtained and registered weapon confiscated
because I’ve got your back and will support your rights enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution. Oh, I see. None of the Chicken Littles has had that
happen, either. But for seven years,
that warning has repeatedly been sounded.
As recently as … huh … last week.
Still going strong, despite it being total bull doodoo.
The next time I noticed it, about six years ago, the crime (and this
time it isn’t in quotation marks because no one can argue it wasn’t criminal) originated
in a role-playing game. One faction was
at virtual war with another. Happens all
the time and it’s even kind of fun when confined within pixels. Most of the players continued to treat one
another as normal outside of the game.
We were still friends on social media, even with those we’d never met in
real life, and even while in bloody opposition within a fantasy. But there were those few who knew no boundaries. Lies were spun about the personal lives of players,
citing their real (rather than game character) names, and posted as truths. If the lies were debunked or the liars called
out as comments on the offensive posts, the comments were deleted by the
spinners of lies but the posts remained, poisoning in one way or another
everyone who saw them. Accounts were
hacked. Fake accounts were set up in the
names of real people, complete with altered photographs. Yes, they were removed by the watchdogs of
social media – once reported and investigated and after several weeks had
passed. And I’m not talking about mild
little character assassinations like, “So and so pretends to like apple pie but
in reality thinks all the world’s orchards should be torched.” I’m talking about big, dark lies like, “So
and so, a peewee ball coach in his spare time, likes little boys way too much. He was caught abusing one but bought his way
out of a conviction so preys on.” Reputations,
both personal and professional, were damaged and in some cases destroyed. About a year after I left the game in disgust
and blocked those who knew no bounds, I heard that one of the destroyed ones
won a libel case against one of the liars.
It was a small victory and one that wasn’t even as effective as a
Band-Aid on a gaping wound. “Shocked”
by that entire experience is far too minimal a description of what I,
relatively personally unscathed (the lies against me were more of the apple pie
variety), suffered. I can’t possibly
imagine the grief and devastation experienced by the seriously assaulted.
Since then I’ve been watching lies being posted and shared or emailed
and forwarded, mostly unchallenged.
There are some who fact-check and then comment the truth or “reply to
all” but even we know that the offense has already been perpetrated ten or
twenty fold by the time we’ve been able to respond with evidence to the
contrary on the one tiny thread of which we were party. To be honest, this practice has totally
mystified me and is growing worse. Why,
angered by something you’ve read, would you not check its veracity before
sharing or forwarding it? Is this
seriously what we’ve become – a global version of Chicken Little screaming to
one another that the sky is falling?
Does no one look out his own window anymore?
And why, oh why, are the ones who pause to investigate being
vilified? I’ve slowed way down in my
responses to some of the lies I see on a daily basis, not because I think it’s acceptable
to abuse the internet – a global tool for the free sharing of ideas and
knowledge – but because I’ve been called the most ridiculous of names for
challenging the propaganda. 1) I’ve been
called a bleeding-heart liberal (not true, by the way, but I’m warming to the
label compared to others). 2) I’ve been
told, in citing evidence, that I’m reliant upon statistics. 3) I’ve been called a narcissist who believes
only my own opinion is valid and that I’m disrespectfully trampling on the opinions
of anyone who believes otherwise.
Opinion? Seriously? Since when has responding that something
presented as a fact is not true been disrespectful of another’s opinion? Does no one know the difference between fact
and opinion anymore? The solid line has
not only been blurred but totally obliterated by some. And, yes, the previous sentence is my OPINION
based on OBSERVATION of what I’m seeing on a daily basis; observation being the
first step of evidence which leads to the production of a FACT. And finally 4) I’ve been told that I am
“naïve” and that I “think too much”. OK,
right back to being shocked again.
But, like the example above about the insanity that grew out of a
role-playing game, I’ve been fortunate to have remained relatively
unscathed. I’ve seen people who have
weighed in on a discussion with actual evidence being treated far more harshly
than the mild criticism I’ve been dealt.
The name calling is atrocious!
I’ve blushed at what I’ve witnessed one “friend” call another. I’ve shaken my head in frustration over all
the “liberals are this” and “conservatives are that” memes. I’ve been reduced – yes, me, believe it or not
– to public speechlessness over a “friend” commenting in a closed group in a
entirely bigoted fashion about what millions of people who ascribe to a
particular religion “secretly” believe, being aware that this man is neighbors,
colleagues, and regularly socially interacts with adherents of that religion. He knew, through personal experience, that
his comment was a lie but he told it anyway.
When I private messaged him in a “how could you say such a thing”
fashion, I was told he was “just shaking the discussion up a bit”. I shook it up by blocking him. I admit to being passionate, opinionated,
loving a good debate, as well as to abhorring censorship. I draw the line at the totally irresponsible
who don’t think about the consequences of their actions, who instead knowingly
play on the fears and ignorance of others.
Why would someone do such a thing?
This, to me, is far more outrageous than those ignorantly perpetrating
lies they do not KNOW to be lies.
I began to see a correlation between the behavior of some on social
media to the behavior that occurs during the weird psychological phenomenon of
road rage. A person is safely distanced
from others in a metal pod. He can see
out and others can see in but there’s this metal barrier between him and them. He feels “free” to (and for some reason I
cannot understand, seemingly wants
to) totally dehumanize others traveling the same road. It’s us against them – those in my car
against all those in other vehicles.
“They” are assholes who don’t know how to drive. Look at what “they” just did to me; cutting
me off on purpose, slowing down my progress, blatantly disrespecting my
righteous route! If I were in control
of a firing squad, “they’d” be the first against the wall! “They” are no longer people, families,
friends, on the same journey I am on.
“They” are the enemy; not real people with real lives anymore.
The same people engaging in road rage, the same people “shaking the
discussion up a bit” on social media, the same people forwarding uninvestigated
lies through email, have led not only to name-calling divisions on the internet. It’s on the streets now. People are baiting and/or physically
assaulting one another during and following political rallies. We’re breaking into “us” and “them” in a very
real way now.
In my experience, it began as a little intellectual theft among the
like minded. “Yes, this belongs to you
but I’m going to take it and pretend that it’s mine because I can”. It grew to lies and deceit against real
people who had been opposing factions in a fantasy war. It devolved into stereotyping others at large
– “liberals do this” and “conservatives do that”. It further downward-spiraled into “You (not
just you, a collective member of the liberal philosophy but YOU in particular)
do this and think that”. Most of it is
based on a spider web of lies. One swipe
will eradicate it. But no one’s swiping.
All of this has led to the “politics of grievance”. You don’t respect my beliefs because you
counteracted with evidence, suggesting what I believe might not jive very well
with reality. Instead of thinking about
whether or not I’ve witnessed what I’m saying is true or pausing for 15 minutes
to research it through an institution I trust, I’m going to dig in my heels and
call you a name. And I’m going to share
the lie. And my “friends” will share
it. And their “friends” will share it.
You’re not real, after all; you’re just someone who has a different
opinion on the internet. You’re not
real, after all; you’re just that asshole in the car in the lane beside
mine. You’re not real, after all; you’re
just that scum listening to someone I don’t agree with speaking at the rally
I’m approaching.
Millions of Chicken Littles screaming that the sky is falling and so
few actually looking out their windows, to see that it’s all a great, big lie.
