Repost this if... [Rant by proxy]

from this blog :

We’ve all encountered these messages. They’re a sort of “call to action”–someone informs you about an issue and then demands that you make a public display by re-posting the information. I find this annoying. Somehow, if I don’t re-post this information, I feel like I’m doing disservice to my peers or perhaps someone is judging me because my Facebook status hasn’t changed to match the majority of my Newsfeed.

The truth is, at least for me, these post/re-post actions hardly make a difference in my daily life. They are more than a nuisance. When it comes to informing others about issues that affect us or others, I think personal, face-to-face conversations are best. Furthermore, I think some of these post/re-post misinform the public.

For example, I read this a couple of months ago and then again yesterday:

A 15 year old girl holds hands with her 1 year old son. People call her a slut, no one knows she was raped at 13. People call another Guy fat. No one knows he has a serious disease causing him to be overweight . People call an old man ugly. No one knew he had a serious injury to his face while fighting for our country in the war.People call a women bald but they don,t know she has cancer Re-post this if you are against bullying and stereotyping. I bet 95% of you won’t do it.

Really? Don’t call the 15 year old girl who’s been raped slut–OK–but what about the 21 year old female who’s sexually active and has multiple partners? Is it OK to call her a slut? What about the porn star? Is it OK to call her a slut and treat her any different from the 15 year old girl?

And the fat guy. What if he doesn’t have a disease? I guess it’s completely acceptable to mistreat and dehumanize him if he so chooses to remain at a weight unfavorable to society’s perceived norms.

Only deformed veterans who serve the U.S. are excused from being called ugly. Should we harass people who were born “ugly”?

Bald women? You can only be bald if you have cancer. If not, there must be a problem with you and you must be called bald, or any other inappropriate title that may be given to you because you don’t have long, flowing hair.

Perhaps I’m being over-sensitive–though I doubt that’s what it is. Somehow, I feel that people think they are doing their daily, weekly, monthly, whatever amount of social justice service by posting up misleading opinions such as this one. Instead of having an in depth, personal conversation about issues such as how we perceive others who may be different from “the norm,” people cop out by displaying a general statement that simply doesn’t address the real issue.

So I’m proud to be part of the 95% that does not re-post such misleading information.