MY SOCIAL MEDIA MELTDOWN

 

Years ago I joined an Internet phenomenon called MySpace, creating a page to promote my music career and meeting literally thousands of like-minded folk across the globe in the process. Some were gifted and accomplished musicians, writers and artists, some were old friends rediscovered, some were bizarre but interesting new acquaintances best observed from a distance. I have met a number of these contacts in person on occasion and, for the most part, have not been disappointed. A few people I met through MySpace have become close friends.

As MySpace increasingly became  a ghetto of advertising and mindless pop music marketing, a new social network emerged: Face Book. After reluctantly signing up and creating a page, I quickly became enamored with the interaction, flexibility and spontaneity of the site. Most of my good MySpace friends soon emigrated to the new site as well. Eventually, most of us shut down our MySpace pages. I made new friends, formed new online social groups, rediscovered long-lost schoolmates and childhood friends and reconnected with old band mates and family members. Faced Book (as I like to call it) became a morning ritual, as we shared personal experiences, music, philosophy and politics through status updates, comments, photos, videos and those ubiquitous memes popping up on our news feed. I find all this instant online interaction royally entertaining, sometimes even cathartic. Plus, I get to post some of my photo-manipulated images, much to the horror of family and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, I have found Faced Book to be a valuable tool in my professional life- booking gigs, lining up musicians, promoting performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRI23oUONVg

So it was with some trepidation that I decided to take a break from social media this past week.

I did so for a number of reasons. One, I have been dealing with a few health issues (none actually life-threatening) which have had me going in and out of the hospital.

 

I’ve needed to focus on getting that squared away and getting back into shape.

 

 

I have also felt the need to concentrate more on my musical development and to divert more time and energy into my technique. Jazz is an art that demands constant study and the learning curve gets steeper the more you advance. Lately, I’ve been coming home from a night’s work feeling thoroughly disgusted with my own playing.

But then there’s that other thing… perhaps the main thing that  I’ve been feeling a need to get away from lately. Quite simply, it’s the discord and shrill rhetoric created over a widening gulf of philosophical, social and political values.

I’m not including religion here. For those who are still practicing some form of religion, that’s your conundrum and has little to no bearing on my version of reality, unless your “faith” is compelling you to blow things up or hang other folks at the end of a rope. Sorry, that’s the way I feel. Pray for me, if you want… but silently, please.

What rankles me the most is the constant sniping between the left and the right. To be clear, I’m firmly on the left of most geopolitical arguments. In fact, I don’t understand how, with today’s proliferation of information and the shrinking global community, anyone could embrace ideas and values bent on destroying the environment, oppressing women, gays and the struggling mass of those living in poverty while supporting policies promoting obscene wealth for a tiny fraction of the populace at the expense of almost everyone else. But I have always tried to keep an open mind to rational ideas from the right. For example, while I am an ardent supporter of gun control, I understand those who believe in responsible gun ownership for self-defense, hunting or sport shooting. I have been a gun owner myself. I don’t think it a crime to be wealthy, as long as your wealth was won on a level playing field and didn’t involve some form of slavery, rape, pillage or environmental plundering. If you didn’t hurt anyone in the process, more power to you. You want to be fiscally conservative? Bully for you- you may start by demanding that large corporations pay their fair share in taxes and not ship jobs overseas. You can demand that rampant pork barrel spending and no-bid military contracts be curtailed. And hey, I’m not just talking about Republicans here- there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle. Frankly, I’m fairly exasperated with the Democrats too. But our issues go way beyond partisan politics.  I suppose you could call me an equal opportunity curmudgeon.

However, when I post anything on the environment, religion or politics, the trolls from the right invariably make their appearance- sometimes subtly, sometimes with blatantly insulting comments. Some issues, such as gun control and the Affordable Care Act, provoke unbelievably hostile, irrational responses. It’s funny how some folks can write comments on your Faced Book page they wouldn’t dare say to your face. I resist the temptation to delete or block these people but when dealing with virulent hatred or illogical fallacious reasoning, it’s usually better to pull the plug. I have old friends from my school days and one or two family members who are Republicans drinking the Koch Brothers Kool-Aid. They can’t help it- I suppose it’s hard-wired into their brain chemistry or the residual effects of some childhood trauma, so I try to be tolerant and understanding. Still, my patience has its limits.

One of my favorite Robert Crumb illustrations involves a character named Mr. Goodbar, who proclaims in all-caps, “Go Fuck Yourself… do it today!”

Sometimes, after long exchanges of comments on Faced Book with some of these folks, I just want to post this wonderful piece of art on their pages and press the “unfriend” button. But as I have said, I really try to avoid such knee-jerk reaction.

 

 

 

Having gotten that out of my system, I have to say that there are serious global issues as well as intense social problems facing us here on this terrarium called Earth. War, racism, religious fanaticism, genocide and slavery are still rampant; Fascism seems to be making a comeback; climate change is still considered a “theory” by those willing to believe in the lies perpetuated by the big oil-controlled conservative media. These issues transcend petty partisan politics. We humans should be in global crisis-solving mode but, judging from what we see in popular media, we seem to be more concerned with the size of Kim Kardashian’s ass.

I want to scream it from the rooftop, that we have too many humans on this planet sucking up resources, mostly consumed by a small percentage of the total population in the developed world, while literally billions are barely scraping by with minimal shelter, food, water and medical care. And, even though the privileged few are for the most part practicing neutral population growth, they (we) are using up a much greater proportion of resources than the “emerging economies” and devastating our environment with a lethal carbon footprint which may already set in motion an irreversible timetable for the next global extinction.

I don’t have any easy answer to solving any of these problems. To be perfectly honest, I’m not  that bright and am only marginally educated. But one thing is clear- that until we are all on the same page with the facts, until big business, the military industrial complex, well-funded lobbying organizations and religious fundamentalists release their stranglehold on our “elected” leaders, we don’t have much of a chance for any kind of future in which we would want our great-grandchildren to live.

None of these issues will ever be resolved on Faced Book. But social media is making an impact and has become a powerful catalyst for change, as the recent campaign to urge governments into taking action in finding the Nigerian school children has clearly illustrated. Plus, for all those who missed the excellent Cosmos episode where Neil DeGrasse Tyson more or less bitch-slapped climate change deniers, multiple posts on social media helped direct attention to this important broadcast.  http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/neil-tyson-cosmos-global-warming-earth-carbon

So, I will still be checking in on Faced Book  periodically, but perhaps not as often or as actively as I have been. I will continue to write blogs few will bother to read; I will occasionally join the conversations on social media in the vain attempt to reach the intractable minds on the right. However, I’m not going to get sucked into that vortex of “I say poTAYtoes, you say poTAHtoes” dueling universes arguments with closet dog-whistling racists, gun nuts, religious fanatics or laissez-faire Koch-sucking Tea Party Republicans.

I intend to spend my time more wisely: doing whatever I can to repeal Citizens United, playing my jazz, writing, composing, reading, watching old movies, sailing and traveling (whenever possible) and enjoying the clean air and quirky inhabitants of the State of Maine… in short, to live out what is left of my quasi-Bohemian Buddhist-Taoist life in peace.

As for those snarky individuals who take exception to my artsy-fartsy, socialistic, non-theistic philosophy, please be polite with your comments. Otherwise, in the words of Mr. Goodbar, I respectfully invite you to go fuck yourself. Do it today.

To all others, it’s nice to be back.

Update, May 27, 2014:  Yesterday I joined Twitter.  Apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment.