Before I jump to the fun stuff, I need to say something that has been weighing on my mind. Go to the next blog if you want a little light reading where I put excerpts from The Magical Things Collection. This blog will not be fluffy or light. I didn’t do my normal first of the month blog in June, and I didn’t send out my monthly newsletter because the cancel culture trend started to overwhelm me. I’ve moved past that and decided to post two blogs for July. For weeks I have been debating whether I should write this or not. At my age, I hope I have the wisdom of hindsight and experience. That doesn't mean getting older makes you wiser, but I'm always willing to learn. In my later teens and twenties, I would have hastily and vehemently expressed my opinions. Back then I easily judged people who thought outside my boxes. Thankfully social media wasn't around for me to share my too-quick-to-judge words, because time has taught me that sometimes I change my mind on certain topics and I also realized that some of my views had been too harsh, naïve, uneducated, or just cow poop. Truthfully, my perspective can still be incorrect because I’m human, but at least I wait before I shovel out my manure to the world. Social media has created a monster where people can attack hastily and harshly without knowing or even trying to seek all the facts. The same monster thinks if they tell someone they should, “kill themselves”, that their criminal words will bully that person into thinking like them. Yes, this happened to a young mother and wife I follow on Instagram who has been vocal about her beliefs on certain topics. She’s kind and never harsh to those who disagree with her, so why was she treated so horrifically? She shared the hateful messages sent to her on one of her posts just to show that she has risen above the violence, and hasn’t changed her beliefs despite it all. Several authors are coming under attack with the same type of vile behavior just because they don’t use their platform the way certain individuals think they should. I have fortunately not been attacked, which may be due to the fact I reach such a small group of people. There are atrocious individuals and groups in the world who think people deserve to die for not believing the way they do, but what makes their opinions or convictions better than anyone else’s? What human gets to decide the standard for everything under the sun? Unless you want to enter into some futuristic dystopian world where mind control can be easily done, I think there will always be people on opposite sides of an ideology or belief. That doesn't mean one group gets to be murdered literally or figuratively for it. Here are some things I wished the angry mob or individuals would consider before they attacked:
I'm reminded of a famous pop song that for copyright reasons I can't quote, but it says every person should look in the mirror first before trying to correct everyone they meet. If you want to make the world a better place, it starts with you. Work on you, not your neighbor. Truth doesn’t require hatefulness to spread. I know it will eventually win in the end.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Ramblings on life, travels, & books
Carla Reighard Archives
December 2023
Categories |