The Impact of Social Media & Society

I'm not the most patient of people, but that does depend on circumstance; what whom & why. I'm not prone to violent outbursts or screaming matches. I enjoy friendships with people of all persuasions; religious, ethnic backgrounds, political leaning, general interests. I respect their views, although we often share differing views and I hope they respect mine. Whilst I'm far from being a pushover, I do prefer to discuss differences than fight and argue. That said, even I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end when I do launch forth. I'm not proud of the odd times I 'have lost it'; it wasn't a pretty sight.

Having rationalized this, I now admit I'm finding it harder and harder to stay calm, focused and polite on social media. I think social media has many benefits. It's an outlet for us to express ourselves. We make contact with people all over the world who share common interests and we are often exposed to things we would have never considered before. If used properly, we can learn a lot. All good and now for the downside.

It's a forum that also exposes you to the worst of mankind. At least in thought and word. The lack of humanity, the cruelty, the bullying.  The ignorance, the fear, the racial attacks, the bigotry. The lack of respect, the hate, the bias, the inability to compromise, the double-standards. The anger.  The foul language. There are times I wish I could use a 60point font and just scream - WAKE-UP and listen to yourselves. People attack others without recognising they are no better.  They're doing exactly what they accuse others of doing. I guess the shocking realisation for me is that more and more 'ordinary' people (not meant in a derogative manner, just the men and women in the street) are becoming more aggressive. At least that's my gauge having followed some people for years. It saddens me. If we can't be civil to each other, if we can no longer recognise the impact we have on others through our thought and word then I fear for our future. If we keep it up, the society we end up with isn't a society I want to be part of anymore.

Who Needs ISIL - We're Destroying Our Society...

We don't have to have ISIL on our shores to destroy our society. We're doing a pretty good job of it without their help. As the fear level increases the hate level increases along with it. People turning on each other not because they've actually harmed each other, but simply because they are different. They dress differently, they follow a different religion, they support a different political party or simply a different cause.

The assault at this point is mainly verbal, via platforms like social media. Although, that verbal assault is becoming more extreme. There have been instances of the assault spilling out into the streets. Thankfully for us more frequently overseas than here.  But it's a smoldering tinderbox ready to ignite. It's only a matter of time before someone will be badly injured or even killed here. It just takes one nutter with an axe to grind.

It's alarming, it's distressing, it's senseless and it's certainly dangerous. I pray common sense prevails and we as a collective wake-up before it's too late.

Until We Walk in Their Shoes...

I’m rendered speechless at times when I read comments such “just blast them off the face of the earth, just kick them out.” In other words the only response to those ‘you’ don’t like, or don’t understand is to address it with brute force.  I fear what our attitude and behaviour will become when we so easily fall into such a violent way of thinking.

We never really know what motives people to do certain things until we have experienced the same motivators or drives. 

In thinking about this it prompted to recall an experience I had some years back.  I was working for a very large, well known multi-national. At times items of value were returned to the company for a refund.  Some of those items started to go missing as did food items; taken from the fridges around the building.  One in question was a valuable diamond ring.  We searched high and low, called in the police to no avail.  Things settled down for a while and then a couple more things went missing.  Investigations were launched. Security and police once again investigated.  We struck a blank.   About three weeks after that event I received a phone call from one of the merchants in the local shopping centre.  One of my employees had been caught shop lifting.  He’d stolen a sweatshirt and a tie.  The merchant didn’t call the police which was very generous of him.  I went and collected the young man in question and we went back to the office.

As you would image the discussion about his behaviour was rather tense. Not only had he committed a crime (for which he was very lucky not be charged) but as an employee any negative reflection on the company could not be tolerated.  Then the penny dropped. Could this young man be the one stealing from the company?  I along with my head of security asked the question. He admitted he had.  Then it all came out. 

This young man had arrived in Australia as a refugee (thought the front door) from the ME; we were aware of this when we hired him.  He had been a very good employee. Hard working, punctual and whilst a little shy he had work friends.  Until the stealing emerged we had no reason to council him or even suspect him. When we pressed him on the question of stealing he told us that from a very early age he had to take what he could to survive in a war torn country.  He had been forced to do that from about five years of age. His family never knew where their next meal, item of clothing etc. was coming from. Often they went without food for days.  So as the opportunity presented he stole things, food, valuables and clothing.  Some of these things were kept to sell for food (at times shelter) when they had no money.  Whilst he now lived in a country that was peaceful, where he had a job and a roof over his head he found it hard to settle and to break his old habit.  He never trusted that at some time things wouldn’t change here. As he said, he lived in a peaceful country once and then things changed so from the age of five he was conditioned to survive.  We had no option but to dismiss him.  As you would appreciate we couldn’t simply overlook theft. Like the merchant we didn’t call the police and I also organised to get him some help.  I’m not sure where the young man is now. We kept in touch for a while but I moved on and so did he. But I will never forget that experience.  It taught me that until we walk in someone else’s shoes we never know what drives their behaviour and whilst we may not condone it, we could and should try to understand it.  If we did, perhaps our responses might soften, not be so encouraging of violence as the first and only option.

