The View From Here: Can the Kool Aid and Shut Down the Sheep

A couple years ago we posted a column concerning social media and offered a recommendation for a reply to some of the vitriolic verse that makes its way onto the various sites. It was suggested to type TDH...short for This Doesn’t Help... referencing how most of these serve no purpose (or possess no substance) other than to divide.
The first comment received came from someone who posted ‘TDH’.
I loved that.
It was simple yet clever. It spun some humor without being unkind and put in perspective our heavy handed suggestion of a cure-all for facebook churlishness.

Unfortunately so many posts often fall short of being credible, much less clever or creative. 
In our most humble of all opinions here are a few sure signs the poster is or has become  absent of any dialectical ingenuity.

‘Let that sink in’ -As if they’ve just expressed an opinion that by all rights should shake your very sense of reality. This attempt to hit the target of intriguing irony generally misses...by a lot.

‘Bet you won’t share this’- Feels like some kind of playground dare akin to the infamous double dog dare that led to a frozen tongue on a flagpole (Best Christmas movie ever!).

Drinking the Kool Aid- Crashingly boring. There is nothing about using the phrase that requires even the least bit of thoughtfulness or imagination and it’s way past time to put this one to bed. It’s weak, tired and most who use it don’t even get the reference (See Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre).To put this phrase in perspective, it was old when I wasn’t.

Sheep-While granted, it is indeed a universal insult since those using it are steadfast in their belief that they know the truth and all others are being helplessly duped, it lacks imagination. Try lemmings or even geese. Both are renowned followers.

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‘Wake Up People’- As if the poster fancies him or herself to be a modern day Paul Revere. This  presumed ‘call to action’ implies a superior base of knowledge that more than likely just isn’t there. Using this seems to indicate the poster has some leadership qualities and truthfully, anyone who needs to pull this one out? 
Doesn’t.

Beginning a sentence with “Fact:” because as we all know the days of Jack Webb (“just the facts ma’am”) are long gone since ‘alternate facts’ and a distrust of sources that don’t fit our mindset make facts kind of irrelevant, particularly in the venues of social media.

‘Expert’ opinions. Is there a degree in expertise? Experts are those who express opinions we agree with.

Other popular maneuvers:

‘Whatever, Karen’, ‘Bye Felicia’, etc- These might have been trendy awhile back but now like so many overused responses it's just meh.

Sharing a meme that is mean spirited and passing along info because you want it to be true with no regard for whether or not it is. This petty and pugnacious political pandering reveals a poster with significant flexibility when it comes to the truth.

And last but certainly least…
Name calling.
In a different time place and career, Rita, a co-facilitator and colleague of mine, responded to a member of our therapy group who told of having been called a bitch during an argument with her significant other.
“While that might have hurt, in my experience nobody hauls out the bitch word when they’re winning an argument,” she said. “ It’s only when they’re losing and backed into a corner that ‘Bitch’ becomes their only defense. It’s a sign of weakness.”
Like all name calling.
All. 
And the more offensive the intent?
The smaller the person delivering it. 

There are but a few, but you get the idea.

These are the fodder of bullies, close minded zealots, pot stirring conspiracy theorists, and the ‘angry at my life and wanting someone to blame’ bozos and using them seems to reveal a particular level of shallowness.

But hey, like I said, this is only one opinion.
And it’s likely that as we were once reminded in our own words…
TDH.

-Ken DeLaat

“If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong.”- Germany Kent