What you say vs. what you do

 

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There are lots of people out there these days that say one thing and do another. We would like to think that “our word is our bond” but that isn’t really how it works any longer. “The handshake” used to be all you needed, now it means almost nothing.

“Your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you are saying.”

You say you will do this. You do that.

You offer a service. I pay for that service. You don’t provide said service.

There is nothing more irritating than people who don’t do what they say they will do.

The “Poor Me” Society

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Well, there are a whole lot of people these days that you just can’t seem to make happy or placate in any way. We have become a society that immediately jumps on social media or goes to a media outlet of one kind or another to vent the “injustice” one has just suffered.

“Poor Me”

Got a bad meal? Poor me. Post about it on social media and post a nasty review on Yelp (or other place to do a review).

Got treated unfairly? Poor me. Rage post on all forms of social media.

Life generally sucks for ya? Poor me. Complain to everyone over social media.

Got discriminated against because I’m *insert laundry list of issues*? Poor me. Call them out on social media.

*insert laundry list of issues* offended me. Poor me. Everyone else should be offended too.

Life is hard. Poor me.

I don’t have what others have. Poor me.

*this* isn’t what I expected/wanted. Poor me.

We have a problem people. I am not sure if this is a generational thing, but it is sure starting to feel like it is. We have a whole generation of people who just can’t cope with whatever challenge or difficulty comes up in their lives. If it is hard or they meet resistance, they just quit – or rage on social media so everyone can feel their “pain.” Instead of meeting it head on, fighting for it, working harder, working smarter, or making do with what they have been given and where they have been given it, they instead try to generate outrage from everyone else so that their problem will be fixed by someone else.

We really need a change. We have allowed it to happen and that’s a shame.

 

The land of accusations

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American ideals are dying and it is a perplexing conundrum.

The very foundations of our country were set up so that abuses by the government, or government aided abuses, would be avoided. The Founders of the country knew all too well that when the government can abuse it citizens it has too much power. Or, at the behest of citizens, it can be used to persecute other citizens. We have, for all intents and purposes, come full circle on one of the abuses the Colonies complained about when they wrote and published the Declaration of Independence for all the world to see.

Innocent until proven guilty.

In our current society, it no longer exists.

All it takes these days are accusations, a pointed finger, or a social media wildfire. The media sets out to convict people in public opinion before charges are even filed. Gone are the days of proof. Gone are the days of evidence. Gone are the days of committing an actual crime. If you stand accused, or have an allegation lodged against you, you are guilty. Plain and simple.

Our systems isn’t perfect and there can always be improvement, but in my mind we are headed in the wrong direction on this issue.

Fleeing followers on Instagram

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Growing an Instagram account can be tough. Getting people to follow you, to share you, to like and comment is down right challenging.

What really sucks is that you start to see some results and people are beginning to follow you and then they flee – unfollow almost as fast as they followed you. At first I was being courteous and following them back, but I soon learned that these accounts were following my account just so they could get a follow and then they would unfollow my account.

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Well, if that doesn’t just burn ya up, I don’t know what will. People work really hard to create good content so the can get followers and really make an effort to do it via a legit method (I mean I get spam offers for “follower generators” all the time). Kinda makes ya mad, ya know?

Is that really how people get followers to their accounts? Spam follow accounts and hope they follow you back?

Clickbait and Google News feed

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The clickbait around here is so obvious it hurts. The screen shot of the Google News feed from a few days ago is a prime example. All of the news articles are about the same topic, on the same day, but one of them is using the “clickbait” title tactic.

Click bait 2

CNN should know better than this, but I guess that is what we can expect when you’re desperate to compete. Notice all of the other headlines are pretty much the same, but CNN takes it to the next level of sensationalism. Also, when you look at the timing of the article – “one hour ago” – you can clearly see that it wasn’t “just tweeted” or “something new”. Again, it is an under-handed and dishonest attempt to get traffic on their site. Pure clickbait and there is no way of defining it any other way.

The fact that is stands out so obviously is disturbing, though I suppose if you get your news via social media or something similar there is probably no point of reference and you probably would click on it. CNN once used to be a reliable source of news info, but as you can see headlines like this make it a “less than news service.” You can also see why so many people bash on CNN for being a terrible purveyor of news and information.

People need to stop “consuming” this crap. It is time for CNN to go away because it’s desperation is showing.

* Discussion for another time: The Hill is the only balanced reporting on the list above.

 

34 days of Piss & Moan

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I started this blog 34 days ago.

In that time I have pissed and moaned about something for 33 of those days (I missed one day because I ran out of time to write one before I went on vacation). Is it weird that I can find at least one thing a day to complain about?

Anyway, during the course of the last month (+/-), I have had 41 “followers” follow. Most of them are spam since they are just trying to sell me a product or push their “get rich quick” scheme on the internet.

Thanks for nothing people. Thanks for all the love you can’t muster. I appreciate it. Just for that, I am going to Piss & Moan about YOU today…or is it the lack of you?? Are there really not more people out there that can identify or relate to my pissing and moaning? Does no one else have something to complain about?

Well, I am just gonna keep on keeping on. Eventually you’ll all see this is going to be a great place to lodge a complaint about something. You just wait and see.

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Scouring history for offense

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I have got to say, we are some kind of stupid trend as a society.

There are people (trolls) out there scouring the historical Twitter posts (or other social media) of “celebrities and stars” so they can be “outted” as having offensive ideas/beliefs or having said something offensive.

Really? Like no one has times in their past where they said something offensive? Like no one has had an episode in their lives where they had poor judgement? Like no one has said something in jest or made a statement about something while they were showing off to their friends? Or, like no one has ever said something they didn’t believe just to get a reaction out of other people?

If this is going to be the trend and we are going to go back and vilify people for things they did in their past, then we better just fire EVERY comedian alive, even our favorite ones. We should scour every past performance and just ax them on the spot – because I am sure they probably said something insensitive, politically incorrect, racially or sexually offensive, ageist, blah blah blah…

How about we judge people on their present rather than their past? And, how about we leave history as history – then learn from it rather than scrub it clean or hide it.

#smh #thisisridiculous

Social (and media) double standard

I am sure you’ve seen it. You’re probably wondering how in the hell it can only cut one way…

People losing their jobs. Reputations ruined. Companies destroyed. Stocks punished. TV shows cancelled. Public apologies issued.

The media chirps about this or that, a perceived injustice or slight. Social media ablaze with trolls who spout hatred and stir fear. Both seeking “justice” but really only picking and choosing certain things to make an issue of.

Some seem to get a free pass and others are vilified. Some communities cry foul over language used by others, but then use the language they just condemned themselves.

Instagram supposedly has “community standards” but they appear to be subjective as some hate is singled out and some hate is not. Some language is banned and some is not. How can it be ok for some but not others?

If you’re gonna eliminate the problem, there can’t be a double standard. Otherwise, the problem will always exist. I have always been a proponent of free speech and I always will be, but it is frustrating to see that the freedom only goes in one direction. There is no scorn over the posts above, instead they continue to gain followers.

What do you think? Should the accounts above be given a free pass for the language they use or held accountable like the rest of society?