When I was a boy over 55 years ago, our teachers taught us we had rights, but our rights ended where the other person’s nose began. I have rights, but not the right to harm others. I am not to be a bully, push others around, or force them to do what I want.
What happened? Social media, cancel culture, turning humans into robots, love into hate, tolerance, and respecting your right to think differently than another turned into destruction and my right to destroy you. No longer is it: turn the other cheek, forgive, do not seek revenge, leave vengeance to God, treat others the way you want to be treated. Today, I have my rights and will do whatever I want.
Social media, supposedly a communication and connection tool, now dictates our thoughts, beliefs, and actions. It tells us what we think, believe, and act, threatening our society.
What connects and brings us closer together has done the opposite. Now, we have a public area where we can duke it out to the applause of our friends and those who just want to join the mob.
We can ostracize, boycott, or cancel anyone without proof or accountability. Public shaming is the norm today. Look for a way to hurt the ones you hate. Harass them. Never forgive them; instead, magnify their mistakes and make it impossible for them to get right.
Personal freedom and individuality, once cherished, are now overshadowed by the fear of the mob’s judgment. The other person is no longer free to express themselves. If they don’t conform to what the mob says, they will also be subject to cancellation.
Love and understanding are now overshadowed by hate and negativity. Social media ensures negative posts are popular. Disagreements escalate, and personal attacks take the place of discussion. They are no longer human. They are objects to be treated with contempt, not understood, and surely not felt for.
Forgiveness is gone, and you must wear the Scarlett Letter of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book when you make a mistake—public shaming, hatred, and destruction, maybe by the very one who is the guilty party.
A broken society remains where people can’t get along with each other. The debates are aggressive. They are arguments, not discussions. If someone holds a different opinion, they are enemies, not humans. People ruin friendships of a lifetime. Families break apart.
We must return to mutual respect, compassion, forgiveness, and the golden rule of treating others as we would want to be treated. It is time to promote kindness, dialogue, and community and build bridges instead of walls. This is the path to a brighter future.
We can start healing this fractured society by empathizing with each other again and learning to understand each other.
How about understanding the context before rushing to judgment, remembering that forgiveness is our strength, not our weakness? What if we were to treat online interactions as if they were face-to-face conversations? Most of us dislike ripping another person’s face off in a face-to-face conversation. What happened to believing that God would get the vengeance and that we are not to avenge ourselves? We wait on God.