Social media sucks. That is hardly breaking news. Facebook jumped the shark almost a decade ago while Twitter was never really much fun. Instagram was cool until your feed became nothing more than ads and accounts you don’t even follow. But Will Smith slapping Chris Rock highlighted the absolute worst aspect of it.
When something happens in the real world, it is no longer about the event itself. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards morphed into like a million different narratives from a million different people using social media to justify their own slanted view. Gross.
Look, there is no issue with people on social media picking a side about the incident. But to take that one step further into some virtue signaling is ridiculous. It’s somehow worse than when everyone needed to have an opinion about the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy.
Will Smith going upside Chris Rock’s dome has nothing to do with violence, women’s rights, race, brand management or anything else. Two human beings had an altercation they most likely regret. We’ve all been there and done that. And none of those interactions were used by strangers to debate moral non sequiturs.
Also Interesting: Who is that guy yelling in the Bosley Hair Restoration commercial?
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is just a grain of sand on the beach
Social media users have such empty lives that they must turn just about anything into a chance to further their viewpoint. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is simply another example of how awful the entire Twitter and Facebook ecosystems are.
The term echo chamber gets thrown around a lot and while it does exist, the issue here goes beyond that. It’s not that people need affirmation of what they are saying. It is that social media users think what they are saying matters in the first place. Their hot takes on Will Smith being a champion of women or a violence monger are not only valid but needed.
In reality, all Twitter, Facebook and the like are doing is empowering folks who don’t need a platform to shout about conclusions that don’t exist. And somehow this is fulfilling for them?
At the end of the day, most things in life, especially mistakes, just happen. People reacting in the heat of the moment aren’t following some moral compass or taking a stand for whatever cause some person on social media is pushing. They are making connections when there are none.
Unfortunately, the toothpaste is out of the tube. It is only a matter of minutes before something else happens in the world and randos take to social media in an attempt to make it fit into their own narrative.
