Social Media: The Good and the Bad

Being sensitive and intuitive can suck sometimes.

On Sunday morning, I felt intense anxiety; a sense of impending doom. This has happened a few times prior to other incidents where many have lost their lives. I treated my anxiety symptoms in my own way in the evening. 

I hopped on Twitter, and saw a retweet of a video in Las Vegas. I logged in to Broadcastify to listen to the LVMPD scanner. I watched Twitter as victims tweeted videos, and listened to the scanner in shock. 

I watched people send out their thoughts and prayers to the victims, and retweet locations where blood could be donated. I read stories about amazing heroes, and a story about someone who stayed to hold the hand of a stranger who was shot so they wouldn't be alone. These are examples of how social media can bring people together and promote the true humanitarian spirit, and promote love and healing. 

I also watched the internet go crazy and falsely accuse 2 people of being the shooter before the name of the real shooter was released. Pictures of innocent men were madly retweeted up until a name was released (some tweets are still there, actually). Users posted pictures of celebrities claiming these people were relatives attending the concert and could not be reached. Many did not realize these were pictures of celebrities, and retweeted these posts. I saw at least one person create a fake account claiming to be Marilou Danley. People argued relentlessly over what the race and religion of the suspect would be. People argued over whether it was the time to talk about gun control or not. When the news spread that the shooter was a white male, arguments over whether or not it was terrorism began. 

While tragedies like this bring out the best humanitarian spirit in many people, it can also bring out the worst who continue to blindly participate in this whole 'divide and conquer' agenda by hopping on social media and slamming "Snowflakes" and "Trumpanzees". I watched as people wrote on social media about how they bet the snowflakes will use this shooting as an excuse for more gun control, and people wrote about how Trumpanzees will use this as an excuse to claim that if everyone had a gun, less people would have died. (I seriously disagree with that one, but that isn't the point here.) 

It seems to me that so many people use social media to voice their opinions while slamming others, not realizing there is an actual human being on the other side of the conversation. A REAL HUMAN. Sometimes there are bots, obviously, but for the most part, they are humans. Humans that have their own opinions, that may differ from yours, based on life experience. So many fail to understand WHY we have such differences of opinion. This is how I perceive this situation. If I take off my glasses, I can only see about a foot in front of me. Everything else is blurry, and I can't make out what it is. If glasses or contacts didn't exist and I had to go my whole life with only being able to see one foot in front of me, I may not accept what so many other people can clearly see. Their reality would not be my reality. I may trust some of what people say is there, but I may also think that others are lying about what is really there, unless I can see it up close in my reality. 

My point is, you don't know the whole truth until it is part of YOUR reality.

If someone grows up in a conservative household, and lives in a community where they grow up with friends and family having conservative views, and grow up with a mentality that Republican views and beliefs are the only trustworthy views and beliefs, that person is going to most likely continue to believe what they believe, and not accept other points of view, whether those points of view are right or wrong. Same with someone who grows up in a democratic household and community. Of course there are exceptions to this because there are people who expand their mind and experiences, leading to new points of view. There are also people who were raised to not pledge allegiance to any particular party, but to think for themselves and to weigh the pros and cons of each issue on its own, no matter which political party is pushing the issue or candidate. 

I personally do not have very many, if any, conservative views. There are times when it becomes really difficult to not argue with my conservative friends and family because their views seem so wrong and almost un-human to me. But I keep this in mind- THEY ARE HUMAN. And my views, which occasionally fall on the democratic side, seem very wrong to them. Some of my conservative friends feel the same way, and are respectful to people who are very different from. Others want to constantly start internet wars with people to try and 'open their minds' to accept their point of view. 

I think it is important to fight for what you believe in, especially if you believe in a peaceful and just world, but in a respectful way. When I see something that I feel is wrong, I will discuss my experiences and research facts. I ask the person why they feel it is right, and see if I can come to some middle ground, because sometimes, people will take a friend or loved one's experience and actual facts into consideration, possibly opening their mind a bit. There are definitely people who are not open to that, and do not want to even hear anything that opposes their belief. Either way, I do not think it is right to flat out insult and slam someone. Lady Gaga made a really good point when she discussed how if our entire world was facing an alien threat, we would be quick to dismiss many of the issues humans have with each other. This is why I still have faith in humanity. People do have good in them, even if we can't always see it. I just hate seeing so many people jump on social media to fight with each other, especially following a tragedy. I think that if you feel the need to create a fake social media account just for the purpose of anonymously attacking others, maybe you should just stay off social media. 

Just think about it....who REALLY wins if we keep fighting and creating division between each other? A divided and fearful society is a society that is easily controlled and manipulated.