Speaking of social media....
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:23 pm
I assume this happens everywhere, but there's a Facebook group called "The Talk of Genoa," which is the nearest "small town" in the area. This is the Genoa school district, so that sort of makes Genoa the unofficial center of the local community. I live about 7 miles out of town, for reference, but I joined the group out of curiosity.
You know how most people get by because they don't know what their neighbors are like, in the privacy of their own homes? How you get along with a neighbor, passing a pleasantry in the summer months when you're both in the back yard, because you don't know what kind of porn each of you get off to?
"The Talk of Genoa" group removes all that mystery (so to speak). There isn't any talk of porn, but you find out the sweet old lady next door laughs at the people she inconveniences on the main road into the city. You find out she purposely drives during rush hour 15 under the speed limit, knowing no one can pass on that busy road, and when she states this in the group she puts the laughing emoji on there and says, "Ha, I guess I have to go 5 slower tomorrow and watch them pile up! People should just leave home earlier!"
Someone found out the local bowling alley had an employee that was arrested 20 years ago, at 19, because of his 17 year old girlfriend. The local school sends their grade school kids there for after school bowling, several days a week. My kid loved that program, when he went for years. The school was contacted about an undocumented sex predator, the school cancelled their contract with the bowling alley because of the sex offender, and now the bowling alley is probably shutting down.
Nothing is off limits. People sit in their dark living rooms with the shades pulled, feel privacy and safety, and turn off their filters. It sort of makes me nauseous, watching people be happily, gleefully ugly in the guise of "Being a good person." Others, leaning the same way but would have otherwise kept their thoughts to themselves, see a kindred spirit and jump on the train.
"That guy with the semi truck on his own property shouldn't be allowed to keep it there because I can see it from my window."
"Those kids at Taco Bell are having sex in the store."
"This local restaurant gave me bad service so they are monsters and no one should eat there."
Every post has people piling on. People who would never say these things at a town hall meeting, under the actual gaze of their neighbors. The mob has a voice, and unsurprisingly, it's ugly.
Social media is going to be the end of this society.
You know how most people get by because they don't know what their neighbors are like, in the privacy of their own homes? How you get along with a neighbor, passing a pleasantry in the summer months when you're both in the back yard, because you don't know what kind of porn each of you get off to?
"The Talk of Genoa" group removes all that mystery (so to speak). There isn't any talk of porn, but you find out the sweet old lady next door laughs at the people she inconveniences on the main road into the city. You find out she purposely drives during rush hour 15 under the speed limit, knowing no one can pass on that busy road, and when she states this in the group she puts the laughing emoji on there and says, "Ha, I guess I have to go 5 slower tomorrow and watch them pile up! People should just leave home earlier!"
Someone found out the local bowling alley had an employee that was arrested 20 years ago, at 19, because of his 17 year old girlfriend. The local school sends their grade school kids there for after school bowling, several days a week. My kid loved that program, when he went for years. The school was contacted about an undocumented sex predator, the school cancelled their contract with the bowling alley because of the sex offender, and now the bowling alley is probably shutting down.
Nothing is off limits. People sit in their dark living rooms with the shades pulled, feel privacy and safety, and turn off their filters. It sort of makes me nauseous, watching people be happily, gleefully ugly in the guise of "Being a good person." Others, leaning the same way but would have otherwise kept their thoughts to themselves, see a kindred spirit and jump on the train.
"That guy with the semi truck on his own property shouldn't be allowed to keep it there because I can see it from my window."
"Those kids at Taco Bell are having sex in the store."
"This local restaurant gave me bad service so they are monsters and no one should eat there."
Every post has people piling on. People who would never say these things at a town hall meeting, under the actual gaze of their neighbors. The mob has a voice, and unsurprisingly, it's ugly.
Social media is going to be the end of this society.