Has Social Media Made America Too Sensitive?
Getty Images
What a month for stirrers of controversy! In the past 30 days, the designers of Dolce & Gabbana have made an enemy out of Elton John for going against gay parenting, Lena Dunham angered a whole slew of people after The New Yorker published her humor essay, “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz,” and Empire star Terrence Howard caused an outrage after suggesting that the “n-word” be used on the hit Fox show for the sake of keeping things realistic. Oh, and we can’t forget that Eva Mendes made a joke about how sweatpants cause divorce, and now everyone hates her for reasons beyond the fact that she’s married to Ryan Gosling.
Then there’s this week’s biggest story: Trevor Noah, the new host of The Daily Show, was targeted by normal people and activist groups alike for a slew of insensitive tweets. The South African comedian, who has over 2 million followers has said some pretty unfunny stuff, including, “South Africans know how to recycle like Israel knows how to be peaceful.”
People on both sides of these arguments have a right to their opinions. They also have freedom of speech, something we should never take for granted. Want to know what I think? You don’t? Oh well, here it is: I’m sad for Mr. Dolce and Mr. Gabbana that they feel that way. Lena Dunham is hilarious. I think I agree with Terrence Howard? And, to quote Entertainment Weekly’s TV critic Melissa Maerz, “The only thing I have to say about Trevor Noah is that I would’ve loved to hear Jon Stewart make fun of his tweets on The Daily Show.” After all, the best way to address—and raise awareness of—a tough or controversial issue is often through comedy.
But what I am more angered, or stressed, or riled up about, is the crazy, unproductive reactions that these opinions—unreasonable or not—have spurred in people. I mean, not to offend anyone or anything…but has the internet turned us into a bunch of cry-baby wimps?
In 2015, the act of spewing vitriol—a word I swear I never heard before 2012—is as common as liking an Instagram post. As an employee of the Internet for almost ten years, I’ve experienced my fair share of angry people. In the old days, it was no-subject emails that simply read “YOU’RE AN IDIOT” in the body text. I’ve been vilified in the comments, occasionally harassed on Twitter, and called out by other writers. I am fine with all of this, because I am generally inclined to share my opinion when I have one, even if people don’t like it. I think the only reason I’m mostly left alone is that the things I like to write about—namely the weird world of the fashion industry—are not very interesting to the general public. And I must admit that the lack of negative attention also makes me happy sometimes, because people yelling really stresses me out.
I wouldn’t want to be a writer who focused on say, “women’s issues”: not only is everyone nasty to them, but they are nasty to each other. Or politics. Or for chrissake, gaming! I wouldn’t want to be Trevor Noah, either, because his new, once-in-a-lifetime job hasn’t even started yet and it’s already irrevocably tainted.
What worries me about all of this is that future generations will be even less inclined to speak out about important issues than those in my politically ambivalent age group. (I am 32, which means I’m technically a millennial. Although I know no millennials over the age of 30 who enjoy identifying themselves as such.) Humans have not changed: there has always been vitriol to be spewed. But given that it’s easier for it to gush into the virtual universe, how we react to it must. I know the chances of increasing the number of constructive conversations around hot-button issues is slim, but maybe the reasonable people will learn how to better ignore the haters.
Related:
