I saw this post on Facebook the other day.

sadly-97-of-facebookers-wont-repost-this-but-7-different-4563907

Now, I don’t have a problem with the message.  Bees disappearing is a big problem that will pose a huge ecological impact on all of us.  This is a problem that needs to be know by every human being on this planet.  It’s not the message, it’s the method to which someone has chosen to spread this information.  And because of it, no one will care.

Let’s start with the first issue. This message starts out with a guilt trip.  “Sadly, 97% of Facebookers…”  Guilt is a bad way to get someone on your side.  I’m less apt to comply with what the message is telling me to do… in fact, I will do just the opposite for spite.

Oh, and by the way, there is no such thing as “Facebookers.”  That’s not a thing.  Ever.

But the thing that chaps my bees most is the fact that it tells me I have to share and like “before it’s too late.”  I have to share and like to get this information disseminated to the masses.  On the surface, this seems to be a great way to spread the word on something, but to me, it’s not.  In fact, to me, it’s counter productive.  It cheapens the meaning of the message.  It stops being a “hey this is a real big problem and everyone needs to know about it before we all die” thing and it becomes more of a “hey, lets see how many people I can get to like and share this until it goes viral and I can lay claim that fact” thing.  The important message is lost in the circus of social media known as Facebook and the shenanigans that has befallen it.  Not to mention, most of the information in these types of posts either or partially or completely untrue (do a search on the post where there is a picture of a crowded Woodstock concert for 1969 claiming to be the recent protest of the pipeline in North Dakota).  They serve as troll bait to get people angry so they react.  No one really checks the facts on these things, they read, become enraged, and react.

Facebook has killed off the concept of legitimacy with all this other bafoonary it had embraced.  This bafoonary plays into our need to be heard  and informative and has replaced it with our desire to be famous and important for 5 minutes.

So, does this mean we can’t use Facebook to get important messages out?  Not at all.  That’s one of the things that social media is about.  Communication.  But there’s got to be a smarter way to use this medium to get legitimate information out there. Stop telling us to share or like or else nothing will happen.  It will happen all by itself.  I feel if we read something that speaks to us, we will find ourselves sharing on our own without any prompting of guilt.  It’s part of our nature as people.  We want to share our beliefs hoping to affect others.  I don’t need a picture of a dead bee to tell me to do so.

So that’s my rant and the reason behind today’s strip.

By the way, I didn’t share or like this bee post… I’ve killed us all.

 

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