Are there too many ideas and not enough action in Washington D.C.? Do you ever feel as though you wake up in the morning totally frustrated because each day’s events bring more tragedy, a higher deficit and uncertainty to our nation? Does it seem the leaders of our country are looking to the media for polls and support numbers? Does it appear there are too many things going on at one time and nothing getting actually done? If you feel like this, you are not alone.
In a world of social media rising, blogs and more people being able to openly share their opinions effortlessly throughout their day from work, home, school and wherever they may be, people are venting and they are venting a lot!
On Twitter, people can get their opinion out in (140 characters or less) and be heard to millions of other users. You can instantly get positive or negative feedback from a large number of other ‘Tweeters’ in seconds. If you don’t have your privacy settings set to private, your tweets are there for everyone to see and, as of recently, they are being archived in the National Library of Congress. Things can get very heated up on Twitter but also opinions can be shared in these short 140 character or less exchanges and people can see the similarities and differences between each other in a new light. Everyone from the halls of congress, senators, court justices, state leaders, CEOs, actors, business people, college students, parents, teens and people from nearly (sadly not all) countries are on Twitter. Imagine the influence this is having on our world, the influence on decisions being made; all kinds of decisions by all kinds of people.
If you read an earlier blog of mine, “Privacy Matters”, you will remember the part about Facebook’s influence on our lives. Facebook has boomed each year following its arrival. People ask if it will ever go away or lose its popularity. My opinion is IF it does, it will be quite some time from now. Facebook has brought something around that many people have craved. It is a way of getting back in touch with people and meeting new people without actually having to be face to face. It is a way for families to stay in touch, share pictures and chat even though they can’t actually travel and be together. It allows people to have a sense of “togetherness” even though they aren’t physically together. This is nice but it is missing an important factor in a relationship which is a real face to face conversation, a real handwritten letter, a real phone conversation. In some instances and some of these online relationships, there is a sense of “knowing” someone in a way that is really not there. Today’s idea of knowing someone is so much different. Of course it all depends on the type of relationship you are forming. In my eyes, without meeting someone, it is more of a “Pen Pal” type of relationship than anything else.
I say that to say this. So much of what many people base a decision on is what their peer group feels or what they hear on TV or read. I have talked about this in previous blogs.
There are so many blogs in our world today it is basically putting newspapers out of business. Most newspapers are using bloggers as their journalist now. Not saying there aren’t journalist still doing the writing but there isn’t so many in “hard print” as there used to be. A lot of newspapers have gone digital and being read online. I love the AC360 blogs and Jack Gray is one of my all time favorites! The great thing about newspapers and magazines that have turned over to digital media is they are more updated and they can change on a dime if the news changes, which it does (ALL DAY).
With 24 hour news on TV and 24 hours of updated blogs and news online then everyone can be getting around the clock updates and opinions all day long. That includes our local government, state government and national government. Trust me, they are keeping up with the news sources, Twitter and blogs just like anyone else.
So, I asked is our government being micro-managed? What I mean by that is are we too involved in the many different things that come across our messages, facebook, twitter, blogs and news all day? Then we share our opinions which can be positive or negative with a great number of people and then they share their opinions and that trend goes on and on. It can become viral if it catches on. Is that a bad thing? Well, not necessarily. But, it can be if we really don’t know what we are talking about.
I can admit that I really didn’t know a lot about the oil spill when it first happened. I felt I needed to know more facts. I wasn’t going to point fingers at anyone. I still feel the investigation needs to be carried out. I don’t appreciate anyone that says, “It isn’t our fault” or tries to back out of responsibility or someone who drags their feet doing something to find a solution. But, I can also understand the problem is much worse than anyone could have ever planned or imagined. It would be like trying to stop a Category 5 hurricane from happening, then blaming someone for the Category 5 Hurricane hitting a certain location.
My opinion at this point seems to be (and I may stand corrected) that it may appear there was a warning there was a problem back in March? That has to be shown to be a fact and no matter what, it is BPs well and there is a lot of damage coming from it. Everybody that can be helping to stop the oil and contain the problem should be. If there is a chance at saving wildlife and habitat it should be happening and I understand many things are much easier said than done. That is why things should always be secured so these disasters can be prevented at all cost.
Here is my thinking on the Israeli and Gaza situation and I wrote about this in an earlier blog as well, “Will History Repeat Itself?” as well as “Are You the “Right” Color?” Again, this is something that started out with so many people having an opinion as soon as the news came in and Twitter especially lit up and a lot of people get angry that anyone else has an opinion that differs from theirs. But, it comes down to something very simple and history has shown us this over and over. As long as anyone or any group of people think they are better than anyone or any other group of people are less than them or deserve less than them, this will continue. This isn’t right. It doesn’t matter who is the one throwing the first stone, shooting the first shot, jumping onto whoever’s ship. It is wrong. This boat may have been carrying humanitarian aid or it may have had some weapons on it. It may have had 100% good intentions. Israel may have had a perfectly good reason to board the ship and things got out of hand. This may have been all because of bad communication. The point is it has gotten to this because of the same reason. Groups of people thinking they deserve better than the other. You may say one group or the other but the fact is, everyone has a different opinion. Nobody should have to worry for their life because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin. This is just wrong. This is not my opinion. This is human rights.
So why does it seem to take so long for our government, world government and the UN to come out and make a statement? It is almost as though they are looking to public opinion. It is as though they want to see what the world is feeling. Or, is it that our opinions have become so quick and so abrupt these days due to our ability to share them and get instant feedback? Do we expect instant feedback from our leaders? Do we expect the same direct, in-your-face kind of answers? Are we micro-managing our government? Do they need our micro-managing?
Change Happens 