I haven't done as well blogging this year as I had intended. It turns out this year has been one of big adjustments in my work-world. Yes, I do work! I've been the behind-the-scenes bookkeeping, IT, HR, and general mess cleaner-upper for our business for the last 20 years. This year brought some changes required by external forces, and in adapting to those we updated and modernized several of the processes required for me to do my jobs. It was hard at first to learn new stuff after 20 years of doing things a certain way, but it's all good now. It is definitely more efficient in most respects and overall a good evolution.
Another change has been in the social media world. I've mostly given up Facebook though I do like to wish people happy birthdays and check up on things occasionally. But Facebook has made itself nearly impossible to navigate, especially with the mobile app, and I just don't like wasting a hour of my life trying to wade through so much crap (ads, suggested this and that, and the horrible "fake news" stories) to get to the important and interesting posts by actual friends. I've switched mostly to Instagram because it is so much quicker and easier to scroll through posts until I see that "you're caught up" notification. I can like and comment quickly and move along. I follow a few "influencer" accounts that are mostly motivational and positive and a few other special interest accounts. It's a nice combination that I've "curated" for myself. And even though Instagram has been around for a while it really feels a lot like Blogger did in its early days because there are a lot of people jumping on and connecting with others who might otherwise be inaccessible. There is a lot of new networking happening like the way that I experienced when I first started blogging and connecting with people from all over the country and world. Similar interests are bringing many people together.
For the most part I've avoided a lot of the hatefulness and negativity that thrives on social media because Instagram makes it easier to filter out the bad, and I hope it doesn't change its ways too much as it gets bigger and bigger. It should learn from Facebook's mistakes! However, when interacting with large accounts there is always going to be a element of hateful assholes. There's one guy I follow whose messages I general agree with and enjoy because he is trying to encourage entrepreneurship and personal responsibility and work ethic. The main thing I dislike about him is his bad habit of cussing constantly. On one hand he's preaching kindness and empathy towards others while focusing on our own self-improvement, but then on the other hand he's "fuck this, fuck that, fuck, fuck, motherfucker fuck, fuck, fucking fucker...." He claims that's his "authenticity" and "passion" and that's fine, but when people speak up to disagree don't be such a fucking dickhead asshole fucker and tell them they "don't get it" or what-the-fuck-ever excuse because you've obviously lost your empathy for why they might find all those fucks a problem. The word "fuck" has generally been used in a hostile or confrontational tone and intention, and a lot of people have suffered verbal abuse that has consisted of a high percentage of word variations of "fuck." Fuck is not a word of kindness! So, Gary Vee, if you are pushing kindness and empathy maybe try not to be a fucking hypocrite by throwing all those fuck bombs of verbal hostility. I mean really, what exactly do you intend your words to convey other than shock and awe?
There was another account that I used to follow that I had to quit because of their hypocrisy. I'm all for free speech and all that and people can cuss and be contradictory all they want. But I don't have to keep listening to it. This was an account that focused on and sold tools for spiritual development and raising the "vibrational energy" of the world and whatnot. I enjoy spiritual philosophies and practices, especially those that are meant to improve the "energetic" vibes around us and create more positive interactions among us all. Love and light and all that good stuff. This particular account would have "live sales" and they were quite interesting and informative in addition to offering high quality items for sale. But they kept making all these anti-capitalism statements and hatred towards our current President and his supporters. Well, regardless of how anyone feels about the current leadership, if they are pushing and profiting from the concept of "raising good vibes" and improving the world and all that, then they can't also be throwing all that hatred out there too. It negates the good and it's hypocritical to claim to be a purveyor of positivity while also promoting hatred towards anyone. AND, if they are in the business of selling anything for a profit then they ARE capitalists and to claim to love socialism is just plain stupidity/ignorance. I suspect their business won't survive long if they continue to promote socialist policies. However, one of the tidbits of revealing info in one of their live sales was that they actually had an "investor" (sugar daddy as she called him) who got the business started and who probably handles all the actual business details so that they don't even know what running a real business entails. Of course, if one has a "sugar daddy" who takes care of everything one might really believe that the government should be everyone's "sugar daddy." But real business people know that is totally untenable and unsustainable. Also, this person had that same bad "fuck" speech habit. She tried to justify it by using the same tired arguments of "it's my authenticity" and "it's just a word" and "people are too up-tight/sensitive/etc." Well, again, here we have to decide are we going to promote positivity and kindness and love and light or are we going to be hypocritical jerks? I will say it again, fuck is not a word of kindness and empathy!
I've struggled with speaking up this year because I've mostly decided that people just don't listen, and do I really have something worth saying? Sometimes I do, like now, and if no one actually reads this it's okay. I've toyed with the idea of making video commentaries but I am just hideous-looking and don't really want to expose myself to the kind of hatefulness that inevitably comes when people have access to us. I'm still thinking on it and maybe I will try something different. I'm just not sure it is a worthy use of my energy and I'm not sure that it really needs to be something in the world. I mean, how many more hypocritical people do we need spouting off online?
1 comment:
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