I thought a lot about what I would write when I returned to my blog. I thought about the direction I would like to take. With my blogs getting published at my new PR job in San Francisco, I thought I might just post them here (Getting paid to blog = score). Now that I've become more involved in the Bay Area theatre community, I thought I might transition into a review/critique writer.
But…
Today is different. Today, I'd like to talk about something completely different. Over the period of three months, we've seen a hailstorm of tragic news:
- The shooting of Michael Brown and the riot in St. Louis,
- ISIS making strides to destroy any traces of Christian faith in Pakastan with the murder of innocent men, women and children; and
- Robin Williams deciding to take his life
These events, like many others before them suffocate the media airwaves with conspiracy and extremist opinions. You can see evidence of side-taking all over the internet. Your friends, colleagues, family members, and even strangers take to their keyboards to make sense of the chaos. That teacher you respected is now making racist remarks about how Brown "deserved it" for being a thug. You're favorite aunt talks about Obama being a terrorist. That friend who you were close with is now belittling you for your "incompetent" stance on what's happening in Israel.
The worst part of it all - I spent so much time going over how I might contribute to the hoopla. Will I comment on people's reactions to FOX news anchor Shepard Smith's intension when speaking about Robin Williams suicide? Will I express my outrage over the community of St. Louis and their "taking advantage" of Brown's death through their destruction and looting? Will I share my true feelings about what is taking place with ISIS or Isreal?
No. No I will not. For a few different and very personal reasons. WARNING: these are completely opinion based. I'm not telling anyone to do anything, believe anything or putting anyone down. This is simply my stance on public sharing...
1. Freedom of Speech isn't Free: Although this seems like an overzealous statement, it has an inkling of truth. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What Sir Isaac Newton didn't realize when developing the three laws of motion, was that this would also pertain to human nature. If I were to post my real thoughts and feelings about certain social injustices to the web, I would be eaten alive. People would jump at the chance to take a jab at my morality, humanity, and integrity. I see internet comments like "kill yourself" or "you're retarded if you think that", and my heart sinks. Intolerance is the exact reason there is destructive conflict and cyber bullying today. So I choose to remain silent. I flip through the Facebook statuses suppressing my urge to speak up. Sometimes, my freedom to speak is just not worth it.
2. Appearances are everything: Okay this is a bit of a "hook" bullet but it's also true. I am very conscious of how I come across on the internet. Remember that picture someone took of you at a party and now posted it to Instagram? Yeah, that's not going anywhere. And when your crush, family members or even employers are scrolling through your profile, they're going to see it too. Not only that, but your activity is practically gold to marketing data miners tracking your every move. Did you know that Facebook conducted an emotion contagion study to manipulate the type of information you received on your feed? Everything on the Internet is permanent and traceable. So I have to ask myself, "If you saw someone else post this, what would you think?" And then I don't. Instead I post pictures of my camping trip and tag my friends at the bar if anything at all. Why? Because…
3. No matter what, I will become emotionally involved: Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to write this post completely unbiased? So many moments I had a person in mind that I wanted to berate for their misogynistic outlook. So many times did I want to go off on a tangent about something I saw someone write or post. People can be so frustrating, but they are also human. They have feelings, guts, chutzpah, spunk, and a little bit of sass. They are programmed to have passions, desires, and emotions. We have this intricate system of thinking all hardwired into our DNA. It's incredible! Aren't we awesome? Aren't we awful? Yes, we're both. We have the capacity to do such wonderful things. We can start philanthropies, donate to the poor, give a homeless man our last bit of cash and change the world for the better. We can also murder and kill. We can kick, bite, scratch, and hurt. We can yell, scream and bring a person to tears. We have so much potential for so many different things. So why choose negativity? What will bashing a host on FOX News do? How will belittling someone's opinion about the Middle East help change the world. It won't. Instead it will feed the media monster. So instead, I post links to interesting articles. Instead, I read informative books (PS: "I Am Malala" is AMAZEBALLS) and research topics I don't know much about. Instead, I educate myself vs. relying on everyone's Social Media bias to educate me. Because I know that my emotional attachment to the poster or outlet will sway me into that way of thinking instead of having an opinion of my own.
NOTE: I am not saying that the process of sharing information is "bad". The whole point of the Internet and Social Media is to share information. We, as complex creatures, need to feel connected through some medium. But, sometimes we abuse this tool for our own indulgence. We become Internet monsters, red-faced and terrifying.
So I ask: what is the point of what you are posting? Who are you trying to reach? Who will it benefit? What good will it do? What harm will it do? How will this make you a better you?
Dare to be the best you
Dare to be inspiring
Dare to be courageous
Dare to be incredible
And keep being beautiful...
But when it comes to food porn or cat pics, POST AWAY!
Cheers,
Kay
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