My dad's fond of saying, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." (Boy, if I had a nickle for every time he used that one on me.) While that expression is pretty much old as dirt - it fits today, maybe now more than ever. Especially when it comes to society's use of social media to publish opinions, and interact with other humans.
Just because we can (all too) easily use Twitter, You Tube, Linkedin and FaceBook to push buttons and stir the pot - doesn't mean we should. Nope. For sure, I'm not alone in my concern for societies new found propensity to trash talk in an oh-so public way. Lots of folks share a similar frustration. One of the best public displays of concern comes from famed sports beat writer Mike Lopresti - in an article for USA Today.
To Mr. Lepresti's enormous credit - he summed up, in one article, what would take me a year to think of and write myself. No doubt, he's way more talented. In appreciation of Lopresti's gift of thought and penmanship (and the fact that he gets there better/quicker than I ever could), I've cut and paste the crux of his article below. If by chance Mr. L takes issue with my use of his smarts, please note that I have never profited from my blog, nor will I (as my reader will testify, right Mom?).
So take it away Mike, it's all yours ....
"... The football player uses words like ``crook'' and ``devil,'' belittles his teammates and presents the lovely analogy that if the commissioner of the NFL were on fire, not even urine would be good enough to put out the flames. So maybe more ... can be sold to a world where simple respect and common courtesy are as passé as rotary telephones, to the point where respect is no longer simple and courtesy certainly no longer common. Thus, we have another example of the sad and sorry state of human interaction. We have the tirade of a ... thoroughly modern man. Communication has never been more varied, more vast, more technologically exotic. We text, we tweet, we pass each other in the night on Facebook. Heck, sometimes we still even talk in person, and how quaint is that? And here is the irony. The more advanced the mode of exchanging thoughts and words, the closer our behavior gets to the stone age. All these different and dazzling ways to discuss and compare and analyze and disagree and offer opinion. And all we can do is call names. So why the flamethrower rhetoric? Just James being James, said his agent, his supporters, and those whose bar for civility is no higher than an anthill. I find that alibi tiring. That would presume Harrison's only way to make his case is with insults. That cheapens the man, rather than flatters him. Is that who he wishes to be, someone listened to not for his thoughts, but his malice? That would put him on par with a good many talk show hosts. But it sells. It draws a crowd, because in a culture so cluttered that people cannot watch a beautiful sunset without pulling out a device to push buttons, only the loudest and harshest voices get the notice. And so you can turn on Fox to see which Democrat is an idiot, and on MSNBC to see which Republican is a fool. For actual rational and useful discussion, you have come to the wrong place, for the purpose is not to solve a problem but to blame the other side. Communication is no longer used to teach and enrich and serve the public. It is used to attack, the faster the better. This sickness spreads everywhere, from Main Street to Capitol Hill. And of course, to sports, because few places have more live microphones and quicker money to make. And so now we have an undeniably great football player with legitimate concerns, who could not get from Thought A to Thought B without demeaning this person or ridiculing that one. The message from James Harrison this week is not that the NFL has problems to solve. It is that he can insult his commissioner and trash his teammates, and pack weapons for a magazine shot. Apparently that was the only way he could tell his story. But so it goes in today's world of wasted opportunity. All these tools to share our views, and all we can do is shriek. And then, sometimes, apologize."
Well said Mike. And thanks. You're my literary hero.
Social (Media) Etiquette is Good.
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