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Remember Trolls? No not that kind.
If you start a social media account it is not old news people give their two cents about what you post. If you post a picture of you enjoying a meal, it will never fail that someone will criticize what you are eating. No matter if there were a thousand comments about how good it looked, there will be that one person that tells you it is too many calories. No matter the thousand comments, it is the one negative one that you remember. Why do we feel the right to say things to others based on an opinion? There was a good point made in the following short story.
A woman was driving really slow. Traffic backed up behind her. Everyone stuck was getting angry. How could this person be so inconsiderate? Turns out the woman was in incredible pain. She did not have anyone to drive her to the hospital; she was doing it alone. She was trying so hard to just not pass out. Her speed was the last thing on her mind. She did not want to crash into anybody in case she lost consciousness. To everyone, it seemed like she was not paying attention. In reality, she was making sure she could drive confidently. You could go on and on about options for getting to the hospital, but the point here is made.
Take the world of addiction. When someone goes into the emergency room, they are judged immediately by the staff. A paradox to be thought upon is; why if someone smoked their entire lives and got cancer, is given empathy but not the addict that overdosed? Both people could have potentially avoided their deaths. Both were guilty of creating havoc on their bodies; only one got empathy. Why is that? Why do people think addicts deserve what they get and not ask “what happened to them that they did not deserve?.” What happened that makes them feel like committing suicide every day and that it is the only way out of the hurt?
People do not take the time to stop and think about why they say the things they do. Most negative comments to others are actually a reflection of oneself. According to Regain.US (Mary Dean 2020) “The need to feel superior to others is a major cause for people who put others down. Psychology says those who feel this need to bully and knock others down. ... may feel superior in that they can assert their dominance over another person. It could also make them feel strong to beat another person down.”
People also have a hard time accepting opinions that are not their own or question their beliefs. So by using negative talk to attack whatever belief it may be, they feel their point is made and opinion protected. In reality, all it showed was an ugly person on the inside. There is a word for people on the internet that are negative all the time: troll.
As we all go into this brave new world of social media, remember that the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones; words will never hurt me” is absolutely incorrect. A wound by a thrown rock will heal, a wound from a negative comment may not.
This is an opinion piece by Cye.C.
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