Social media has given us greater connectivity than ever before, and that’s been great for a few years. Now, the unintended side effects of everyone having an instant, global platform are starting to appear.
Monday, two Louisiana police officers, one a 14-year veteran, were fired for violating their department’s social media policy by posting hateful things about New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the post, which was discovered on Facebook last week, the officer called Ocasio-Cortez a “vile idiot” and suggested she be shot.
As a community, we could spend days going around and around about AOC, inappropriate behavior by police, democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, and on and on and on. Of course, we’ve been doing that on a national scale for two years, and it hasn’t gotten us very far. I prefer to use my time, not waste it arguing.
Instead, I’d like to look at the broader issue of harassment and abuse on social media. In short, social media has made us forget how to argue.
Think back to debate class, logic or even literature. What were the rules for a good debate?
Don’t attack the person; attack the argument
Don’t make the person disprove your point
Argue the points; don’t go off topic
Those are the three I can remember, but it’s enough to make my point. Find any Facebook thread with a good argument going and it’ll quickly become clear these rules didn’t just go out the window, they were never there.
Social media has made us lazy. Instead of thinking about the issue, processing how we feel about it and structuring a reply, we react. I don’t agree, so you’re a stupid Liberal/Conservative! You agree with someone I don’t, so you obviously hate America! Or, I won’t pay for a subscription, so it’s you should give me the article for free. If you don’t, you’re just in it for the money. I’ve actually followed up on that one, and my landlord says Facebook likes aren’t a valid form of rent payment. Sorry folks, I tried.
Whether you agree with the officers, Ocasio-Cortez, believe the earth is flat or know George Soros is financing a super-race of mutant lizards hell-bent on taking over the world, take the time to think about why you believe that. Take time to read the other person’s post, process it and know not just that you disagree, but why you disagree. And, if you’re still not sure what to say, use the backspace key and don’t say anything.
