Although the buzz of the U.S Presidential campaign has died down considerably, I still can’t brush off what I saw on my social media network during that time – strangers yelling at each other, friends cursing at each other, even unfriending each other because they’re offended by each other’s difference in opinions. But then, a realization struck me like a lightning: this isn’t something new or uncommon; in fact, this happens every day, about the teeniest, tiniest of matters.
Shattered are the illusions that the Internet will act as a free outlet for the opinions and self-expression of both the masses and minorities; shattered are the illusions that social media will become platforms where discussions about social issues will be fostered. Right now, we live in an age where everything and anything is fodder for someone to get offended about – oh and rest assured –- they will make sure that you know you have offended them.
While I’m glad that there is an increasing awareness and voices speaking up for long-prevailing social issues like gender and racial equality on social media, it saddens me to see these articles being overshadowed so often by the constant showing of a heated opinion war in the comments section, starring strangers yelling, cussing, and insulting each other all because they have different opinions on the matter.
When did it become a sin to not hop on the trending acceptance bandwagon and to have a different opinion? Whenever I take a read through these war zones, I can’t help but have an uneasy and suffocating feeling that people are trying to stuff their point-of-views down my throat, forcing me to convert to an opinion other than my own. One too many times I find myself smiling ironically because so many keyboard activists in the sea of acceptance movements are doing the opposite of what they’re preaching. Instead of calmly presenting and discussing the issues at hand, and accepting that different people have different opinions, these keyboard activists take immediate offense, not to the opposition of the acceptance movement, but to the opposition of their own opinions. The same applies to those opposing too… If you have an opinion, great – express it! But if all you have are mean and rude comments, then it’s best to just keep it to yourself.
Let us change the atmosphere on social media – Let us make discussion, and not war.