Let me start off by saying that my thoughts and prayers go out to those families affected by the recent tragedies that took place in Pittsburg over the weekend. The aftermath that follows these awful situations is brutal and something no one should have to suffer through. If you haven’t heard much about it, here is an article that debriefs the incident.
The beast I hope to tackle in this however doesn’t have anything to do with gun control or law enforcement or terrorism. Let’s talk about media. Not just news media but to be more specific social media. How many of you have social accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc? I’m going to go out on a limb and say the majority of you just said yes.
It’s no secret that a lot of folks in our generation get their news on social media. Now most of us see an article or two and then proceed to more official news sources to get even more information. Most of us. But some come away from social media articles dead set on the “accurate” information they read. And that’s okay, but how accurate is that information? THAT’S what I want to talk about.
So let’s take it back to the incident I began with. People have been quick to make judgements and accusations that it is somehow our president’s fault. Though our president’s name isn’t Robert Bowers and his skin is slightly more orange. Funny huh? Two different people. And that’s a fact you can’t argue with. Yet everyone is quick to blame Trump for the entire incident. Pulling words from this speech or that tweet trying to piece together facts that simply don’t exist. It’s sad really. Media is quick to place blame but if you didn’t see Trump’s actions in the following days, here’s what the media didn’t show you.
It is so easy to sit behind a laptop and get to work on a piece all about what’s going on in the news. Couple clicks here and a few hundred words on a keyboard and bam you’ve published an article. And being able to do that is such a privilege. We have access to a platform where we can express our thoughts and opinions on just about anything under the sun. But our work is just that, thoughts and opinions.
Text is defined as written or printed work. It really can be interpreted in any way we choose. When you read something someone types, you often can’t hear their tone of voice or see their facial expressions as they type. So we have to take it as simply as possible, and for what it is, for what it states, plain old words on a screen.
I would sure hope no one would take a personal blog filled with opinions as accurate news. And definitely not mine. Please do your own research. But sadly it happens all too often. We find ourselves reading articles that are bits and pieces of the truth mixed in with opinions and labeled an article.
We should be looking for all the reactions we can possibly find to every situation. I challenge you to try and find someone who has a different view of things than you do. And when something big happens, talk with them. Find someone you can have a civil conversation with so you can get another perspective.
We can absolutely use social media for our initial information, but let’s all get in the habit of doing more research before making judgements. I know I’ll be doing my best.