Mar 8, 2012

Logged out of Douchebook. A true story.

It's interesting how people use the word "friends". I prefer acquaintances for some, friends for just a few. I've been having a long conversation with my friend RestrictionsApply about how much crappy people we know and how much we have to endure reading about their shit on our social networks. He recently deleted a shitload of people and reported back how awesome it felt. A couple of years ago, I did a clean up of "not my friends, maybe we met a couple of time" people from my Facebook account, making my newsfeed a little bit more interesting.

That was, until yesterday night. And it's all because of that fuck Kony. Go figure.

You see, while the internet was suddenly used for good (and some people are debating this, which boggles the shit out of my brain), I realized, by reading my Facebook newsfeed, how many fucking DOUCHES I've met in my life. Mean, selfish, egocentric douches who decided that the hipster thing to do was criticize the shit out of people who were doing their part in spreading the word about this fucktard Kony.

First of all, let's get the facts straight. Yesterday night, the call on all social networks was very simple. We all were asked to share a simple 30 minute video, so that the US does not cancel the small mission to help destroy the bastard. You were not directly asked to join any program, donate money, whatever. You just were asked to spread the word and keep doing so, to make sure that politicians back in the USA know that they need to keep fighting this awful human being.

Now, for some reason, talking about a problem (which has been going on for years), is bad. Since the organization who made the film has some shady deals with the money it receives (allegedly) now the simple fact that they talked about the problem makes them "not approved" to do so. And people, with some Googling in tow, decided to chastise all people that simply wanted to help. How could you just watch a film about kids being in danger in some weird part of Uganda and just spread the word? You are not cool, because you needed to research the company that stated this fact so you can spread the same fucking message but under another non profit company... Come on.

Here comes the meat for my post. In my newsfeed, the worst happened. Decent people decided to make fun of the rest of us who just wanted to help out. I read people stating that we were just going to share and talk about the thing just one night and forget about it. Like Haiti. Like Darfur. Forget about taking one minute of your life so you can help out somewhere and someone far away from you... nah, you're just going to click like and continue your life. How damn insulting.

Even if one person helps one damn minute with a single share click, or someone else who decides to keep helping time and time again, it's the fact that WE ALL HELP in any way we can that seems not to count. We are supposed to broadcast every single time we help, every single time we donate food, money or clothes. We are supposed to yell at the top of our lungs every damn time we work on anything non profit. Yeah, we have to. Know why? Because if we don't say that we did it, it is completely understood that we just do nothing at all to help our brothers and sisters all over the world. This sickens me to my core.

Criticism is the new black. People behind a computer are your judges, not knowing you, not knowing your life, not knowing how you give back. I read people in my newsfeed talking about how you first need to fix the problems at home and THEN help out others far far away. Some deep and ugly bullshit. This planet is not your town. You are living on a huge blue ball that floats in space, dammit. You are NOT supposed to care just about you and your community. You are supposed to care about EVERYONE. You are supposed to do everything at home and elsewhere to make this WORLD better. If you can walk and chew gum, then huge surprise, asshole, it's called multitasking and yes, it applies to a load of things.

I've seen people actually write - and those supposedly have education, if you can believe it - that if you were going to talk about Kony, then you should ONLY talk about the issue by referencing SOME certain sites and not Invisible Children. Fuck that! You know what? The other organizations did not sit down and publish a fucking video that clicked with THOUSANDS of people! They just wanted to make the damn asshole famous so that people that knew about the problem kept talking about it and make people who didn't know about the issue get at least INTERESTED in the problem! How can that be bad, you social nerd judge wannabe???

Time and time again I read post after post. Another douche stating that all that we did was just for one day and that we will forget about the world's problems. Yes, people do forget some of the problems and focus on their lame ass day to day. But that doesn't mean that they stop caring. That doesn't mean that they do something later in the year, maybe more than they know, and help out again. I can bet heavy amount of money that people who donate any kind of things to any kind of cause do so many times during the year. But no, let's talk about how uncool it is just to click share on a damn video. This world is so sad.

The thing is, the people that I see going all "social commentary" on my ass and many of my cool friends who do help out in many causes during the year? They are the first who are all year talking about how bad the government does shit, how bad society is... but have NEVER felt hungry (trust me, there are a few who I find IMPOSSIBLE to ever have felt hunger, ever), have never collected food stamps, have never been poor. Rich little Private School kids turned social commentators. How deeply disturbing. It's very easy for them to yap about how cliche the Occupy Wall Street movement was and how they were not doing anything for the working class... but just a few weeks later were dining in some lush restaurant in Manhattan for a short weekend getaway. There is nothing like talking about a class that you don't belong, right, plumpy?

They are called acquaintances because of one specific reasons. Friends are the ones that share at least some of your views - maybe not all - but are people that you respect, even if you disagree. Most of all, the friends that we have, and I hope at least that's the kind that YOU have, are kind, sensitive, responsible, caring and loving. If you consider someone a dick, trust me, he's not a friend, he's just a fucktard you met once. That's it.

So as sad as this next line is, I have to thank the Kony dilemma because if this social campaign had not launched this week, I would still have to read those awful and insensitive comments. Even worst, maybe something even more evil had to happen for me to see the real truth in some of the people I know... I can't fathom what could possibly be... but this had to happen so I cleaned up my friend list for the very last time.

I have not been more happy to click a button in my life than tonight. Unfriend. Unfollow.

Unbelievable feeling.

2 comments:

RestrictionsApply said...

Bravo! Since day one I’ve had my doubts about Doucehbook. This type of forum/platform is the ideal breeding ground for narcissist asshole egomaniacs that can’t help but talk about themselves. They say that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world… and cynicism and sarcasm would be its official languages. Step back and look at your newsfeed and try to identify a common denominator. Self-serving nuggets and criticism as a flag of superiority are the norm. It saddens me to see such a wonderful technology reduced to a channel that mostly broadcasts crap. Online, as in real life, you must choose your friends very carefully. In this realm, more is not necessarily better.

Me said...

I'm gonna miss those posts about how many miles someone ran in an hour... but I'll survive.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...