Sticking Your Head in the Sand

Those who know me well have heard me say it many times. I often get asked why I post the things I do on Social Media. I've even been hauled into a few religious tribunals and asked the same question. Why? What do I hope to accomplish by posting this or that? Do I really believe I'm changing anybody's mind by anything I have to say?

My answer is always the same: I post for me. I don't do it for anybody else. I post what's on my mind, because writing, in any forum, is one of the ways I like to express myself. If anybody is moved by anything I have to say, that's just a secondary benefit. If they're honked off, that comes with the territory. I'd like to think my posts cause people to think, but if not, that's OK. Because I'm not posting for others.

That's largely true. But if I'm being brutally honest, I do pay attention, as does everybody else, I suspect, to how many "likes" and "comments" and "shares" I get. I don't set out to start a debate. I don't start out to make somebody weepy. I just post what's on my mind. But I like it when others engage in my posts. I get a kick out of it.

But I've been doing an interesting social study over the past year or so, and I've been watching and noting just how much activity a particular post generates. And what I'm finding is both interesting, and disturbing.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It's not going anywhere, and it has vastly changed the ways by which individuals get their news and information, and the ways individuals communicate with each other. Some are on social media all the time. Others are on very little, if at all. Still others just dabble in it off and on. Regardless, it is a standard way of life now in our culture, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

This is the point where I should once again make a disclaimer about social media in general. Social media didn't create anything. It didn't make us who we are as individuals, and it didn't create in us something that wasn't already there. All it did was give us all a forum to share our thoughts and ideas and opinions. Before, most people didn't have a public forum. Now we all do.

That being said, I've been watching some interesting shifts over the past year or so. It started during the Trump administration, and has continued and even grown since the start of Biden's admin six months ago. And it's this idea that many people are really getting tired of the negativity and downright hatefulness they're seeing across social media. There's a debate, a mock, a put-down, or a piece of bad news of every shape, color, and size anywhere you turn on social media these days. And people are skipping right over the bad stuff anymore, if not outright turning off the machine and saying, "I'm done."

A little over a month ago, I began making posts about my wife's healthy weight-loss journey. Her story is truly inspiring, and I've been posting about it on my social media account. Those posts have generated literally hundreds of "likes," well-wishing comments, and have been shared numerous times. The outpouring of good vibes has been immense, if not overwhelming. And that is as it should be. It's a great story, and one that has lifted people's spirits. I made my first post about her on May 4. That post received over 200 "likes" and over 100 comments. Subsequent posts have generated similar activity.

On May 5, I posted about Facebook censoring President Trump. That post received two "likes." On May 19, I posted about the racist mayor of Chicago banning white journalists from her interviews. That post got absolutely zero "likes" and comments. A subsequent post about the same mayor got three comments and one "share." On May 21, I posted about how liberals today are apparently against hating any diverse group except Jewish people, who they routinely discriminate against. That post got eight comments, and 34 "likes." On May 25, I posted about the racist, perverted, snake of a mayor of New York, and how liberalism is completely ignoring this man's atrocities, and that post received three "likes" and zero comments.

And the pattern has continued that way.

I know the reason. People are tired of the negativity. They're tired of hearing bad news all the time, of watching friends and neighbors fight with each other over some issue. Just tired of all the bad vibes. And I get it. I understand. I admit that kind of negativity can drag you down over time.

But here's the problem: Sticking your head in the sand won't make it all go away. Look, I understand that my thoughts and opinions aren't the glue that sticks the whole world together. I'm under no illusions that what I have to say should shape everybody's way of thinking on a daily basis. I'm a nobody. Some Conservative schlep who love the Reds, my wife, and God (in reverse order) who happens to think liberal insanity is tearing our world apart. If you agree, great. If you don't, I don't really care.

But that's not the point. Because it's happening all over the place. I see people all the time who post, "I'm taking a break from social media for 30 days," or some other such nonsense, only to return to find things haven't changed all that much. I hear people say all the time, "we don't watch the news anymore." (I don't really either, by the way, but probably not for the same reasons. But I digress.) It's OK if you don't want to watch the news. But ignoring it isn't going to make it any better.

But we don't really take a break, do we? No, instead, we usually migrate to wherever we feel we might hear the message we want to hear. We want our ears tickled, as it were. If that message is butterflies and puppies, or even inspiring weight-loss stories, so be it. But we return to find the negativity hasn't changed, and often our ignorance has made the problem worse. Turns out, Cuomo wasn't just killing our senior citizens indiscriminately, but he was raping women along the way when we had our heads turned. But we didn't want to hear about that.

Being uninformed in today's world is probably the worst scenario in which you can find yourself. In fact, I am firmly of the belief that uninformed citizens are precisely the largest problem in our current society. Just because you don't want to hear about all the negativity doesn't make all the bad stuff magically disappear.

Do we all need a break sometimes? Absolutely. But those breaks should renew us and refresh us to strengthen our resolve to tackle the bad stuff head on so that maybe... possibly... we might be able to affect some sort of positive change.

I post for me, but I post in hopes it will make people think. That maybe it will open some eyes to stuff people might not otherwise want to see. If we are informed about the issues around us, whether we believe it or not, we can do some things about it. We certainly can alter the way we vote. And we can pass the word on to others so that they may think about things differently as well.

We should certainly celebrate with those who have reason to celebrate. Simply celebrating with her the success my wife has achieved in her healthy journey is good and right. And it will hopefully uplift others and inspire people to want to make positive changes in their own lives.

But ignoring the problems in our society, even if they are highlighted in social media, is never a good thing. We should also be angered, upset, and spurred to action by the truly awful things happening in our world. I live in Bluffton, SC. I can't do anything about a racist mayor in Chicago. But I can highlight her evil and perhaps convince others to not make the same mistake with elected officials in their own communities. We should rail against censorship wherever we find it, even if we don't like Donald Trump. And we should point out hypocrisy whenever we see it: Hate is hate, even if it is against the Jewish community.

Get your head out of the sand. Ignoring the problems won't make them magically disappear. I encourage you: celebrate with those who have reason to celebrate. Highlight your own successes so people can celebrate with you. But don't hide from the bad stuff. Unless we all choose to face the negativity head on and speak up about it, and do something about it, it's not going to get better.

It's only going to get worse.