Facebook Bitchslap

Facebook. O, Facebook.

I recently had a conversation on Facebook that blew my mind.

It was with a friend of some years and we generally get along great, if remotely. The argument was over an incessant, plague-ridden meme that summarizes Facebook's level of discourse: it was binary, it had photoshopped pictures and it was constructed by someone who has an agenda.

The argument wasn't really the part that blew my mind. It was the insane opposition from someone who is rather intelligent. It seems, I had to agree with their point of view or I was wrong. And deserving of very strong language. I was even called a REPUBLICAN *gay gasp*.

I think there's a much deeper thing going on here. I believe that we have been given this amazingly powerful tool (The Internet) and it allows us to be incredibly powerful (Self-publishing). For sure, I am on the same level of the publishing accessibility spectrum as the New York Times.

But not really.


I don't have the same credentials. I mean, I'm smart and all, but c'mon.

So what makes it OK to bash people online? I think it has to do with narrative.

In the past, narrative was written (in fiction) by authors chosen for their competence and skill. We can all name a few off the top of our heads. Faulkner, Hemingway, Proust, Joyce (I'm disclosing my lit. bias here). Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein.

Regardless, we can name them. We can look at their sustained body of work. We can critique it, love it, hate it or disassemble it.

Instant communication? I don't think it's a bad thing but it's a different thing. Certainly, we do not compare Hamlet to an email.

Which leads me to WORD OF TODAY YAY!