"Anyone
who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you
commit injustices"
-
Voltaire
As social media is becoming
increasing popular, its downside is increasingly becoming apparent. Well, I’m
not going to accentuate those pitfalls, but would suggest some options to avoid
becoming a victim of or contributing to, this misinformation.
To make my point, here’s a
brief incident which is widely circulated in the social media.
Bill
Gates was at coffee shop:
After
having his coffee, he gave $5 to the waiter as a tip. Waiter picked up the
money, but with an evil smile on his face. Gates realized this and asked, “What
happened?” The waiter replied, “I'm just amazed because in the same coffee
shop, your son gave a tip of $500 and you, his father, the richest man in the
world, tipped only $5.” Gates smiled and replied with the meaningful words, "He's
the son of the world's richest man, but I am the son of a wood cutter”
The
moral of this incident is: NEVER FORGET YOUR PAST.
Are you wondering why I am
taking offence to this incident? Well, for beginners, Bill Gates is not a son
of wood cutter (click here
for proof). He was born to fairly wealthy parents. Now you may say, even if the
incident is a made up one, the moral is good. Think about it this way. Five
years down the line (assuming I will be making more money than what I am making
today), if I tip a bartender $1 and claim, “five
years ago, I was a struggling grad-student”, it is only likely to invite those harsh glares from the bartender. People would quickly (and
rightly) draw the conclusion of my parsimonious nature. Point is, use common
sense and don’t accept the morals concluded by someone else. Don’t we already
have religions which have often created such legends to glorify particular
practices? Why take social media in the similar direction?
It is not too hard to verify
the authenticity of incidents posted on social media. Here are some pointers:
- Don’t be a monkey on computer keyboard and hit the ‘share’ or ‘publish’ buttons. Please use common sense.
- Don’t believe any information unless it is from official (or reputed) sources. It may take a few extra minutes, but you will be doing social service on social media by improving the quality of content. Learn to distinguish between opinions and facts.
- If you see a clear agenda behind any post, it is likely to be either exaggerated or untrue. Use your discretion, unless you too have the same agenda. In which case, you are degrading the quality of content on social media.
I’m not a big fan of
censorship on social media. But it is responsibility of every user to
understand that no freedom is absolute. In the US, freedom of speech is guaranteed
by the constitution, yet shouting fire in a crowded theatre, is not permissible.
One has to show some self-restraint. If not, in future more people are less
likely to participate in social media.
