What has this world come to when people are sitting behind their computers and using technology as a weapon, rather than a window? We have been asking ourselves this question for a week around here, and we decided that having this conversation internally was doing a great disservice to our readers.
Last week, one of our writers posted a story and directly quoted an artist who poked fun at himself. Instead of reading the article and realizing what had happened, our social media was flooded with hatred, including name-calling, accusations, and insistence that the writer be “fired”. We spent a better part of our day holding up shields to their swords, finally recognizing that the problem wasn’t with us — it was with them, and that “them” consisted of a very small number of people on a large scale.
We also shared a song with our social media followers that day — the Jo Dee Messina and Alyssa Bonagura duet, “Unbreakable“. It was our hope that if even a handful of people took some time with the words of the song that it would make an impact. We still hope that was the case.
Yesterday, we reported on a story involving Carrie Underwood choosing to come to the defense of her personal trainer and friend after she was cyber-bullied. Hours after we shared that information, our Twitter notifications filled up with people calling us names, berating us, and discrediting us, all to “defend” an artist. Even hours later, one came back, unprovoked, just to throw another punch.
Interesting that in order to “defend” we must “offend”.
To avoid standing on a soapbox and preaching to a choir of loyal, faithful, supportive people who read our website, follow our social media accounts, and shower us with love and appreciation (thank you!), I will end with this … because we all need good music in our souls. I share with you, once again, the song “Unbreakable”. Hopefully it will change your life today; and, if it doesn’t, I hope you will hope that it at least changed someone else’s.
