We've all read the stories lately of the airplane crash, the George Zimmerman trial, and the supreme court rulings among others. Unfortunately, if you go and begin reading the comments below these stories or follow the twitter feeds, you see just how much people online show their hatred and disrespect for one another anonymously. It really is sad if you stop and think about it.
I'm sure we are all passionately concerned about things that happen around us and when we feel helpless, we tend to find a way in life to give ourselves some point of reference. Often this comes out in how we react to these situations in what we say and do. Most often, while these things may be a part of our current awareness, they are not always appropriate to display in an anonymous fashion online.
Remember back to the days when message boards first came out. You had some control type personalities that tried to monitor every word that happened. In addition, you had those that lurked in the shadows trying to stir up trouble. Let's not forget about the ones that would see something posted and then react, because after all they weren't screaming or disrespecting another person - it was the screen or the computer or the internet site they were screaming to. It wasn't perceived as a person, although in many aspects it was.
Today, the news media knows that the more people visit their websites and leave feedback in the way of comments, the more hits they get and the more advertising dollars they earn. If a news story has no legs, people get bored and quickly begin clicking somewhere else. For the news media, it is a win win situation when they get people emotionally involved in a story. Most of the news these days is designed to get people involved emotionally. Emotions are the legs of the story.
Yet, it is up to each one of us to hold ourselves personally responsible for how we treat others and this includes the words we portray on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to the news comments and YouTube videos we post on the internet. If we aren't showing respect and restraint to one another, we are part of the problem. If we aren't looking deep within as to what we post online, we are part of the problem.
Humanity deserves better then this and it is not the fault of any news media organization, governmental agency or other system out there. It is the fault of each person that believes their opinion is fact and that they must make sure the whole world sees their viewpoint as the only thing that is right.
We've lost the art of listening to each other and showing respect to one another and I'm afraid that if we don't find this soon, humanity will implode upon itself. We can be much more as humans and we have more in our minds and bodies than what we tend to exhibit. It isn't the other person that is the problem. It is each individual that needs to look hard and deep within to fix our own deficiencies and find the way to value, honor, and respect each other. Until we learn to look within and find our own inherent value, we will not be able to find it in anyone else. What we write, say, and do will be the most accurate reflection of this.
Blog Post And Images (c) 7/14/13 by Don Shetterly
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