Get Your Rage Sticks Ready!
America is addicted to rage. It snorts it, injects it, smokes it, and screams it to the top of its lungs. Pick a topic, pick a photo, pick an event, it really doesn't matter. Someone will be either offended or angry about it, and they're going to let us all know about it. Nowhere is that more prevalent these days than on my Facebook feed.
What was until a few years ago a fun stream of interesting things my friends and family were doing has turned into a lava-flow of viciousness. I used to look forward to pictures of my friends' kids and their little accomplishments at school or in sport or in community or their faith based organizations. I'd cheer people on who shared they were going to quit smoking and celebrate those who took a photo after losing 20lbs.
My kids were on Facebook. They were there, their friends were there, after all Facebook wasn't initially created for us adults, but for them. Yet over time, as adults began to turn the conversation sour, kids did what kids do, and they split. Facebook is bleeding youth because they're all heading to other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram just to name two of the more popular. Now all that is left on my Facebook page (relatively speaking) is the adults. And as far as adults go, we must be the angriest generation of Americans who ever lived.
I think back to our revolutionary timeframe when our country's forefathers were sitting at home upset over the unfair treatment by the British. I have to believe they were angry, pissed off even. It spurred them to action. But I often wonder if their anger pales in comparison to ours. Their anger helped foster the positive action which created a country. Our anger, just fuels more anger.
I try to put my finger on why we are so damn mad all the time. How we have become so sensitive to everything and how we feel it is our mission to let everyone know we're mad. As a young man in the Army, when my boss would tell me to do something I thought was stupid, I would do it anyway because after all, I am a soldier. But you better believe I'd go to the barracks and tell my buddies how stupid a task it was. But you know, I'd vent, get it out of my system, feel better, and move on. Today, some people call what they do on Facebook venting. It isn't venting if you do it all the time. The very definition of venting means some pressure has to build up first before exploding out in a venting fashion. If you're "venting" all day every day, you're just whining and complaining.
As far as "why" people are so angry today, I have to believe part of it is they don't necessarily have someone or something to focus their anger on. Everything seems like an affront to their very being. The right says the left is made up of a bunch of communist, pot smoking, gay hippies who are destroying the fabric of our country and the left says the right is made up of a bunch of either white elite, or southern hillbillies, both groups racist to the core, and bible-thumping backwards people who are keeping America from progressing forward. Minus a few of my crazy friends, almost everyone I know sits somewhere in the "middle" of that spectrum. We're angry at everyone because everything is an affront to our very being.
Most recently I've noticed a new movement; as usual it was started by the young we "rage" about. The youth that isn't as "good" or as "smart" or as "driven" as we were (according to us). They got tired of all our stupidity and many have either completely deleted their Facebook accounts or rarely check them. Some adults I know have also done that.
Seeing as practically everyone I know communicates via Facebook, and having tried to quit once before, I know I will miss the social interaction too much if I tried to quit, so I won't. What I have done which brings me incredible peace is I have fully deleted those people who are just pure poison. The ones who never respond anyway whether I post a photo of my kid, my dog, or share an interesting story. The ones who are literally there to rage all day, every day. Those are gone. Then I've gone in and lowered the amount of news I get from many of the regular ragers as I call them. People I know personally who are good people, and who have kind hearts, but once they get behind the keyboard, they become ragers.
I don't want a Facebook feed of nothing but good news, and an intelligent discussion or argument is cool with me. But if the person posts more than two or three negative views or stories daily (which are always accompanied by the person's personal negative opinion on said subject), sorry, I ain't got time for that. I won't delete these people because I genuinely care about them and know they are better than that. But I don't need to see their junk. In regards to myself, I am trying to be more careful about my posts, not for anyone else, but for my own sanity. Reminding myself that sometimes that initial wave of anger that takes over when someone writes something I have a deep opinion of, is absolutely the wrong moment to post a comment because I will surely feed into the rage. Oh, and I'm not immune to becoming "acquaintanced" as I call it. I'm sure there are people out there who don't like my positive posts nor my regular reminders about Christmas. And that's ok. If someone doesn't like what I have to say, they have every right to hide it so it doesn't bother them. That is totally fair.
Over the last few weeks since taking these actions, the rage on my newsfeed has gotten far less prevalent. I am once again enjoying selfies of my friends with their kids, funny stories, interesting topics, and yes, even the occasional debate over the political topic of the day. But I have finally taken my page back from the ragers.
