Stupid Social Media: Social Media Causes #NotMyFight

On my 2016 was the worst show I said "2017 was going to be the year of Marches".  I was somewhat wrong. It was the year of social media marches and causes. Everything last year was about some kind of social media cause that produced "awareness" but yielding little results, with the exception of course with #MeToo which I will get to later.  

I saw many of my facebook friends posting the #MeToo hashtag.  I'm not gonna lie, many of these girls are the typical band-wagoners for social media.  Usually riding on the coattails of popular hashtags and trends.  I messaged a few of them privately asking for insight behind their  #MeToo post. Not one that I asked had been sexually harassed and some admitted that they were just wanting to promote awareness of the hashtag. 

The original purpose of Me Too seems to have come from Alyssa Milano tweeting "if you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet. "  Simple: If you haven't been sexually harassed or assaulted don't write me too as a status.  Here's why:

• You're giving everyone on social media that knows you the impression that you were sexually harassed or assaulted. Hence why I messaged my friends to ask what the story behind their #MeToo was. That and I was concerned because out of the blue my friends start posting #MeToo like they experienced a real hardship. 
• You are over promoting a hashtag and trend and messing with the social media algorithm to create false trends spikes.  People might like this because "it promotes awareness" but I view it as over promoting news. But as long as people aren't talking about Donald Trump I guess the world is safe!.
• It's the boy who cried wolf, or in this case, the girl who cried rape. I know this isn't a popular thing to say (like anything I mention on the show), but if you are saying you were sexually assaulted and you weren't, no one is gonna believe you if it happens to you. Sexual assault is not a joke. But if you are crying "wolf" at things that haven't happened to you personally, it's going to destroy your credibility.  Just as the media’s credibility has been destroyed by crying about every time trump does... well anything. 

The outcome of MeToo? Many celebrities lost their jobs and basically blacklisted from their industry. Which is progress, but what about the local level? Did this hashtag empower women to come forward in a courtroom rather than social media? Were any other scumbags brought to justice over this cause besides celebrities? Or is a celebrities victory our victory? 

I feel like many of the hashtags that come out these days are someone else’s fight that everyone else gets dragged into. Everyone acts like they want to help & it’s easy to post a status. But when it comes down to action outside of social media and signing an online petition, not much happens unless you’re a “celebrity”.  And I’m not just talking about #MeToo. #TakeAKnee is an example of this. 

#TakeAKnee was all about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. This started back in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick knealt during a preseason game and stated ": “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.

"To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”   

Cool, then don't.  I mean there are tons of reasons to be pissed at America. I'm not gonna rant and rave about how America is some perfect country, nor will I tear it down about how it's a bad country. For the sake of this post, I'll leave it at "a country.  Tradition states you stand for the national anthem, but I view traditions as mostly bullshit so I really don't have a dog in this fight. Do I care about black people and people of color? Yes. Am I a rich NFL player making millions of dollars and my voice will be heard if I protest? No. Not my fight.  You do you, I'll do me.  If you wanna kneel go for it. As for me, I will continue doing what I always do during the national anthem, not attending and watching sports events where it takes place.  

But then like all fires, fuel gets added. Donald Trump gets invovled. Wither by his won descesion (or the advice of a idiot cabinet member) Easy D starts tweeting.  Now that Donnie is the picture everyone imagable instantly wants a piece of already much taken controversial pie. But since there is no pie left they settle for the social media crumbs. My social media is flooded with #TakeAKnee hashtags by people who don't go to (or watch) sporting events where the national anthem is played. In other words, this wasn't a fight that most people needed to be in, but threw themselves into merely for acceptance and popularity. 

Here’s the other thing about these hashtags. I’ve often said social media gets terrible once marketers get a hold of it, well it’s true with these hashtags. If you search #MeToo & #TakeAKnee right now you will find posts that contain little relevance to the original hashtags. Try this search a day or two after a new social media cause/hashtag drops. You’ll be surprised. 

Lastly I wanna close with the mother of all hashtags that provided tons of awareness but little action. It’s a bit older but it’s good. #Kony2012. For those of you who aren't familiar of the great rise and fall of Kony 2012, I'll give you the breakdown.  A emotional video is shared on social media about Joseph Kony, a warlord in Uganda with 88 wives, 42 children, and claims to be a spokesperson for god.  At his peak he had an army of about 3,000 people.  The guy is a scumbag and he uses children as soilders and sex slaves. Pretty messed up dude. 

But at the end of the video you can show your support by purchasing some awesome Kony 2012 merchandise to help stop this crazy warlord! This is like the porn kills love moment, they aren't out to make a difference in the world, they're out there to sell merchandise.  And that's what Kony 2012 did, it got rich selling shirts and bracelets to dumb kids who thought it would make a difference.  Were donations for this cause gonna go towards buying a band of mercenaries to take out Kony? No, that was never the intention. The intention was simple. In the immortal words of Curtis 50 cent Jackson "Get rich or die trying".

Here's the thing, I want to care but I don't.  I know that in a few short weeks the social media cause will fizzle out and people will find something else to be recreationally outraged at. A lot of the things these causes that are posted are #NotMyFight and they aren't yours either. Quit feeding into this bullshit and do something that will matter in the world. Plant a garden, pick up trash, read a book, just quick jumping on an already full social media bandwagon. - MCS1