Friday, January 06, 2017

Social Media Ego

There was a time when thinkers could write stories or opinions that changed the discord of a movement into action.  A well thought out comment or story could simply reveal the truth about a situation and make us realize that Truth is Truth.  Truth is not an individual opinion nor a partisan political platform plank.   The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were such writings. Martin Luther King in his letters from Birmingham are also examples of high thinking people touching a universal chord in human logic and decency with their wordsmith-ing ability.  I am wondering now if all that has been replaced with 144 character "snarkiness" by people who should never be allowed near any letters of the alphabet.
There was a time when Salt was such a very valuable commodity, that it was used as a medium of exchange.  Now it is found on every tale of every home and used in massive quantities to melt snow off roadways.  It's not that the quality of salt has diminished, it is still as effective at its job as it always was, We now just have tons and tons of it available to us.
To draw the analogy we still have a lot of great thinkers who are "smithing" their words as thoughtfully as ever, but there are so many words available to the general public now their worth has been devalued. And the public's instant ability to comment on those well crafted statements with trolling stupidity has also increased.  The Truth is lost in a sea of emoji's and comment threads that give a person the ability to read and react negatively quicker than they can fully contemplate the statement. 
We read social media to comment, not to enlighten our thinking. Everyone with a Facebook account thinks that the world is waiting to hear what they have to say.  On social media there is no truth that stands on its own... it must be weighed by the number of likes it gets. That is not the substance of Truth. Truth is an absolute.  It will be the truth even when no one agrees with it.  Truth is not a social opinion nor a concept that can be voted into existence... it simply is,  and requires no action by humans. 
Anyone can believe what they want to believe.  Belief is not Truth unless you know you are abiding by the truth in what you believe.  Just trying to understand that is an enigma.  But there are two things that are true  about truth. They are:  It is not the Truth simply because someone believes it.  And more important just because a lot of people believe it does not make it the truth. 
In the words of a wise Prophet and teacher, "When salt has lost its saltiness, of what good is it?"
Have words become so cheap and plentiful that they have no value anymore?  The idea that someone would be "As good as his word" should be once again considered.  When their words are contradictory, confusing, bigoted, cruel and illiterate coming in the form of 144 character scribbles at 4:00am how can we wonder what kind of leader this man is?
If it sounds like a jackass it either is a jackass or something that wants to be one.  
What more evidence of Truth do we need to judge the fitness of a person to be President than his own words. All the comments and proxy surrogates trying to white wash the statements on his behalf do not make a difference in his character.
The one thing I know for sure is: anyone who says only they are telling the truth and everyone who disagrees is a liar,  is himself a liar, or stupid or in this case both.
As you were,
Jay
 

1 comment:

P. Grecian said...

Hear hear! Another great commentary, Jay.