One side effect of social media is the instant reaction. People can now spew visceral reactions to events the second they come up. This is both funny and terrifying, although in fairness, even more terrifying is what people put out there after some thought and reflection. Just this week, I saw a couple facebook fights, some stories that got strange commentary and wildly different opinions on the same events.
1) I noticed Brian Williams’ lies about his fake war experience and Hurricane Katrina “survival” was largely met with memes and jokes, but Jon Stewart’s retirement destroyed people. In other words, comedy news is more important than the real news. I learned I need to get into the fun side of reporting, no one cares about real broadcasts with 24 hour news cycles.
2) ISIS finally appears to have went too far with burning a Jordanian pilot alive. I find this strange because they’ve been shooting old people in the back of their heads, beheading foreigners and kidnapping children for months, if not years. That’s OK apparently? I also noticed a couple people posting that America did the same thing to black men in the South in our own past, so we can’t say anything about it. First off, America didn’t do it, mobs of people did it in certain instances of terrible inhumanity and injustice. Let’s not indict a whole country. ISIS is also a radical group. The correct analogy would be citing the KKK. They set up a demonstration in my college town my senior year. We drove past them and threw pennies at the guy. Yes, there was one fat redneck there and he got coined like no one’s business. Second, this did happen, correct – but it also doesn’t give anyone a free pass.
3) I noticed two takes on Kanye West. He’s an ass or yes he’s an ass, but he’s cool, so he can be an ass. Then about six hours later, I noticed this one – “Enough about Kanye West everyone.” To the last type of post, I say only – why are you on Facebook and Twitter if you’re not expecting to be bombarded with posts about a current event? That’s like being pissed people are posting about the Super Bowl. Now if it’s two weeks from now and you’re seeing Kanye West posts about his Grammy antics, that’s what the unfollow and block functions are for. And to answer the question – yes, he’s an enormous dick. Both because he interrupted the Grammy awards and that he thinks they actually mean something. I like Metal. Tenacious D won the Metal award this year. They also nominated two songs off a tribute album to Dio. I love Dio – but 2 of the 5 nominees came off a tribute album and the comedy duo won? The correct response is that awards shows are dumb ratings grabs. The best song winner lost a lawsuit that they ripped off the beat…but look at those wacky outfits! OMG! Side note – Madonna, please stop. You’re embarrassing yourself. Eat a sandwich and put some clothes on, you’re scaring everyone.