No one wants to know, do they?
Being of an older and some might say ancient generation I am both fascinated and mystified by the phenomenon of using social media for exchanging insults or sharing what Grandma Fannie would have insisted was very private information. I am not talking about sexting which would have engendered a very caustic, at best, rebuke from Grandma Fannie.
Grandma Fannie was not unaware of the fact that humans could be very crude and downright mean at times. She had survived many nasty political campaigns. More than once I had heard her remark that “I would like to take candidate X or Y to the woodshed or, at the very least send them to the barn. (The barn was where my grandfathers and other adult males went to drink and to curse or exchange comments about their confusion regarding the behavior of the female gender.) She was also aware of those magazines and other print publications which reported on the rather tawdry exchanges between certain public figures- frequently those in the entrainment world. Certainly, there was some shaking of head about the rumors that a President or some other “distinguished” person was having sex with someone other than his spouse (there were few if any recognized distinguished women. There what were had to ensure that their behavior obeyed the clearly double standard which we males then got away with dictating.)
In short, she would, I am sure, have had some harsh words for those who used so called social media such as tweeting to publicly throw vindictive, harsh, unkind, words at others. She would have had some very definite opinions about tweeting policy statements especially without consulting with other leaders.
Grandma Fannie, as I have previously written, was an ardent supporter of the principles of “Say what you mean but do not say it mean.” and “If you do not have something good to say that do not say it.” (actually she might have said “Zip it up.”) She took her ethics which derived from her spiritual principles very seriously. She was not averse to standing up for moral values, but, on the other hand, she was not convinced that any of us had the direct cell phone number of God or that the God of one’s understanding was one’s personal spell and fact checker.
Above all, Grandma Fannie might have suggested that if one had time to make public announcements about feelings, what one ate, when one attended to what should be very private business, or what one was wearing, then one clearly had way too much free time and might take a look at what private and community chores were being ignored. In fact, Grandma Fannie might suggest that, “With all due respect, no one cares, wants or needs to know such details. Yes, I did my absolutions and yes, I had breakfast, but these are not worthy of public attention.”
The idea that a major political figure such as the President of the United States or the former head of the CIA had time, energy or the desire to send out mean, defensive, 13 year words via social media would have left her shaking her head and probably forcing her to her knees (at a great risk to her health) and loudly praying, “God give me patience. God Give me strength. Lordy! Lordy!
Written April 16, 2018
Being of an older and some might say ancient generation I am both fascinated and mystified by the phenomenon of using social media for exchanging insults or sharing what Grandma Fannie would have insisted was very private information. I am not talking about sexting which would have engendered a very caustic, at best, rebuke from Grandma Fannie.
Grandma Fannie was not unaware of the fact that humans could be very crude and downright mean at times. She had survived many nasty political campaigns. More than once I had heard her remark that “I would like to take candidate X or Y to the woodshed or, at the very least send them to the barn. (The barn was where my grandfathers and other adult males went to drink and to curse or exchange comments about their confusion regarding the behavior of the female gender.) She was also aware of those magazines and other print publications which reported on the rather tawdry exchanges between certain public figures- frequently those in the entrainment world. Certainly, there was some shaking of head about the rumors that a President or some other “distinguished” person was having sex with someone other than his spouse (there were few if any recognized distinguished women. There what were had to ensure that their behavior obeyed the clearly double standard which we males then got away with dictating.)
In short, she would, I am sure, have had some harsh words for those who used so called social media such as tweeting to publicly throw vindictive, harsh, unkind, words at others. She would have had some very definite opinions about tweeting policy statements especially without consulting with other leaders.
Grandma Fannie, as I have previously written, was an ardent supporter of the principles of “Say what you mean but do not say it mean.” and “If you do not have something good to say that do not say it.” (actually she might have said “Zip it up.”) She took her ethics which derived from her spiritual principles very seriously. She was not averse to standing up for moral values, but, on the other hand, she was not convinced that any of us had the direct cell phone number of God or that the God of one’s understanding was one’s personal spell and fact checker.
Above all, Grandma Fannie might have suggested that if one had time to make public announcements about feelings, what one ate, when one attended to what should be very private business, or what one was wearing, then one clearly had way too much free time and might take a look at what private and community chores were being ignored. In fact, Grandma Fannie might suggest that, “With all due respect, no one cares, wants or needs to know such details. Yes, I did my absolutions and yes, I had breakfast, but these are not worthy of public attention.”
The idea that a major political figure such as the President of the United States or the former head of the CIA had time, energy or the desire to send out mean, defensive, 13 year words via social media would have left her shaking her head and probably forcing her to her knees (at a great risk to her health) and loudly praying, “God give me patience. God Give me strength. Lordy! Lordy!
Written April 16, 2018
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