Am I Supposed To Be Interested?
Feb. 3rd, 2013 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairmacgI had no idea where all the "Don't go to Applebee's!" exhortations came from. I've just wasted ten minutes finding out. Like so many other "Stand up to <fill in the blank>" campaigns born in social media, it boils down to this: a customer was snide and rude, an offended employee took the case to social media, the employer fired the employee for violating policy and/or damaging the brand, social media explodes.
It's the exploding social media that gets to me. The truth is, there are a bunch of people who feel utterly powerless in their daily lives. They flood to anything that might evolve into "controversy," and if it doesn't so evolve, they shall make it so. Then they howl and push and shove and snipe until The Enemy does something, and that bunch of people gets a rush of victory. But that victory, while feeling good, is about as meaningful in real life as winning a game of Pong.
Social media can be a fabulous tool for promoting good causes, good people, and good changes. But what draws the most attention are the piddling issues spun up into Weighty Matters by folks who believe they have no other means of feeling powerful. They're folks who aren't interested in giving their time and energy to important causes. They simply want an enemy to target, mock and conquer.
It's the exploding social media that gets to me. The truth is, there are a bunch of people who feel utterly powerless in their daily lives. They flood to anything that might evolve into "controversy," and if it doesn't so evolve, they shall make it so. Then they howl and push and shove and snipe until The Enemy does something, and that bunch of people gets a rush of victory. But that victory, while feeling good, is about as meaningful in real life as winning a game of Pong.
Social media can be a fabulous tool for promoting good causes, good people, and good changes. But what draws the most attention are the piddling issues spun up into Weighty Matters by folks who believe they have no other means of feeling powerful. They're folks who aren't interested in giving their time and energy to important causes. They simply want an enemy to target, mock and conquer.
