I hope I haven't titled this poorly. I just had an interesting experience today that I thought I might share. As many of you know if you read this blog, I've had a rough time here in Canada with being run off from the only job I could work here, getting sick, and my wife having to go back to work while I stay at home to take care of our child. Well, I posted some raw stuff not long after losing the job and some students got hold of that blog and decided to respond to it. In a really hateful manner. On Christmas Day. Well, that's what made today interesting.
I was in a queue for food this morning at the market when who should come up but that kid. The one that tracked me through someone's friend list on FaceBook just so he could send me a snarky, even hateful, FB message. And I'm standing right next to him. Does he feel self-conscious? Should he? Is it OK to say bad things from the anonymity of a computer that one wouldn't say in person? I say that it is.
It made me consider the humanity of social media. The people on my list really were my friends at other times in my life, as well as now. I mean, I like having a big list but all of these are people that I would actually speak to again.
I don't know what I'm trying to say. I didn't say anything to this guy. I mean, he's not a friend. What would Jesus or Paul have said to the people that deliberately tried to hurt them? In Jesus' case, abuse and kill him?
So maybe people communicate their true feelings when they can be anonymous. Not me though. I'm going to try to treat everybody in the right way. Hope I'm teaching somebody something. That's what I love doing the most.
Wow Jody! I do believe that people hide behind their computer and say things that they normally wouldn't say in person. It's not right but unfortunately it happens.
ReplyDeleteI know they do Jaime. I just won't do it anymore. And I'll never teach anyone that it's an OK thing to do. It's too easy to be really hateful now because folks think they're not talking to a real person.
ReplyDeletei agree. i love social media like facebook, because the people i am connected with there are ACTUALLY my REAL-LIFE friends. but it does make it much easier for people to indulge their inner meanness, because it is like life lived at one remove, so it's not 'real' in that you don't usually have to be accountable for what you do. that's the hard line, for me, on deciding whether (in general) it's a good or a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI think you're saying what I'm saying. Jill said once that she wouldn't have any "friends" that she wouldn't talk to if she saw them. I would argue or chuckle with all of my friends on FB. I get scared about the world Lia will grow up in with none of the ideas of conversational propriety though. And a Katy Perry music video I just saw...
ReplyDeleteHey Jody, You are a good man. You have a wonderful wife and a precious little girl. People can be mean. You have true freinds. You have been a true friend to me. I pray that I will always be a true friend to you. Blog about what you think, don't 'emote' on here. Call me anytime to do that. Peace my friend.
ReplyDeleteHey Brad. Thanks. And my emoting and thinking are synonymous. Maybe it wasn't that way when I was working but it is now. I think to a computer.
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