Will We Continue to Let the News and Social Media Divide Us?
I remember as a kid watching news anchors like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather in the evenings. I wasn’t particularly paying attention because I was too young to truly care about grown up things like politics or foreign affairs, but I was sure of one thing. These men were trust-worthy, un-biased, and they were all telling us the same thing…..the truth (at least as much of it as they knew). Since then, things have changed and not for the better.
Now, when I watch the news, all I see is rhetoric, fear-mongering, finger-pointing, and division. I know why this is the case, but that’s a whole other article. A few very dangerous things have happened. Truth has given way to feelings. Love and unity have given way to division and hate. People have chosen sides and they have dug their heals and heads in the sand. Everyone is screaming and nobody is listening. Life-long friends have been lost, marriages destroyed, and families divided. But why??
We forgot about the one of the major golden rules of our society. Don’t talk politics or religion unless you know you are among like-minded people. Ever. Just don’t. Think about how likely you are to change your political or religious stance at all, let alone after just having one conversation. Exactly. It’s not going to happen. You could be talking to Charles Manson circa 1967 and probably wouldn’t budge.
We are who we are. Our beliefs are just a part of the fabric that makes us who we are. I don’t know where we all lost site of that. If someone is inherently a good human being, but shares different political, social, or religious opinions, does that make them unworthy of your love? I’ve lost childhood friends over Facebook posts and not by choice. The problem is intolerance of any thought or belief different than their own. It’s hard to wrap my head around. We see an oppositional opinion and villainize the person who formed it. They suddenly become that one opinion about that one subject. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
Social media is largely to blame. The people who created social media are not responsible for how people use it, but the fact that it exists is a problem in itself. On social media, anyone can be a keyboard warrior. You just simply type anything you want at someone and you do not have to see the expression on their face afterwards. The hurt or anger you’ve just caused is inconsequential to you because your only consequence is possibly having an argumentative comment hurled back at you. The human element has been taken out of the equation at this point and you’re just spewing hate at each other. Some people enjoy this. Some people will end the conversation, block the person, and call it a day. For some, it could be a breaking point. This is dangerous, especially at a time when we are all feeling generally disconnected due to the pandemic.
What if we went back to just not talking about politics or religion anymore? What if we remembered the golden rule our grandparents and parents followed and just enjoyed each other’s company? What if we started gathering our own evidence instead of having news outlets with their own agendas spoon feed us our information? I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to trust the mainstream news again. How they choose to operate is out of our control. I’m not sure we’ll ever get to a place where social media is used in a healthy way. I know these are most likely pipe dreams, but maybe somehow we can find some common ground again. Maybe……just maybe things can go back to the way they were in the 90s. Everybody just loved everybody, politics and religion aside. At the end of the day, why would we let some crusty, old farts in D.C., overpaid news anchors, and the WAY overpaid Zuckerbergs of the world get in the way of us being united and happy as a nation? It’s just not worth it. Back away from the TV and the keyboard and give someone a hug. Anyone.
