Facebook Facepalm

Generally speaking, there are two things you do not talk about in casual conversation, Religion and Politics. This is due to the fact that they are, and forever will be, hotly debated issues within any social community. For whatever reason, when these are brought into a conversation, people quickly become offensive and start to attack the other person, instead of the opposing viewpoint they hold.

Have you ever been in a situation, perhaps at a bar or dinner, where these are brought to light? Unless you have a group of well acquainted people, it usually becomes two hotheads going blow-for-blow with personal attacks and egos to take the punishment. For the rest of the room, it becomes an increasingly awkward situation and general discomfort sets in among the guests, with it quickly escalating to just "Get me the hell out of here!".

The entry is "Facebook Facepalm", what does this have to do with anything?!

Facebook is the vanguard site when it comes to social interaction. It also happens to be a place to showcase all of our "Facebook Friends" aka people we never really see but we know them somehow so we have them as friends. For most of us college kids, about 90% of our high school classmates are now "facebook friends". Occasionally we write them happy birthday or "remember that one time..." remarks, but for the most part we keep our distances. With Facebook's "Live News Feed" we get an almost real-time ticker of status updates, mixed in with various pictures, notes, links, and videos. With these status updates, on the "live news feed" we have now created casual conversation. You may see someone with a status like "Going to see Zombieland" and make a comment about the success or failure of the movie in your opinion. These short interactions are the equivalent of small talk.

So lets recap shall we? We have a social environment of people, most of who's relationships between each other can be classified as acquaintances. We also have very brief contacts with them, dealing with trivial things. These contacts can also be called...casual conversations!. Shocking, I know. Now lets just jump back up to that top paragraph, never bring up religion or politics. Easy enough right? Evidently not...

Every day I see politically charged statuses from people, mostly not positively critical, as to start a discussion point, but just critical, like "look who tanked the economy" or "That man in the Oval Office is an idiot!". Why would you post this? You don't go up to a guy at the bar and say "Man, that Obama is an asshole isn't he??". Well...maybe you do, either from common sense or experience you're aware you have a 50/50 shot at getting decked. Anyway, if you type on someone's wall, and it just happens to show up on a news feed, that's fine. It's understood that it is a conversation taking place between two people. To put it as a status update is the same as pulling the bar stunt above. You are inviting people to criticize and fight with you. Maybe you want that, but for all of us who like our peaceful Facebook, we just think its old and gets annoying. There is a time and place for everything, and really, "Obama is an asshole." really doesn't relate to your status.*

So go ahead, say you're in love or that you lost your car keys for the 4th time this month. I'll laugh or congratulate you. Post those lovely song lyrics about stamina, or lost love, or making that green. They might be annoying, but they're mostly harmless. But please, for everyone's sake, leave the politics at the log-in screen.

S.T.


*Unless, you just got pranked by Obama, then you could probably post it. I'm not friends with anyone that connected, so lets just say, status updates aren't the place for politics.

Passions (The Entry not The Soap)

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose."
~Bette Davis

Everyone says that society has been in a steady decline for decades, but I don't believe that to be entirely the case. When you walk down the street what do you see? I see people shuffling their feet to get from one place to another. Rarely talking with anyone, or walking with purpose, we just meander through our days. When you look into a boardroom, gone are the days of fiery speeches of brilliant men debating the issues. Now, the men may be just as brilliant, but do not wish to express their opinions more than "yes" or "agreed". So what has turned a once determined country into a lethargic mass?

Passion, or I should say, lack of passion. It does not exist in most people anymore. It is a real shame because passion is what drives the world. If Henry Ford didn't have passion, would we have cars? If Thomas Edison didn't have passion, would we have electricity? The answer is yes. Probably. Eventually. Hopefully. Without passion, there is no discovery, no productive discourse, and in general, no sharing of knowledge. Passion is defined in MWOD as a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept. That liking and desire for a particular subject creates a fire within people when that subject is talked of. That passion drives us to share our passionate knowledge with others with the hopes of igniting the same passion within them.



Within those words lies the true power of passion, the secret of stopping our society's freefall. Passion...is contagious. Passion creates a fire within a person that will drive them to great things and used correctly, will inspire others to do the same.

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot."
~D. H. Lawrence

S.T.

Paranoia's All I Got Left

"What would you do if it all ended tomorrow? Time runnin' out, ain't no more you can borrow."
~John Cena, If It All Ended Tomorrow

Every time I turn on the news these days, I am bombarded by threats of terrorism, or outbreaks of the latest "deadly" virus. There are remnants of natural disasters strewn across the landscape of America, warnings of what could return at any moment. Even during the commercials I'm getting images of the world ending through the movie trailer of "2012"*.

Okay, okay, I get it. We're all going to die horrible deaths. Thank you for pointing that out, because really we don't have enough paranoia and hatred floating around our collective cultures. I am not in denial, it's very possible that at some point some time during my existence, I will experience one of these things. My question is why do I bother dwelling on something that will kill me? It seems to me, that a life living with the cloud of death is not life at all. Most people cannot get out of this type of living because they are afraid. We are focused on death, it is used as a scare tactic because everyone is afraid to die.

German-Born US poet and author Charles Bukowski seems to have said it best, "We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us". Death will tremble to take us...that's a pretty interesting image if I do say so. Bukowski is telling us to live our life so well, and make it completely fulfilling that when it is our time to be taken, Death will fear us. Instead of the human fearing death, the personification of Death will fear the human. This life he is about to take will be so rich with experiences, love, laughter, passion, and spirit that Death will be genuinely scared to disrupt it.

Everyone has a fear of death, how do we as individuals make Death fear us? This solution is easy. Live each day like there is nothing to lose. Make sure that each day is used to its full potential like it was the last day on Earth. This is not removing the fear of death, but deflecting it. Instead of being afraid of death, be afraid, rather, of dying before your life is fulfilled. Fear of having an empty life of only fear.

Then and only then will Death tremble.

S.T.

[The soundtrack to this entry is as follows | John Cena - If It All Ended Tomorrow | Cold War Kids - Hang Me Out To Dry | JET - Black Hearts (On Fire)]