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| Found in the sand while walking a beach....seashells do speak to us. |
Perhaps I have finally been enticed out of hiding to get
back to blogging…..boss blogger Tom wants some past due homework and fellow
gallery guys and gals have encouraged me to “say it” rather than “sit on
it”. So I shall indulge in some overdue
observations and then stand in front of my old teacher’s desk and lecture a bit
about proper behavior both in and out of the classroom we call social media.
First let me say I do miss writing about the work coming out
of Malone and Mt. Union, as well as what can be found at the MassMu,
Translations, North Canton and various Akron galleries. I shall try and do
better about getting out and about once this cloud over our country clears up
and we all move on. Forget the Stormzilla or Frankenstorm or whatever the moniker
of the moment is for our impending peril, the bigger monster as I see it is
what has (and still is) happening to us, to our civility as a nation.
I get it, we all have opinions and points of view, we all
believe one line of rhetoric or another, but the line has been crossed these
recent weeks all too many times. One very big factor in this loss of dignity
and humanity is this very thing in which I write now, the social media sphere,
and more specifically, FB. Not going to spell out the word, we all know to what
I am referring. I suppose to save my growing anxiety, I should just turn the
thing off, avoid hitting the home button and read only Artwach and other
bookmarked sites, but like most people, a train wreck will always cause one to
slow the car and rubber neck….(shhh…I think the word may be addiction but Dr.
Drew has yet to a series on it so I must be okay).
Essentially new to the FB factor (under 2 years), I thought
the intent of the program was to connect people, share their lives and pictures
and remain in contact over great distances with family and friends while also
making new “friends”. Most of those “friends” could get away with armed robbery
however as I could not pick you out of a police lineup if my depended upon
it….who are you people anyway?
The ease of this forum has contributed greatly to…oh wait,
let me get out from behind the desk and stand in front of my old classroom so I
can speak with the “teacher voice”…..okay, it has contributed greatly to poor
behavior and immaturity and bullying, none of which are respectable or
desirable qualities to be found in adult men and women. Before FB, discussions
about politics, religion, and money were banned from family dinners for a
reason, such topics were delegated to backyard gatherings, bars, stadium
seating situations and other such groupings where people knew that opinions
were just personal opinions, view points were personal perspectives and
arguments were over and done with after the game or upon last call. Now, the 24
hour access to a public forum has removed any barrier of filtering one’s voice.
No one can physically reach out and punch you in the face, so one can be safely
curled up in a snuggly and spout vitriolic rhetoric that is both hurtful and
just plain mean. Do not my friends claim
to be Christian and then wish death and destruction upon others because they
don’t feel the same way you do about …oh I don’t know….birth control? That
subject used to be limited to 7th grade health class or discussed
privately at home. Look how far we have come….or gone….towards losing our sense
of privacy, dignity and decorum because nothing is evidently off limits anymore
for anyone to see, even children, especially those whom we are to be educating
as parents and neighbors, professionals and family.
Class…listen to me please…..no wait, never say “please” to a
room full of students, that is just as bad as saying “okay” because choice
gives away power. Class, there is no
need to swear on the internet. A four letter word does not make your words more
powerful as we have all grown quite desensitized to the impact of such phrases.
There is no need to bully anybody because they are different than you. How many
schools have anti-bullying policies and programs in place yet as grownups we
see no problem with exhibiting the same behavior we are supposed to be
preventing? I will say I see no
disagreement with “liking” a post or sharing a post, but the comments are
crossing lines that may never be removed from our collective memories. We
should all best remember the following phrases from our youth, and for those
new to the class, this is your homework, to reflect on what they mean and why
they should still matter…..
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”……”When
pointing a finger at someone, remember that three others point right back at
you!”…..”If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” …. And so on, you get the idea. The forum that is FB has not elevated us as
society, it has (and is) bringing us down to a level not seen in decades. We
now know too much about others that we really did not need to know. Our culture is turning on itself like a pack
of wild dogs with no source of food but each other. And that my friend is one big reason you have
not seen or read a Snarky Art in ages….. I hope and pray that in a few weeks,
regardless of which storm hits, we can put behind us the personal attacks,
rebuild some friendships and learn to grow up again, becoming the adults we
should be to set the example we need to present in order to make sure this type
of destructive behavior pattern does not happen again.
