In recent culture, it's hard to go on Twitter without seeing some kind of outrage.
Whether it be a racist comment from a celebrity or an inappropriate joke from a national company, tweeters have no problem putting their say out into the world. While it is important that we have the freedom to stand up and speak against what they deem offensive, there is a consistent pattern in modern controversies: complaint vs criticism.
A recent affair that displays this was a conflict involving the popular laptop company Razer. After the announcement that the new iMac would not have an SD card slot, the popular company made a joke on Twitter, saying "You call yourself Pro? S my D."
It was met with outrage from a large amount of Twitter users, some using this post to point out sexism in video games. While Razer initially refused to take the tweet down, they later removed it and issued a formal apology. This action brought on a new wave of criticism from users who reprimanded Razer for not sticking by their comment. These two groups, the complainers and the criticizers, have been seen during almost every major Twitter feud, mistaken comment, and opinionated post. They feud with the companies and with each other, all complaining about the choices of people they've never even met.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press as much as any other American. What I do dislike is that "freedom of speech" has become the freedom to insult, harass, and more recently complain. We've taken this liberty to create and weave words to inspire and persuade and turned it completely ugly and negative.
There's a huge difference between freedom of speech and abuse of speech.
Negativity is everywhere in our world, especially online. Cyber Bullying, mean political ads, and trolls are just the tip of the iceberg. While many would argue that people complaining isn't as extreme as the past examples, it has the same effect. Negativity will always lead to unhappiness. And the scary part is, these qualities are seen affecting us in our everyday life.
When we run out of things to talk about, what is usually our natural topic starter?
"So, did you hear about that test? It was soooo hard!!! I hate that teacher."
"I thought that food was way too spicy."
"Ugh, I'm so tired!"
And so on. For some reason, our ordinary response to awkward pauses in conversation is to complain about something that the other person might have in common. Somehow, our culture and social interactions have all evolved to revolve around us: what we believe, what we love, and what we want to complain about.
So is there no way to fix this? Is it just going to be this way forever?
Possibly, but not if we as the youth of America make a concerted effort to be more positive. Instead of complaining about our grades, let's work to make them better. Instead of complaining about our food, let's cook and create in a kitchen together. And, instead of complaining to major companies online or criticizing their response, let's make actual efforts in reality to stand up for what we believe in. Let's protest and publicize and promote, but most of all let's be positive.
After all,
"If you cannot be positive, then at least be quiet."
- Joel Osteen