I don't know if you agree with me and its ok if you don't. If that sort of stuff turns you on, more power to ya. I can't do it. But if you've been wondering how to cool off the lava-flow of negativity, please consider the steps I took. They're working for me. Maybe they'll work for you.
What was until a few years ago a fun stream of interesting things my friends and family were doing has turned into a lava-flow of viciousness. I used to look forward to pictures of my friends' kids and their little accomplishments at school or in sport or in community or their faith based organizations. I'd cheer people on who shared they were going to quit smoking and celebrate those who took a photo after losing 20lbs.
My kids were on Facebook. They were there, their friends were there, after all Facebook wasn't initially created for us adults, but for them. Yet over time, as adults began to turn the conversation sour, kids did what kids do, and they split. Facebook is bleeding youth because they're all heading to other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram just to name two of the more popular. Now all that is left on my Facebook page (relatively speaking) is the adults. And as far as adults go, we must be the angriest generation of Americans who ever lived.
I think back to our revolutionary timeframe when our country's forefathers were sitting at home upset over the unfair treatment by the British. I have to believe they were angry, pissed off even. It spurred them to action. But I often wonder if their anger pales in comparison to ours. Their anger helped foster the positive action which created a country. Our anger, just fuels more anger.
I try to put my finger on why we are so damn mad all the time. How we have become so sensitive to everything and how we feel it is our mission to let everyone know we're mad. As a young man in the Army, when my boss would tell me to do something I thought was stupid, I would do it anyway because after all, I am a soldier. But you better believe I'd go to the barracks and tell my buddies how stupid a task it was. But you know, I'd vent, get it out of my system, feel better, and move on. Today, some people call what they do on Facebook venting. It isn't venting if you do it all the time. The very definition of venting means some pressure has to build up first before exploding out in a venting fashion. If you're "venting" all day every day, you're just whining and complaining.
As far as "why" people are so angry today, I have to believe part of it is they don't necessarily have someone or something to focus their anger on. Everything seems like an affront to their very being. The right says the left is made up of a bunch of communist, pot smoking, gay hippies who are destroying the fabric of our country and the left says the right is made up of a bunch of either white elite, or southern hillbillies, both groups racist to the core, and bible-thumping backwards people who are keeping America from progressing forward. Minus a few of my crazy friends, almost everyone I know sits somewhere in the "middle" of that spectrum. We're angry at everyone because everything is an affront to our very being.
Most recently I've noticed a new movement; as usual it was started by the young we "rage" about. The youth that isn't as "good" or as "smart" or as "driven" as we were (according to us). They got tired of all our stupidity and many have either completely deleted their Facebook accounts or rarely check them. Some adults I know have also done that.
Seeing as practically everyone I know communicates via Facebook, and having tried to quit once before, I know I will miss the social interaction too much if I tried to quit, so I won't. What I have done which brings me incredible peace is I have fully deleted those people who are just pure poison. The ones who never respond anyway whether I post a photo of my kid, my dog, or share an interesting story. The ones who are literally there to rage all day, every day. Those are gone. Then I've gone in and lowered the amount of news I get from many of the regular ragers as I call them. People I know personally who are good people, and who have kind hearts, but once they get behind the keyboard, they become ragers.
I don't want a Facebook feed of nothing but good news, and an intelligent discussion or argument is cool with me. But if the person posts more than two or three negative views or stories daily (which are always accompanied by the person's personal negative opinion on said subject), sorry, I ain't got time for that. I won't delete these people because I genuinely care about them and know they are better than that. But I don't need to see their junk. In regards to myself, I am trying to be more careful about my posts, not for anyone else, but for my own sanity. Reminding myself that sometimes that initial wave of anger that takes over when someone writes something I have a deep opinion of, is absolutely the wrong moment to post a comment because I will surely feed into the rage. Oh, and I'm not immune to becoming "acquaintanced" as I call it. I'm sure there are people out there who don't like my positive posts nor my regular reminders about Christmas. And that's ok. If someone doesn't like what I have to say, they have every right to hide it so it doesn't bother them. That is totally fair.
Over the last few weeks since taking these actions, the rage on my newsfeed has gotten far less prevalent. I am once again enjoying selfies of my friends with their kids, funny stories, interesting topics, and yes, even the occasional debate over the political topic of the day. But I have finally taken my page back from the ragers.
I don't know if you agree with me and its ok if you don't. If that sort of stuff turns you on, more power to ya. I can't do it. But if you've been wondering how to cool off the lava-flow of negativity, please consider the steps I took. They're working for me. Maybe they'll work for you.
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