Quote: “Judge not lest ye be judged” “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

It's Who I Am That Should Matter Not What I Believe

Judge me on my deeds and my actions; please don't judge me on my beliefs. 

 

Sadly, I feel as a society we have pushed deeds and actions to a secondary consideration and far too often we jump on a person’s beliefs as a signal to attack them.
 

The one thing social media has exposed is people's bias. It's scary at times. To some, every LNP voter is scum. To others, every Labor or Greens voter is a terrorist supporter or raging socialists. To some, if you condemn the killing of innocent people in Gaza, you are a Hamas sympathiser. To others, if you support Israel you are condoning genocide. To some, if you follow Catholic teaching you are part of the paedophilia cover-up. To others, if you follow Islam you must be lying in wait for the signal to slaughter the infidels; us. To some, if you voice concern about raping and polluting of the planet, you are immediately branded a raving Greenie or Climate Change champion, when in fact your only interest and concern is protecting the environment.  Having concern for the environment does not automatically mean you support the Climate Change con!!!  To some, if you were born in certain countries you are not worthy of living in this country. To some, if you follow certain religious festivals you are scum, but if you follow those they 'approve' you are must be a good egg. It just goes on and on and on.
 

The latest of course is the ISIS debate.  There is no question that this group are murderous criminals who should be rounded up, brought before the International Court to answer charges of crimes against humanity.  We, you and I, have every right to judge them and to voice our opinions based on their proven deeds and their intent which they have openly stated. But that right should be utilised in a constructive manner if in fact we want our voice to be heard. We should be rightly concerned about youths here, who have left the country to fight with these murderous so called freedom fighters. We should be equally concerned about those, who have remained here and who condone the behaviour of a group of lunatics who are slaughtering innocent people based solely on their BELIEF's or their HERITAGE.  
 

In the case of the ISIS debate, what really frightens me, living in Australia, is not the fact that ISIS sympathisers will commit an act of terror here. Although, like many I'm concerned about it, I'm not terrified as some appear to be. I trust our security personal to be on top of extremist activities. I also trust there are many others who keep our security personal apprised of activities within their communities.  

 

 

What concerns me is that innocent people are being subjected to unrelenting attack. Not every Muslim supports ISIS or other form of terrorism and not everyone who voices their concern about the unrelenting attack on a group of people based on their religion is a sympathiser.  We are just advocating balance; judge individuals by how they live their lives not their religion.  And that due to this increasing level of intolerance and the frenzied whip up by the media (which is getting out of control), people will start taking things into their own hands.  We don't want to see the emergence of far-right fascist gangs as they have in the UK and Europe either. They are as bad as many of those on the other side.
 

We've already had a recent report of one young man losing his job due to inflammatory derisive postings on his Facebook page, which he didn’t make because his page had been hacked!!! Despite his statements to that effect, the right-wing ADL swung into action. The young man in question was reported to his employer and he was fired. People in Nazi Germany did things like that.  Remember, it was only a short while ago that a member (since left) of the ADL accused Muslims of trying to shoot him.  It was all over the news and other media. Of course, when the police proved the idiot himself fired the shots; deafening silence.  But of course the damage had been done.
 

A read through the comments on any far-right wing, anti GMO, Climate Change deniers, peace advocates, pro Middle East peace sites etc. highlight the level to which we have generated as a society.  I’m deeply saddened by what I observe and I shudder in horror at times thinking that I am walking the streets with people who think like that about their fellow human beings.  If I owned up to them about being a person who wants to see the world in a healthier state; environment, human rights, religious tolerance, fairness etc. I would be condemned, verbally attacked and possibly beaten-up. That's my greatest concern. That really frightens me. 
 

We desperately need more voices of reason in this world; people who judge others by their actions not by their political or religious leaning. We should also consider that just because others don’t shoot their mouths off on social media doesn’t mean they are supporting particular actions. It simply means they have chosen to deal with it in their own way, or to stay out of it.  
 

 

"If I treat with you and others with kindness and respect, If I do you know harm. Then judge me on that not on not on what I belief."  The same should apply to others. 

 

 

Reflections: A Woman From Iraq

I met a woman and her daughter who were originally from Iraq, when I was in NZ at the end of last year. She and her daughter came into NZ as refugees following the death of her husband, who was murdered. She wanted a better life for her daughter and she feared for their safety as we can appreciate.  She has made a nice life for the two of them in Auckland. She owns a lovely little fashion jewellery business, which is what drew me to her shop. 

We struck up a conversation and I asked her about her family. She told me they were all in Iraq. I asked her how they coped. She said, they just get on with it and that some have known, no other life. I was intrigued as to why they didn't leave as she had. Her comments made some sense. She said it's their home. It's the only thing they have after years of fighting. Their home and each other. Some just wanted to stay in the hope it would improve (sadly it hasn't) and some to keep fighting in the only way they know for a better life. They haven't taken up arms. They were merely being defiant. 

I've been thinking a lot about her and her daughter over recent weeks. I pray her family is safe and I can't imagine the anguish she is feeling right now. Although I only met her briefly, I will remember her always and on reflection I suspect she and her family (in Iraq) will be 'just getting on with' being defiant and believing they will overcome.