The Pillory of Social Media

This snowy morning, scrolling through my social media feeds, I came across this article. It sums up why I avoid certain places on social media, and why I often walk away from it in the middle of surfing. The righteous indignation of the social media stalkers. Everyone is else is racist, bigoted, simple-minded, or just plain stupid. True, there are a plethora of idiots who out themselves daily on social media. They do that in other places as well though, it just isn't as public. The interwebz are a place where a million people (yes, literally a million) can see just how stupid someone else is in a matter of minutes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=1

The bit in her that caught my attention was the question, "Were you a bully in school?" That is what really summed it up. I've been on both sides of the bully scenario in real life. I'm not sure about social media. Like I said early, I often walk away when it gets "real". I put real in quotes because I am using the word ironically. Often that word is used exactly at the moment when someone is at their least sincere. In my job I work with students and teachers using technology in a high school. This makes me more cautious in my online than I might otherwise be, but I still say stupid things. We caution students and teachers about over-sharing online using slogans like "Think before You Click", "Pause before You Post", and "You Can't Take it Back". The reality, though, is that we are human. We say dumb shit. Most of us aren't being intentionally racist, bigoted, unkind, or uncaring, we just aren't thinking carefully before we let the words come out of our mouths or before we click send. Frankly, I don't want to live in a world where I have to carefully consider every word that leaves my lips. If my words offend you, maybe it is your problem and not mine. Surely we both have problems, and likely my words are the least of them.

In college I had a professor for whom I have the utmost admiration and respect. She introduced me to the phrase, "A choice of words is a choice of worlds." I try to live by that. Our words say so much about who we are, what we believe, and what we want to be. Sometimes, however, my understanding of my words may be different from your understanding of my words. In the article the author points out that is is the case with Sacco. He also draws an appropriate parallel between social media shaming and the public shaming that occurred in colonial America. The righteous indignation of public shaming and glib attitude toward its consequences has penetrated most media outlets as well. Reports revel in the gotcha moment. Not the Woodward and Bernstein gotcha moment of "hey we caught someone doing something illegal, or really awful and we're exposing them for the good of the country", but the "hey we caught some person doing something stupid or vaguely immoral and we're going to take the opportunity to get everyone's attention." Less the protector of society, and more the schoolyard bully.

The final paragraph sums things up better than I can. It will take a few moments of your time, but it is definitely worth a careful reading and some consideration.