Put Down Those Pitchforks!!
OK, I'm going to rant for a bit. It's my blog, so I'm allowed to do that on occasion. But I'm seeing something more and more often on the internet here among my fellow first worlders, and it scares me. Maybe we just live in too much comfort and ease and freedom (or maybe the sentiment is just as rampant among less prosperous nations as well, only they're not as hooked into social media as we are).
Quit using the internet as the digital equivalent of a lynch mob!!!!!
It happens with our younger crowd in the form of cyberbullying, but I'm not going to specifically tackle that here. People are already quite aware of it, and among my peers nobody participates in it (per se). We are supposedly more mature than that.
But when I see whole Facebook groups dedicated to broadcasting the "guilt" of someone and gloating over punishment, online campaigns designed to destroy or shut someone up who dared to express a controversial opinion (or an opinion that isn't "politically correct"), hateful comments on blogs or forums, demands for boycotts and protests and especially "outing" someone's personal information so that they can be harrassed in person-- well, I feel sick. This is cyberbullying on steroids, guys. And more and more adults are falling into it.
How do you think a lynch mob forms? A mob is not made up of all the town's secret psychopaths. It is made up of regular people like you and me, people who otherwise would never act like that, who know better, who have people they love and who do kind things for others. But they allow their negative emotions to get fanned into flames, their "righteous" anger stirred to boiling, and their common sense and their consciences are smothered.
It's especially easy for us to fall into in our digital lives. You can't get away from the inflaming sources. You will have stuff pushed on you that makes you upset or angry all the time. You will see things you think are dangerous to our society and way of life and you will want to fight for what's important to you.
Fighting for the right is important. But I also believe strongly in this scripture:
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another" (3 Nephi 11:29).
These are the words of Jesus Christ, and I take them very seriously. I'm not immune to it. None of us are. When you see something that you are sure is wrong, something that upsets you, something that you really feel you need to stand up against, take a second and check in on your emotions.
Are you stirred up with anger to the point where you are not thinking any more? Is your heart filled with hate? If that's the case, you probably want to stay out of the whole issue, and especially away from it online, until you calm down a bit and you can be sure that your emotions won't be manipulated past the point of reason. If you are already to the point where you are acting in a way that contradicts your own standards (you are posting hateful speech toward another, for example, or you believe that using a dishonest internet campaign to get someone fired is "for the greater good"), you are past the point of righteous anger, my friend. You are being manipulated.
Avoiding contention doesn't mean that you become a doormat. But we do have to try our best to still be civil, to try to love our enemies (even those across the political aisle), and to work for good without abandoning our values along the way.
Otherwise, we put ourselves at risk for joining the next lynch mob-- whether figurative or literal. We may lose everything we hold dear just to score a few points.
It's not worth it.
Quit using the internet as the digital equivalent of a lynch mob!!!!!
It happens with our younger crowd in the form of cyberbullying, but I'm not going to specifically tackle that here. People are already quite aware of it, and among my peers nobody participates in it (per se). We are supposedly more mature than that.
But when I see whole Facebook groups dedicated to broadcasting the "guilt" of someone and gloating over punishment, online campaigns designed to destroy or shut someone up who dared to express a controversial opinion (or an opinion that isn't "politically correct"), hateful comments on blogs or forums, demands for boycotts and protests and especially "outing" someone's personal information so that they can be harrassed in person-- well, I feel sick. This is cyberbullying on steroids, guys. And more and more adults are falling into it.
How do you think a lynch mob forms? A mob is not made up of all the town's secret psychopaths. It is made up of regular people like you and me, people who otherwise would never act like that, who know better, who have people they love and who do kind things for others. But they allow their negative emotions to get fanned into flames, their "righteous" anger stirred to boiling, and their common sense and their consciences are smothered.
It's especially easy for us to fall into in our digital lives. You can't get away from the inflaming sources. You will have stuff pushed on you that makes you upset or angry all the time. You will see things you think are dangerous to our society and way of life and you will want to fight for what's important to you.
Fighting for the right is important. But I also believe strongly in this scripture:
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another" (3 Nephi 11:29).
These are the words of Jesus Christ, and I take them very seriously. I'm not immune to it. None of us are. When you see something that you are sure is wrong, something that upsets you, something that you really feel you need to stand up against, take a second and check in on your emotions.
Are you stirred up with anger to the point where you are not thinking any more? Is your heart filled with hate? If that's the case, you probably want to stay out of the whole issue, and especially away from it online, until you calm down a bit and you can be sure that your emotions won't be manipulated past the point of reason. If you are already to the point where you are acting in a way that contradicts your own standards (you are posting hateful speech toward another, for example, or you believe that using a dishonest internet campaign to get someone fired is "for the greater good"), you are past the point of righteous anger, my friend. You are being manipulated.
Avoiding contention doesn't mean that you become a doormat. But we do have to try our best to still be civil, to try to love our enemies (even those across the political aisle), and to work for good without abandoning our values along the way.
Otherwise, we put ourselves at risk for joining the next lynch mob-- whether figurative or literal. We may lose everything we hold dear just to score a few points.
It's not worth it.
Comments
Good job planting and sharing goodness in your "corner of the garden" Heidi.