Facebook: where the stupidity lives

[lizbee]

I use Facebook mostly to connect with my family and a few RL friends who aren't around much on LJ/DW, but occasionally I let other people friend me, even though I see their name and marvel at how little they've changed since high school.

(I have totally changed since high school! I can conduct conversations with strangers, now, and I don't accidentally insult people I'm talking to! These were big steps for me!)

So I woke up this morning, and checked my feed and the state of my nephew's gastro. And a girl I had known in high school had done one of those "To stand up against ___________ post this on your wall!" things. Which are, by the way, in no way going to affect the issue in question -- they don't even open a dialogue, it's just lots of people repeating the same monologue ad nauseum. And now they're hitting Tumblr, "reblog if you believe in _________", and it's just glorified spam. Seriously, if you care that much, there are much better ways to advance your cause. And if you just want to be seen to be caring, well, I've got no help for you.

Anyway, this morning it was a long paragraph, every word capitalised, about a mother beating her child to death for an imagined infraction.



Little Boy Said To His Mommy 'Mommy I Colored Your Sheets With Your Lipstick' With Anger The Women Starts To Hit Her Child Until He Was Unconcious, Then She Started Crying And Said ' Please Open Your Eyes, Please' But It Was To Late His Little Heart Stopped.. When She Walked Into The Bedroom The Sheet That The Boy Wrote On Said 'I Love You Mommy'...Post This On Your Wall If Your Against Child Abuse



So there was that. And this isn't a trigger of mine specifically, but it still left me feeling pretty upset. And I know for a fact that some of the other high school people on this girl's feed do come from violent backgrounds, and that's not a cool thing to wake up to.

And I really don't see how triggering survivors with your badly-punctuated, emotionally manipulative wank does a single damn thing to prevent child abuse. But no, it actually says, "Post This On Your Wall If Your Against Child Abuse". So really, all you're doing is taking a very brave stance against the abuse of children, without actually doing a single damn thing about it. Except possibly throwing some person's morning into turmoil because you've triggered them. Wow. Way to go.

Comments

[silverhare]

Argghhhh, the manipulative wank. *claws at eyes*

I agree with this so much I'm going to repost it word for word!

[brewsternorth]

Uuuuugh.

Yet another reason that I refuse to join FB.

[myniamh]

What? Is it a secret code?

LBSTHMMICYSWYLWATWSTHHCUHWUTSSCASPOYEPBIWTLHLHSWSWITBTSTTBWOSILYM ... PTOYWIYAACA.

... nope. Just blatantly manipulative.

[wolfy_writing]

Is it weird that I'm annoyed by how stupidly cheesy it is? I've heard a lot of real stories about child abuse (including some from abused children), and they don't have the over-the-top sentimental touch at the end. It seems...cheapening, in a weird way. Like to make it really bad that a woman to beat her child to death you have to add a twist to make the kid seem extra sweet and innocent, because an ordinary kid who might scribble with the lipstick just because it's a pretty color of red, or they're out of crayons, or forbidden things are interesting is not good enough somehow.

Also the emotional blackmail of "You're against child abuse, aren't you? You don't think it's okay for parents to beat their children to death, do you? Then do as I say and post!" sucks big time.

[lizbee]

No, I was annoyed by that as well. Beating a badly-behaved child to death is just as bad as beating the good kids, okay?

[wolfy_writing]

Yeah. I mean what, it wouldn't have been as bad if the imaginary kid involved made a drawing of a dinosaur with the lipstick instead?

[myniamh]

It's the cartoonish sequence of actions for me. It just comes off as if the person who wrote it put little to no thought into it and has never actually heard an abuse survivors story. Which cannot be a hard thing to find if you are genuinely looking to help rather than just look like you are.

[wolfy_writing]

Yeah, it reads as really fake, and with the internet these days, it's about five minutes of work to get some real stories. Or, you know, if they really wanted to push themselves, there are books on the subject.

[phosfate]

"I guess they didn't want to hear that I have cancer and will be dead in five months."

Most of these reblogs are totally COOL STORY, BRO. Just, for a moment, how difficult it would be to write anything on a sheet. Especially if you are a small child.

[trouble]

I hate Facebook memes like this, and the tumblr "reblog if you care about X" often not only comes with the guilttrip, but then ads "I've seen all sorts of you talk about Y! You obviously only care about Y!" Which...

Well.

[lizbee]

OH, I HATE THAT.

And also, "If you aren't talking about Xism, then you must be Xist!"

Because what internet activism needs is to become more of an echo chamber, with even more people talking about things they don't understand?

[infiniteviking]

without actually doing a single damn thing about it

This, besides the equally manipulative inference that if you don't repost/reblog/whateverthewebsitedoes that means you don't care, is why I never repost those things. Or the 'post the confusing codeword to raise awareness!' things. There are better ways to do something about [insert any of many, many deserving causes] than that.

[lilacsigil]

Every time I'm due for some kind of cancer checkup, the IF YOU CARE ABOUT CANCER BLAH ONLY 3% REPOST BLAH BLAH posts pop up. Also, that child abuse story was the Snopes post of the day just a few weeks ago.