We’re a race of copycats. We don’t even have to think for ourselves. We’re outsourcing our thinking, our content, and even our outrage to other people.
This occurred to me today while wading through my Facebook feed. Yes, I know, those two words together usually presage a rant. This is probably no exception. Anyway, I read post after post from someone that was really little more than reposting someone else’s meme pic, chat, or on rare occasion, actual post. Sometimes, also on rare occasion, the reposter would add a statement of their own that required some thought beyond, “Yeah. What he said.”
It’s the anti-critical-thinking. Something pleases our particular slant? Pass it on! *Click* Done! We just parroted someone else’s five minutes of thought and writing/editing and saved ourselves the trouble of doing any thinking at all.
Now, I’m not saying that all reposting is bad or a sign of laziness. Sometimes someone comes along with a meme pic or post that is exceptionally well done. But more often than not, these are not on complex issues, but more just a quick mental time-out or pick-me-up. Pictures of cute puppies, nature scenes, a funny joke…nothing wrong with those.
But if you’re going to equate anything to Nazi Germany, for example, you really should consider putting more thought into it than is going to fit in 140 characters or less. If you’re going to deride someone else’s character, ideals, beliefs, thoughts, or actions I would highly encourage you to do something other than click “repost”. At best you’re showing yourself as an intellectual lightweight. At worst you’re showing yourself as a mindless drone without an original thought to be found in your cobwebbed cranium.
I’ve yet to see a soci-political meme pic that could stand up to much critical analysis. I’ve seldom seen a reposter who could defend their decision to repost very well should anyone call them on it. And sooner or later, unless you’ve succeeded in completing your echo-chamber, you’re going to encounter someone who actually knows something about what you’re reposting on, and they will reveal you for the mindless clicker you are.
I hate to be judgmental, but it’s next to impossible. We make decisions every day about people we do not know well enough to make any kind of a decision. I don’t care who you are, or which side of an issue you’re on. Repost something that shows your understanding of the topic is severely limited and I will think negatively of you. Do it often enough and I will cease to consider you someone worth paying attention to. I don’t mean to, mind you. And it’s certainly not fair, and probably not true. But I can’t help it. It’s what happens when you outsource your social media feed to everyone else.
I would prefer to know what you think, not what some unknown person with a pithy quote and a copy of Photoshop has to say. If you just repost someone else’s post I can’t help but think you agree with them 100% and see nothing wrong with their logic. As I said above, if the logic is “these puppies are cute!” I probably won’t see a problem with their logic either. But if it’s “political group X are sadistic cuss-words because they believe Y” I’m going to have serious doubts. There is always more to every issue than what most people are willing to read through on social media. There is always another side.
I know. It takes time to read through something of substance. It takes even more time to think it through and look for both validity and holes in their thinking. And it takes more time still to sit down and write up something of substance describing what you think, rather than just click “Share”, “Send”.
But even if you don’t want to spend too much time thinking, it’s okay to precede a repost with something like “I saw this and, while I don’t agree with everything this person says, I can’t help but think she’s got a point when she says X. What do you think?” This, I believe, is a better approach for several reasons. First, you’re not, by your silence, issuing a blanket endorsement, making it harder for someone to rush to judgment about you. Second, you’re calling attention to the point you agree with or find interesting without throwing down the gauntlet. You’re suggesting you’re open to contrary information (even if you’re not).
Third, you’re opening the door for others to see you as rational and therefore respond in a rational way in exploring your premise. And fourth, you’re showing that you at least took the time to think about before sending it on, signaling that you’re a more serious human being. And last, and not least, you’re giving more insight into who you are as a person, from the source most reliable, whereas simply parroting others’ thoughts makes it far too easy to assume you’re like them. And let’s face it. Far too few meme-writers come across as sensible, open-minded people. Clever, pithy, smug, and arrogant perhaps, but seldom sensible and fair.
So don’t be a parrot. (Being a Parrot-Head is okay, though!) Don’t just share-n-forget. Show us who you really are. You’ll be much more true to your reputation than faceless meme generators will ever be. Don’t outsource your thinking to others. Retain your brain!