Hopeless
I never wanted to have to write this blog post and I don't really even want to do it, but I feel that I must to mark today and remember this awful feeling. The election results from last night have shocked, angered, and hurt me. But most of all, they broke my heart.
My entire life, I have always proudly been an optimist. I have always striven to see the good in everyone, and in every situation. I have always felt that things would work out OK. Even when I have had my heart broken before, I have rebounded quickly and forgiven those who have hurt me.
Today, I do not feel like forgiving, or moving on. I feel like I no longer have any faith left. I feel like I want to blame everyone, and that I don't want to trust anyone. I don't feel like I want to be connected to this society anymore. It is an awful feeling.
I am running out of fingers to point and places to blame, but today on the top of my list is social media. I have been such a fan of social media, apparently to the point of being blinded in my admiration for it. I proudly joined Facebook as soon as they lifted the restriction of having to have a ".edu" e-mail address. I signed up in 2008, when hardly anyone else I knew was on it. I became pretty proficient in it, to the point where my boss eventually added "Director of Social Media" to my title at work. While I never felt that I mastered the art of social media marketing, and I certainly never cracked the code of how to gain popularity and twitter followers, I always enjoyed it and wholeheartedly believed that in connecting everyone via the Internet, social media was a force for good in the world. I believed it was making people have a better understanding of each other, an easier platform for communicating our differences and similarities, and for sharing important information.
The past few months, leading up to last night, have shattered the illusion for me.
I don't believe people are inherently good, or that kindness is rewarded, or that honesty is a virtue. In today's society, in the United States, these things are no longer admired or honored. It seems that a majority of people are out only for themselves, paranoid of anyone who may take what they consider to be theirs. It seems that popularity trumps ability, that being loud is better than being right.
Social media has emboldened people to bask in their own ignorance. They search for the headline that confirms what they believe and share this with their like-minded friends, blatantly disregarding any truth that is contrary to what they want to accept as reality.
Reality television has brought forth the worst characteristics in human beings, celebrated and glamorized them.
This is not the world I want my niece and nephew to grow up in, but there's nothing I can do about it. They are growing up in a world where sexism and racism is no longer shamed, it is celebrated. A culture where intelligence is derided and facts are shunned. A society that places more value on bullying and greed than kindness and fairness.
I used to have so much hope, but today, I can't find any of it.
My entire life, I have always proudly been an optimist. I have always striven to see the good in everyone, and in every situation. I have always felt that things would work out OK. Even when I have had my heart broken before, I have rebounded quickly and forgiven those who have hurt me.
Today, I do not feel like forgiving, or moving on. I feel like I no longer have any faith left. I feel like I want to blame everyone, and that I don't want to trust anyone. I don't feel like I want to be connected to this society anymore. It is an awful feeling.
I am running out of fingers to point and places to blame, but today on the top of my list is social media. I have been such a fan of social media, apparently to the point of being blinded in my admiration for it. I proudly joined Facebook as soon as they lifted the restriction of having to have a ".edu" e-mail address. I signed up in 2008, when hardly anyone else I knew was on it. I became pretty proficient in it, to the point where my boss eventually added "Director of Social Media" to my title at work. While I never felt that I mastered the art of social media marketing, and I certainly never cracked the code of how to gain popularity and twitter followers, I always enjoyed it and wholeheartedly believed that in connecting everyone via the Internet, social media was a force for good in the world. I believed it was making people have a better understanding of each other, an easier platform for communicating our differences and similarities, and for sharing important information.
The past few months, leading up to last night, have shattered the illusion for me.
I don't believe people are inherently good, or that kindness is rewarded, or that honesty is a virtue. In today's society, in the United States, these things are no longer admired or honored. It seems that a majority of people are out only for themselves, paranoid of anyone who may take what they consider to be theirs. It seems that popularity trumps ability, that being loud is better than being right.
Social media has emboldened people to bask in their own ignorance. They search for the headline that confirms what they believe and share this with their like-minded friends, blatantly disregarding any truth that is contrary to what they want to accept as reality.
Reality television has brought forth the worst characteristics in human beings, celebrated and glamorized them.
This is not the world I want my niece and nephew to grow up in, but there's nothing I can do about it. They are growing up in a world where sexism and racism is no longer shamed, it is celebrated. A culture where intelligence is derided and facts are shunned. A society that places more value on bullying and greed than kindness and fairness.
I used to have so much hope, but today, I can't find any of it.
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