“Morning Joe” TV Show Laughs At Social Media Users
On the surface, you might not think there’s anything wrong with this. However, there are so many underlying issues I’m not even going to get into them in a short post. I’m only going to focus on a few. And, this isn’t a rant. It’s just a few comments.
While switching through channels this morning, before I went for my usual run, I came across a segment of the TV show, Morning Joe that I found a little surprising. I’m not familiar with this show and don’t know much about the hosts…Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski…and I only go there when there are commercials on everywhere else. But this time what I saw was just too unexpected.
Evidently, they get mean tweets.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski read from a selection of mean tweets they received during Wednesday’s show.
If you’re doing anything with a public profile you’re going to get mean tweets, comments, or whatever. The reason I have comment moderation on this blog is because of mean comments…one that was a death threat once. I don’t have time to moderate them all myself. I’m an openly gay writer and I expect mean comments. Not everyone is going to love every book, especially when you write erotic gay romance. So I know what it’s like to face criticism of all kinds online, in comments and in reviews. I also know what it’s like to forget about them and move on.
With that said, I was a little shocked to see Joe and Mika basically laughing at their own viewers this morning for tweeting mean things about them. They did it with smiles, eye rolls, and laughs, in that passive aggressive way so many elitists use these days. I’ll post a link below so you can see for yourselves. They even showed one of the mean tweets to the camera and mentioned the names of the people tweeting, and that alone left me gaping at my TV.
And I think this shows a huge disconnect between social media and the elite mainstream media. I’ve been in online book communities since the late 1990s. I worked as a staff member for a web site that reviewed thousands of bloggers in the early 2000s. I was on Twitter and Facebook from the beginning and I’ve seen it all. And the one thing I’ve learned about social media is that you never assume anything about anyone.
In other words, just because someone tweets something you think is “mean” doesn’t discount the fact that there might be underlying issues you can’t see. Interacting with people online isn’t the same as in person because there’s no physical connection. And if you assume something it could be dangerous, and even politically incorrect. What if the people Joe and Mika were laughing at so cleverly this morning have serious mental health issues? What if they just found out they have cancer and only six months to live? What if they just caught their spouse cheating? The extenuating circumstances could fill this page. And the bottom line is that you don’t assume anything on social media, and you never take it personally.
You also have to remember that in many cases the people who are sitting at home tweeting aren’t making millions of dollars like Joe and Mika. In many cases they’re trying to figure out how to survive in a system that has let them down…and left them bitter. Many have “unplugged” and can’t even afford cable TV to watch Joe and Mika. So this was a huge fail for me this morning. To see two privileged people of wealth on a high profile TV show act out against innocent viewers in such a passive aggressive way, left me shaking my head and vowing never to go back there again. It’s elite media fail at it’s worst and I truly pity those people out there nowadays who only have access to that kind of a news source for information and content.
You can check out the video here on Youtube. And there are comments, some not too kind.
The Banana Smoothie Tutorial
On a much lighter note, here’s an interesting video where a cute young guy gives a tutorial on how to make a banana smoothie. It’s all in fun.
In the below video, he teaches us how to make a supremely refreshing smoothie — yet for some reason, our minds and eyes keep wandering, and we’re having the trickiest time wrapping our heads around the recipe.
You really should check this one out…and it’s SFW. You might even watch it twice (smile).
Cher’s Best Interview Ever
I think I just gained a new sense of respect for Cher, especially after watching the beginning of this video. And I didn’t even expect to feel that way. It’s a little political, but I think if you focus on what Cher says about herself and about aging, it’s actually more inspiring than anything else.
Cher on turning 70…
“I just don’t know how to accept it. I don’t want to either. But I don’t really know how to. I look in the mirror and I see this old lady looking back at me. I have no idea how she got there. If I put 70 candles on my cake I would blow my brains out…”
I think it’s inspiring because people who love what they do never want to stop doing it. I will never retire. It just won’t happen. I’ll expire instead. The older I get the more I want to work. And seeing Cher work her way into her 70s like this is just inspiring to me.
