I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I love the interaction with close friends and being able to chat to friends who don’t live close by. I hate that stupid people are allowed to use it. Some days I feel like I am caught in a giant vacuum of stupid and I worry about the next generation.
Everyday I log on and there is ‘share this’ or ‘like this’ posts telling users that they are going to die tomorrow or that a simple like will give little Timmy that kidney he needs. These posts have hundreds of thousands of likes and shares. There are that many stupid people on Facebook. Every time someone I know shares one of these posts I have to refrain from saying stop it, you are a fuckhead. I usually meet halfway and make a status about it, public shaming always works well.
The posts that make me want to stab myself in the eye so that I never have to see them again however are the hundreds of ‘share this post to win *insert electronic device*’. Do people really believe that some random company is going to be giving away 5000 Ipads every week. Apparently so because I keep seeing the damn posts, which of course are sponsored so they will always appear, even when my friends don’t like them.
Today however I felt that the ‘share this’ stepped over the line. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would have no doubt heard about the bombing at the Boston Marathon. Circulating around Facebook this afternoon was a picture of a little girl running in a race of some description, accompanying that image is a statement designed to pull at the heart strings. It says that this little girl was killed in the bombings. This photo is a scam. This little girl was not killed. She wasn’t even running in the marathon. Yet people mindlessly shared the picture without checking facts.
The Foundation who did take the photo are urging people to report the photo. The most chilling comment on the status however is one that must be from the mother of the little girl. It reads ‘No, that little girl is safe & sound and sleeping in her room…’. How horrible it must be to log onto your Facebook to find your child’s face plastered across it, being toted as the poster child for a bombing she was supposedly killed in.
It’s easy to get caught up in the moment, we are all guilty of it at some stage in our lives. I guess we just need to learn from these mistakes. Think, does this seem too far fetched, because chances are it is.
I saw one example of this on Twitter yesterday. At least the person was embarrassed and apologised. It wasn’t a “favourite/RT” one though, just a picture of the girl who was not in the race and was not killed. Twitter seems a place where people are much more likely to just tell you you are being a fucktard, maybe that’s why.
I do not, never did, understand that whole “Share this and…” mentality and how anybody could fall for it. When I was a teenager, it was chain letters (snail mail). We even got them at one of the offices I worked in in Shawlands. If you did not send it on to ten people you would have terrible luck, natch. I always told my friends to send them to me and I would get rid of them. Then it was chain emails, and I did the same, send it to me guys, I will be the dumping ground so you don’t have to stress.
The only good thing about Facebook getting being inundated with this shite is I no longer get many of them forwarded by email, all my friends do this silliness on Facebook instead, and as you know I am no longer on there. I don’t get it, either, I genuinely don’t. It has to be a superstition thing, they must surely know nothing good is going to happen.
I’ve never understood it either. So many of them are easily seen as scams too.
I see stupid people. They’re everywhere, but Facebook does seem to bring them out in droves! I saw a pic yesterday of a guy on the ground crying, caption said he was waiting at the finish line to propose to his girlfriend but she was killed in the Boston bombing. I highly doubt it.
Why are people do damn gullible? I guess that’s how spammers and scammers make their money… Perhaps we are the dumb ones for not taking advantage??
Whenever I see a story advertised for Today Tonight or the like, about some ‘poor’ person being taken advantage of by an email scam, I laugh. I get those emails all of the time and if you are stupid enough to fall for it, then you deserve to lose your money.
Well said. I hate those 1million likes & they get a new puppy, quit drugs whatever. As if simply ‘liking’ something & a person with a drug problem can just go ‘oh ok I’ll quit now’. My niece is THE worst, she’s a sweet 18yr old church goer & constantly posts these things. Another 1 I hate are the pictures of abused children & animals. Yes I know these things happen (lived it) but I don’t need to see it plastered all over Facebook. And the asylum seekers wow! Some of the posts & comments are just astounding in their ignorance & stupidity, I hope none of them never need asylum.
Agreed. One of the things that deeply upset when on FB was people posting pictures of children and animals who had been harmed. The reason I don’t look at such things is that I care a great deal, and will be unable to sleep that night for thinking about it, and will NEVER get that image out of my head. If someone can look at something like that and not feel like that, I am very glad for them. But it is not a lack of concern that makes me flinch and turn away, quite the opposite. The ones who absolutely don’t care won’t be affected, the ones who care too much will never forget it. Either way, Facebook is not the place to publicly post pictures like that. Post a link with a trigger warning if you really need to.
Those are actually created to garner peoples contact details.
That makes sense, where there’s human suffering there will always be someone willing to try to exploit it for money.
Oh & that woman on my Facebook always posting photos of her perfect arse & perfect fake boobs, stop it just stop it
Yessity yes yes! I hate the non-filtering brain that just causes people to mindlessly ‘click’ to make themselves feel good. They’re not helping anyone. In fact – it’s things like this that probably shut up their consciences enough that they don’t go out and do REAL HELPING to make REAL CHANGE. No puppies will be saved by clicking something. DER. REALLY????
Yep, that’s a good point. Instead of finding a charity and donating or spending some time helping, just click something and salve the conscience. See, everyone, I care?!
Yep! I get an uneasy feeling about the posts shared that say they have lost their kids to their arsehole partner and can you help track them down. They always have that you need to contact them personally. It’s scary how many people could be putting a child in danger.
I’m glad to read this, I was beginning to wonder if there were no smart people left!
Totally agree with all of the above. Those facebook shares are one of my pet hates. One of my mates does it all the time. I feel like asking her does she really think her like will bring a cure for cancer. Like, really?
Another friend used to send around those emails that claim that some big computer brand was tracking the forward emails and if you sent in on to 20 of your friends you’d get a free laptop. Honestly.
People are stupid.
I remember those. I also remember the ones that claimed that hotmail was running out of email addresses and you needed to verify your account by sending on the chain letter. I got so many of those it wasn’t funny.
Lmao! When the number of stupid gullible people outnumbers the the ones with common sense the world is in trouble
I fear somedays that we are already there!