5 Things Never To Do on Facebook

The full title to this article was meant to be: 5 Things Never To Do on Facebook (If You Don’t Want To Be an Asshole) but I decided the last part should be self explanatory. I also considered: How To Win at Social Media in 5 Easy Steps, but I was afraid I’d have to have operators standing by to take the first of your three easy payments of only $19.99 for this fabulous offer. (But wait… there’s more!)

Social Media has developed it’s very own etiquette and customs and while many folks have gleaned this from years of experience, there’s still a significant portion of the internet population that has been a bit slow in picking up the not-so-subtle rules. It is for this clueless crowd that I offer a crash course in how to avoid being the person everyone complains about. You’re welcome.

Where is The Compassion?

A Syrian child refugee cries during the fourth day of school at Al Zaatri refugee camp.

In the wake of recent tragedies in Paris as well as the far less reported attacks in Beirut and Kenya, I felt the need to express my thoughts on the matter. I’ve been waiting and contemplating for several days now to determine what it is exactly that I really want to say. I suppose I’m still a bit confused because of my conflicting emotions.

You see, I understand the fear. I understand the anger. I understand the desire for hard-hitting retaliation against those who committed the recent atrocities. I understand the need to find blame with someone. I understand because I’m feeling all of these things. But I refuse to allow these feelings to guide my thinking or actions. Time has proven that ideas or beliefs rooted in raw emotion are never sound and decisions based upon those ideas lead to mistakes.

I’ve tried to think critically about all that has transpired and take a more reasoned approach to my analysis. In doing so, I am facing new emotions as I keep running into rampant demagoguery, xenophobia and fear mongering, mostly relating to Muslims in general and specifically towards the refugees from Syria that are waiting to come into the US.  It seems to be everywhere – comments from Presidential candidates, political leaders and social media.

Moronic Memes

This is an original meme made by me. Do you “Like” it?

If you’re a frequent user of that interwebs thing, chances are you’ve been exposed to pictures with funny or thought-provoking writing on them. They get passed around “virally” until millions of people see them. Unless you’re collecting social security, you probably know them as memes. Most memes are intended to be funny or silly and many hit the mark. Sometimes though, some idiot decides he’s going to try to make some kind of popular social statement and we end up with the subject of this article. Moronic memes.

The messages usually try to appeal to an emotional, poorly thought out, gut reaction to a complex social issue. I liken it to the torches and pitchfork crowd and the mob mentality that seems to dull the good sense that (I hope) many people have. Let me give you an example.

Death by Elocution

Wat r u talkin bout?

If you read the title to this article and thought it was going to be about capital punishment and the electric chair, you’ve already illustrated my point. Linguists agree that all language changes organically and the English language is no exception. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Language is like human skin in that it adapts to our needs. Advancements in technology, culture and social values are reflected in how a group of people communicate those changes. Typically the rate of change of most languages is relatively slow, with only a handful of new words or expressions being “officially” adopted by dictionary publishers annually. However, in the past 20-25 years we’ve seen drastic modifications in spelling, punctuation, grammar combined with a grand influx of new terms. Texts, emails and instant messages have created a whole subset of the English vocabulary and some people (like myself) have concerns regarding the degradation of an important and beautiful language. Contemporary alterations could hinder global communications, reduce our ability to organize and express our ideas as well as impede our capacity to compose resplendent literature.