You Talkin’ To Me? The Coronavirus Boom of Passive Aggressive Social Media
There’s a certain type of social media post that has always triggered me into a bit of unnecessary rage. This goes back way further than Coronavirus but seems ever more present because of it.
What I’m talking about really is not so much content but a kind of wording and tone that seems to be aggressively and very personally telling the reader off. Of course, these posts aren’t actually personal messages to anyone in particular. Normally they’re just memes born in that mystical place where all memes are born that has gone on to be shared several thousand times around the virtual world.
It’s not always a meme though. Sometimes it will take the form of an open letter or similar. An example of this is one I saw a while back on our friendly (oxymoron) neighbourhood Facebook page. It went something like this:
“Open letter to drivers on ‘insert local road name’…” Then followed a long rant about people speeding; using that route in general when there are other options and generally risking killing old people and kids. This person has good intentions at heart. They may have seen a car speeding and considered it dangerous. Here, however, they have addressed it to me, so I’m mentally responding thus:
- Yes, I drive down that road, thanks for writing.
- Hang on, do I speed there? (I consider this, I have a bottom of the range Ford Escape and Parkside is a hill, so maybe speeding might be possible on the downhill route, but generally, no I don’t believe I do).
- Am I using it when there is an alternative? Yes, like most routes I could drive 3 extra miles but is that really necessary? I mean Parkside is a normal, good sized public road.
- Am I a potential murderer? No! No… I am not – hey open letter writer, back off.
Anyway, cut forward to the Coronavirus mood and social media posting seems to have got especially vitriolic. Way back when, it seemed to start with those “wash your hands” posts – good advice right? But these posts are worded directly to the reader with aggression, like “wash your f***ing hands.” They come with the implication that they are talking to an imbecile. I’m seeing these posts; maybe an old friend from school or a colleague from an old job, and I’m thinking why are you shouting and swearing at me?
Recently hand washing has been replaced with things like “stay the f** at home”, or “when are you going to get the f**ing message”. Sometimes it will call the reader a moron or express some sticky end the poster would like the reader to come to.
OK, you may be thinking, oh come on grow up, Jackie, of course these are not directly aimed at you. Well, I’m thinking, who are they aimed at then? By definition, people on your Facebook lists are loosely your friends, right? Who from your friends, do you need to shout and swear at like that? Are you just seeking unity from all the people who will see it; united in a front against the morons? So, it’s like a kind of “isn’t everyone else but us dumb?” kind of bonding exercise. Would the sharers of these aggressive posts talk to people in that way in the flesh? I don’t know, maybe they would.
All I do know is that I don’t think posts like this are saving the world in the way the posters might think they are. Sharing a meme that says “stay the f*** at home” is not likely to change anyone’s behavior when you think about it. Most of your friends and to be fair, most people in general are staying the f*** at home. Anyone who isn’t is likely to have a good reason for it or maybe is in fact, a moron. If this is the case, the moron almost certainly won’t have seen the post has probably just returned from their picnic on the beach. They are probably now posting this meme for the attention of all the other people they saw on their trip who should be staying the f*** at home and not ruining it for them.
So, in conclusion, stop shouting at me. Hang on, were you?
