Social media outbursts following Thatcher's death
So Margaret Thatcher died and I never realised how strongly everyone felt about her. For the entirety of my life, no one I knew ever spoke of her. No one spoke of their hatred of her or their feelings about her impact on Britain. No one felt the need to bring up their seemingly extreme views on Thatcherism and 1980's politics. Yet, last week when Thatcher died, everyone suddenly exploded with opinion and became quite aggressive about it.
I'm sure most of you have experienced some passionate updates in the past week, either for or against Maggie's death ('Ding Dong the witch is dead' springs to mind). I was seeing mainly pro-death ones; outbursts of joy, celebration, revelling in the death of an old woman who has been off the radar for 20 years. I didn't see even half as many raging statuses about Mick Phillpot, who recently got life for murdering six of his children. I was shocked to say the least, reading angry and hateful posts mainly from people who weren't even under Thatchers premiership and who usually block up my feed with their 'got soooo pissed last nite lol neva drinking again!!!!' statuses. If you are someone who feels like you need to be part of what everyone else is talking about, don't just write mindless words that could offend others.
If you are someone who genuinely cares about a subject, then why are you just writing a status on Facebook? Since when did a Facebook status mean you're changing anything about the world? If you were an activist or were involved in rallies to protest against an issue then I would at least have some respect for you - but it's words on a computer that only friends will see. I have no doubt that people care about different causes and problems in the world, but changing a profile picture or updating a status does nothing. The only way it ends is by knowing several people are sitting at their computers, arguing on their keyboards. Not very productive...
Everyone has an opinion and that's great, but I believe there is a time and a place. Twitter is a highly controversial platform when talking about death, politics or taboo subjects, much worse than Facebook because most of your followers won't be your friends so they can troll the hell out of you for it. When celebrities die, you'll always get the controversial bunch, tweeting family members of the deceased and taking delight in a death. Those who went crazy over Thatcher's death, in my opinion, are just as bad. I am not at all knowledgable on the specifics of politics, hence why I don't pretend that I am, but if all the Twitter-activists are so dead set against the government and how things are run, then why don't they move? Why don't they take action?
Although I love social media and feel it has changed our communication for the better, I feel like it also encourages people to frivolously say challenging and potentially hurtful things, all whilst being behind the safety of their computer screen.
If I'm not planning on changing an issue then I won't rant on about it and force my views on others via social media. People need to be more aware of the message they send about themselves when expressing views on public forums and, like my granny always told me, 'if you can't say anything nice, it's probably best you don't say anything at all (online).'
I'm sure most of you have experienced some passionate updates in the past week, either for or against Maggie's death ('Ding Dong the witch is dead' springs to mind). I was seeing mainly pro-death ones; outbursts of joy, celebration, revelling in the death of an old woman who has been off the radar for 20 years. I didn't see even half as many raging statuses about Mick Phillpot, who recently got life for murdering six of his children. I was shocked to say the least, reading angry and hateful posts mainly from people who weren't even under Thatchers premiership and who usually block up my feed with their 'got soooo pissed last nite lol neva drinking again!!!!' statuses. If you are someone who feels like you need to be part of what everyone else is talking about, don't just write mindless words that could offend others.
If you are someone who genuinely cares about a subject, then why are you just writing a status on Facebook? Since when did a Facebook status mean you're changing anything about the world? If you were an activist or were involved in rallies to protest against an issue then I would at least have some respect for you - but it's words on a computer that only friends will see. I have no doubt that people care about different causes and problems in the world, but changing a profile picture or updating a status does nothing. The only way it ends is by knowing several people are sitting at their computers, arguing on their keyboards. Not very productive...
Everyone has an opinion and that's great, but I believe there is a time and a place. Twitter is a highly controversial platform when talking about death, politics or taboo subjects, much worse than Facebook because most of your followers won't be your friends so they can troll the hell out of you for it. When celebrities die, you'll always get the controversial bunch, tweeting family members of the deceased and taking delight in a death. Those who went crazy over Thatcher's death, in my opinion, are just as bad. I am not at all knowledgable on the specifics of politics, hence why I don't pretend that I am, but if all the Twitter-activists are so dead set against the government and how things are run, then why don't they move? Why don't they take action?
Although I love social media and feel it has changed our communication for the better, I feel like it also encourages people to frivolously say challenging and potentially hurtful things, all whilst being behind the safety of their computer screen.
If I'm not planning on changing an issue then I won't rant on about it and force my views on others via social media. People need to be more aware of the message they send about themselves when expressing views on public forums and, like my granny always told me, 'if you can't say anything nice, it's probably best you don't say anything at all (online).'
Well put, Laura. Even though I'm not in the UK, I still saw a lot of this stuff on social media - and I had the same response. The insensitivity and inhumanity of it all is just staggering.
ReplyDeleteIt almost seems cliched to say - though clearly it still needs to be said - that the relative anonymity of the online world is no excuse for appalling behaviour.
Cheers Ryan!
ReplyDeleteI think there is a big difference between having a debate and expressing your views in public, and on a social media site. People feel they can say more aggressive things within the confines of their private profile or places where they will not be questioned in person.