02 November 2012

Peer Pressure

It used to be chain letters, the old fashioned, handwritten kind. I didn’t get that many because it was a lot of work, which was why I always felt pressured to continue the chain. Then it morphed into chain emails. Much easier to distribute and therefore more plentiful and more annoying. And the pressure became almost unbearable. “Send this to five of your closest friends in the next five minutes, or suffer horrible agony and death.” I decided to live a more daring life and I stopped sending the chain mails. Thankfully I survived.

Then came social media. And a new kind of pressure surfaced. “Like this and show your support for [fill in the blanks] or scroll down if you don’t care.” Or, my personal favorite: “Like this and go to Heaven, or scroll on and go to Hell.” The image to accompany these messages often shows a child suffering from a debilitating disease, a family tearfully mourning a lost loved one, or something equally horrific. Something most people do care about, even if they don’t know the person in question.

I never “Like” a post of that kind. Which means I must be a self centered, uncaring, unfeeling b*tch going straight to hell. WTF? Who posts such nonsense? And why do posts like that get hundreds of thousands of “Likes?” What is wrong with people? Don’t give in to this kind of peer pressure, kids. Because once you do, you have to “Like” the next thing, and the next, and so on and so forth. It’s all downhill from there.

Also, evidently God keeps track of our Facebook activities. If ever you needed an incentive to clean up your profiles, this is it!

3 comments:

Lou said...

Religion is a great way to manipulate some people. Just ask any evangelist. Some religions are based on fear, and making people afraid of something is a good way to control them. So being afraid of not going to heaven or being afraid of going to hell can work “miracles” in getting some people to do the right thing. After all, liking something is a small thing to do so why take the chance of spending eternity in hell for not doing it? Of course, in your case, you already have a space reserved in hell for orphaning that little white bear. :-)

The Dutch Girl said...

You're right, I am doomed. No mother of the year award for me!

Lou said...

Do not give up without a fight. Christmas is coming - there is still a chance to redeem yourself! Choose Lola's gifts wisely. Might I suggest a pony or a unicorn?

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