People have lost their minds on social media
I know that social media is not the real world, just as Kim Kardashian is not your average working mother. There are extremes in life, and we cannot judge situations based upon the more exaggerated edges of the normality spectrum. But we have all started to spend parts of our days in the virtual world, and in the postpandemic era, some of us spend the majority of our waking hours communicating with avatars, digital creations, and shadow-humans. So the things that are happening in that environment do have an impact on our emotional health, and the way we view the actual world.
Lately, the things I have seen in that virtual universe has made me wish I was never born into the real one. People I liked, or at least tolerated, have shown themselves to be filled with hatred and hostility toward those who don’t share their political views. I know that this is not a new thing, and has existed for at least the past few decades, but I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that we have crossed a line from which there may be no return.
After the news broke on Friday evening that President Trump and his wife Melania had tested positive for COVID-19, I held my breath. This had nothing to do with my fears for their safety and health, although I managed to get off a quick prayer to St. Jude (my go-to in difficult situations). The reason my esophagus seized up was
the thought of what was about to happen in that virtual world where so many of us manifest our real characters (ironic, isn’t it, that we learn more about a person by reading their online musings than by speaking with them in person?). I knew, and I was not wrong, that there was about to be an onslaught of hatred gushing out like Old Faithful from the pages of progressives and Never Trumpers, who are no longer capable of separating their political selves from their non-partisan identity.
I don’t need to reproduce the comments here, for you. My Facebook friendship tally is close to the 5,000 limit, with a good mix of liberals and conservatives, white and minority, male
and female (but no “questioning”) Christian, Muslim, Jew and atheist, college-educated and high school grads, native-born and immigrant, Eagles fans and (one) Dallas fan. It’s a good cross section of the country. To be honest, there are some Trump supporters who travel over to my page who I barely tolerate, and some Bernie supporters who are dearer to my heart than blood relations. I can deal with a lot, and I have.
Lately though, I have taken to blocking better than Chuck Bednarik on one of his better days. That is because people have lost their minds and with them, their souls. The number of folks who have either wished death on the
president or engaged in some sick sort of schadenfreud because he is now infected with a deadly virus is scarier than the virus itself. They are not the faceless shadows that populate the comments sections of some online newspapers. They are not folks who have used pseudonyms to create online personalities that bear no relation to their actual selves. They are people I have actually met, or at least, would have like to have met in kinder times.
Many of them have started out their posts with the disclaimer of “I am normally a good person but…” and then go on to wish a painful, lingering death on the president. I posted this in response to those sort of folks, and it was shared almost a hundred times, which is a record for me:
“If you are the sort of person who says (1) I am normally a good person but I hope the president dies; (2) I am normally a good person but he deserves to suffer because of karma; (3) I am normally a good person but I honestly have a hard time feeling bad about his diagnosis; (4) I am normally a good person but I think this would be great for our country since it takes him out of the race; (5) I am normally a good person but maybe his death would force those anti-maskers to fall in line; (6) I am normally a good person but he is so hateful it’s hard to feel bad for him; (7) I am normally a good person but I feel worse for the 207,000 he personally killed ... I have news for you: You were never a good person.”
You might argue, as some have, that social media is a distortion of the real world. I would have agreed before social media became the real world for so many people who were trapped in the fabricated amber of the COVID shutdowns. Classrooms have become virtual for many children. Good friends have been told that they will not be returning to their offices until at least the beginning of next year, so their kitchen tables and their laptops are now their conference rooms. Online shopping has bumped the thrill of walking through an aisle in a Hazmat suit to search out the perfect tomato. And we all Zoom Zoom Zoom-a Zoom together (anyone born after 1970 will not get that reference, but is likely not reading me anyway so no harm).
Virtual is real, now. And even in the real world, you have Hollywood and political folks wishing ill on the president. One of Hillary Clinton’s campaign managers actually expressed a desire that Trump die of the virus. There have been smirky, smarmy attempts by cable news hosts to show how “evolved” they are in wishing the president who caused all of this by ridiculing masks a “swift recovery.” (I believe that as much as I believe that Robert E. Lee was looking forward to Appomatix.) And Democrat-leaning pollsters are gleeful at the thought that the election is over.
In fact, ironically, one of the few public figures who gave authentic wishes of hope, luck and recovery to the president and his wife was Joe Biden, who tweeted out his and Jill’s solidarity moments after the news became public. He also vowed to pull negative campaign ads. That shows class, decency, and humanity. It is a shame that so many of Joe’s supporters lack the qualities reflected in their candidate, in this troubled moment.
I was going to write this column, this week, about the accusations that Trump is a racist. In fact, I had one all written out and ready to send to my editor. It was a good one, and perhaps it will be printed at some other time when the campaign resumes and the bedside watch abates.
But right now, it is important to point out to all of those folks who say that Hate has No Home with them, that they need to check the front door: Hate left, so Hypocrisy could take over the lease.