Social media has long been hailed a medium that democratizes information
consumption and production enabling the consumer to become a producer as well
as a consumer. It has created the mash-up and regularly re-invents language
with terms like ‘prosumer’. In more recent times though, we have seen what
happens when absolutely everyone and anyone is given the chance to share their
views and apparently what the population of internet user truthfully think is
far more negative than positive. Social media platforms have given a voice to
people who, arguably, should not have one.
Gasp! I know you are thinking and saying 'but everyone deserves the chance
to be heard!' Not everyone. At the risk of sounding dictatorial
biased let me be clear that I am not advocating for muzzling freedom of speech.
What I mean when I say people who should not speak as freely as they do are
those members of society who use social media to be disrespectful, negative and
incite hatred for a particular individual, gender or person belonging to a
particular race. Access to social media tools has made it possible to spread
this negativity exponentially. Perfect examples of this were seen after female
tennis champion Marion Bartoli won the Wimbledon tournament or when Gabby
Douglas won gold at the Olympics. The kinds of hateful things that were tweeted about these women and many other
people in the spotlight were nothing short of making me lose faith in the
human race disconcerting.
In sheer disgust I posted an article to my Facebook about some of the
things tweeted about Bartoli where she was called fat
and ugly and therefore, not deserving of being a champion. My problem with
these kinds of comments goes beyond the obvious fact that they are a
demonstration malicious and unwarranted verbal abuse, but that all the things
pointed out as reasons of her unworthiness had absolutely nothing to do with
her ability. There was a disconnect in my mind as to what her physical
appearance had to do with her worthiness to be a winner. It still chills my
bones that there are those who feel that if a woman does not meet a certain
aesthetic ideal, she is the worthy recipient of threats of physical violence.
Not surprisingly all the people who posted horrible things about her appearance
were themselves ugly motherchuckers not especially attractive
individuals. A friend of mine responded to my post by saying “These comments send a shiver down my spine. It’s
less about calling her ugly as it is calling her a ‘whore’, ‘slut’ and ‘cunt’
summing up her deemed worthiness with threats of violence.” Not to mention the
things tweeted about the blossoming young actress, Quvenzhane Wallis,
instigated by the The Onion. The Onion, an online news outlet that
claims to be America’s finest news source, tweeted that Wallis was kind of a
cunt referring to the 2013 Oscars for which she received acclaim for her role
in the movie, Beasts of the Southern Wild. These are just some
instances where the public, who are trusted to use the power of democratized
media to add value to society, have abused that trust and used it to spread
venom and the spirit of unkindness. Additionally, these examples form part of a
greater problem of cyber bullying committed by cowards who hide behind their
computer screens.
My questions are:
- Why do people feel entitled to treat others in a way they would not like to be treated on social media platforms?
- Why is it that when someone does something extraordinary onlookers, whose accomplishments pale in comparison, are the first to try and tear them down?
- And finally, why does the public complain about wanting to break free from the unrealistic social expectations put on them through the media, but then reinforce them every chance they get on the various social media platforms?
I’ll end with a quote I read that said “If only
closed minds came with closed mouths” –Unknown.
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