Thursday, November 12, 2015

Social Media Activism Is Changing My Ways of Thinking

Yesterday I gave a woman some food. I'm not saying this for the comments or the likes. This is not a Facebook post.

But actually it wasn't fulfilling food. After work I stopped by this restaurant to pick up something to eat and a woman was waiting outside. I'm guessing she had been begging everyone for food, but no one had given her anything. I was next for her to ask. I wasn't about to give her my delicious newly purchased meal, but I felt bad for her. I kept my food and informed her that I had a cup of Frosted Flakes in the car. They were in the bowl that you can find in CVS or The Family Dollar store. I handed them to her and before she could get a "Thank you" out of her mouth, she had already opened it and started eating. She wasn't lying when she said she was hungry. Before this I had only ever given coins to people like her before, but my mindset is changing.

It may be because of social media activism or maybe I'm just getting a little nicer. I don't know if that's good or bad.

See there are these certain sections of Facebook and Twitter that are created for people to be (for lack of better words) assholes. They come into these Facebook groups and attack each other's looks (mostly) just for the Hell of it. Its similar to what 50 Cent and Vivica Fox are doing, but these people don't know each other outside of Facebook. Some of them don't know each other outside of the groups. I think it's their way of letting out repressed anger from situations they don't have control of.

They do it a little different on Twitter. You may see a tweet you either disagree with or you just question. They won't attack you right away, because they think someone will defend you. They wait until they think you've forgotten (several days or a week) and then they start attacking your mentions when barely anyone is logged on. It confuses you, because you have no idea what their problem is or why you've been singled out. It doesn't hurt me to see this exactly. In 29 years I've gotten used to the fact that some people don't like you just to not like you and some people are mean just to be mean. However, it does make me question why I'm not meaner to others.

I will admit social media activism softens me up. It balances me out. I see them on Facebook and Twitter all the time. There are pages created to feed the homeless (which is typical), to get people to read more, to uplift others. I've been added to groups dedicated to figuring out problems and giving solutions in the African American community. There are groups of Twitter handles with writers like me that are trying to get their voices heard. There's nothing negative about their approach to writing and the world of blogging. They are trying to succeed and giving the rest of us advice as they get it. Of course there is also the more media friendly activism that involves police brutality and racism.

There is a difference between the online hate and the online activism. The activism extends past social media. It motivates real people to do real positive things. The positivity is what is influencing me most. I want to get out and help others however I can.

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Lashuntrice

Lashuntrice