the power of tweets
In the old days of mining, and maybe even presently, a canary was used to determine risk levels. If the canary stopped singing, you had just enough time to evacuate: not enough oxygen, and canaries die first...
I wonder if we can use tweets as evidence for insufficient air supply. The power of words, tweets, is killing people. Imagine the whole world judging you for every word you ever speak or write. In the past, there was room for error. I mean, you could say some dumb ass shit and survive. Worst case scenario is you pissed someone off, family, friend, or coworker. Maybe they even had an opportunity to call you out on your shit. Maybe you got a chance to correct yourself, to reconsider. Maybe you just got a pass and were allowed to continue on in your stupidity, because you still functioned and did your job.
But now, imagine the worst thing you ever said becoming the focal point of the entire world. Imagine further, no matter how sincere your apology, this thing became the biggest feature of your life. What if the thing you said followed you everywhere, blocking you from getting work, from going out into public for fear of backlash, resulting in an endless stream of people wanting to chime in and tell you how your words outraged them, hurt them, offended them. Maybe you get so exhausted by the barrage of righteous criticism that you lash out, which only exasperates it, confirming to all those who are watching, waiting for more evidence of failure, that you're as evil as the court of public opinion portrayed you as.
And I am asking you to imagine the clear cut cases where you injured yourself, not the ones where someone publicly injured you and made you go viral. Like someone posting your nudes on the internet.
There is no equality in justice when it comes to public opinion. I mean some people can say the stupidest things ever and get away with it. Take Trump. I don't know if he actually meant to say he wished people would worship him the way they do the dictator Kim Jong Un; I really don't give him much thought at all. I have read some Trump Tweets and I have also read the book "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry" which suggest CEO's score high in the psychopath range, and I am thinking correlation here. Of course, no one cares if I live or die, and so my words aren't going to go viral. I am not going to have Men in Black come to my door and ask me to retract my statements.
People say stupid things. We do stupid things. I think it's fair that people be held accountable. I certainly believe, most the time, you can believe people at their word. If you're dating someone and they say, "I am not good for you. I am only going to hurt you." Believe them! Run! Same token, the president asks you to worship him? I think it is now appropriate to pull the Hitler card. Just saying.
I also believe people can change, grow, be better. I think people can say stupid things while under the influence, whether that is ETOH, elicit drugs, or even prescriptions drugs that they might not say otherwise. I also think people can be under the influence of emotions and stress and still say and do stupid things. We, society, are in a dialogue. A dialogue that is going to determine whether or not we are going to have civil discourse. Civil discourse means the freedom to fuck up, and not have the thing escalate to the end of the world. It means responding with love, compassion, and questions. Questions to determine if a person is in their right mind, or under the influence, or if this is something they really believe.
It is unfortunate that in today's world, ignorance seems to abound. I think we are better than we were 50 years ago. I think we have lots of room to grow. Some people are simply provocateurs. They are purposely stirring things. But it also means something if in doing so the world responds with riot level hate, threats, and destruction of self and others. Some things should be better met with silence, simply cutting off that channel. Excommunication was effective in correcting behavior; not following a tweeter or FB, literally dropping a person from your ties, is very effective of silencing unwanted sentiments, way better than excommunication ever was. Some things should be ignored, because it's just stupid and there are stupid people in the world. Get over it.
The President of the United States lamenting his people don't worship him, well, that shit shouldn't be ignored. When the policy of the state demand children be separated from their parents? You ignore that at your own peril.
I wonder if we can use tweets as evidence for insufficient air supply. The power of words, tweets, is killing people. Imagine the whole world judging you for every word you ever speak or write. In the past, there was room for error. I mean, you could say some dumb ass shit and survive. Worst case scenario is you pissed someone off, family, friend, or coworker. Maybe they even had an opportunity to call you out on your shit. Maybe you got a chance to correct yourself, to reconsider. Maybe you just got a pass and were allowed to continue on in your stupidity, because you still functioned and did your job.
But now, imagine the worst thing you ever said becoming the focal point of the entire world. Imagine further, no matter how sincere your apology, this thing became the biggest feature of your life. What if the thing you said followed you everywhere, blocking you from getting work, from going out into public for fear of backlash, resulting in an endless stream of people wanting to chime in and tell you how your words outraged them, hurt them, offended them. Maybe you get so exhausted by the barrage of righteous criticism that you lash out, which only exasperates it, confirming to all those who are watching, waiting for more evidence of failure, that you're as evil as the court of public opinion portrayed you as.
And I am asking you to imagine the clear cut cases where you injured yourself, not the ones where someone publicly injured you and made you go viral. Like someone posting your nudes on the internet.
There is no equality in justice when it comes to public opinion. I mean some people can say the stupidest things ever and get away with it. Take Trump. I don't know if he actually meant to say he wished people would worship him the way they do the dictator Kim Jong Un; I really don't give him much thought at all. I have read some Trump Tweets and I have also read the book "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry" which suggest CEO's score high in the psychopath range, and I am thinking correlation here. Of course, no one cares if I live or die, and so my words aren't going to go viral. I am not going to have Men in Black come to my door and ask me to retract my statements.
People say stupid things. We do stupid things. I think it's fair that people be held accountable. I certainly believe, most the time, you can believe people at their word. If you're dating someone and they say, "I am not good for you. I am only going to hurt you." Believe them! Run! Same token, the president asks you to worship him? I think it is now appropriate to pull the Hitler card. Just saying.
I also believe people can change, grow, be better. I think people can say stupid things while under the influence, whether that is ETOH, elicit drugs, or even prescriptions drugs that they might not say otherwise. I also think people can be under the influence of emotions and stress and still say and do stupid things. We, society, are in a dialogue. A dialogue that is going to determine whether or not we are going to have civil discourse. Civil discourse means the freedom to fuck up, and not have the thing escalate to the end of the world. It means responding with love, compassion, and questions. Questions to determine if a person is in their right mind, or under the influence, or if this is something they really believe.
It is unfortunate that in today's world, ignorance seems to abound. I think we are better than we were 50 years ago. I think we have lots of room to grow. Some people are simply provocateurs. They are purposely stirring things. But it also means something if in doing so the world responds with riot level hate, threats, and destruction of self and others. Some things should be better met with silence, simply cutting off that channel. Excommunication was effective in correcting behavior; not following a tweeter or FB, literally dropping a person from your ties, is very effective of silencing unwanted sentiments, way better than excommunication ever was. Some things should be ignored, because it's just stupid and there are stupid people in the world. Get over it.
The President of the United States lamenting his people don't worship him, well, that shit shouldn't be ignored. When the policy of the state demand children be separated from their parents? You ignore that at your own peril.
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