Social Media Over 50 Part IV

Social Media Over 50 Part IV 

I did not expect to have to write a part four of my social media rant, but the events over the weekend have left me knowing there is more to say. Honestly, since Sunday morning I have been aghast and dismayed at the happenings in the mainstream media and social media. I have watched in horror as the world turned against a teenage boy because of a facial expression in an edited clip with no context.

I have read the words of acquaintances expressing that the context of the supposed racial attack (a facial expression in a short clip) does not matter. The boy is guilty enough of being a racist that he should be expelled, his parents should be fired from their jobs, and threats of death and violence are completely justified and even encouraged.

The students and parents are having their personal information shared across the Internet, and the school is closed for an undetermined amount of time due to security concerns, threats, and protests from groups like Antifa…. because of a facial expression.

The young man wearing his MAGA hat and waiting for a bus did not say mean words to the elderly man with the drum, and he did not hit or punch the older man. In the full videos, the context is clear. The two hours of video - the before, during, and after - make the situation perfectly clear, and yet the world has lost its mind over seconds of a facial expression.  The videos make it clear that the high school boys were not aggressors, were not chanting “Build the Wall”, and were not harassing the Native American man. The videos show the situation clearly and in context, but so many have already judged the boy to be a racist and condemned him.

I am not sure if this is willful ignorance, or just plain stubbornness to cling to first impressions and close the mind to the whole picture, but this clarifies the power of social media and it is terrifying. It is mob mentality. What I am seeing is that these young men are having their lives ruined by a facial expression - for a facial expression that was deemed so offensive it required life-altering consequences as punishment. Hundreds of thousands of people turned their hate toward a group of teenage boys due to a facial expression taken out of context. 

On social media, we can all be judge and jury. On social media, we can be vigilantes. On social media, we can right the wrongs we perceive in society through threats, violence, and hate. On social media, context and the truth are not important, only our self-righteous rage matters.

I think we’ve reached a new level of insanity. Are we truly to a point where a facial expression is enough to unhinge our society? If so, those with resting bitch face better watch out, you may find yourself on the wrong side of the social media mobs.