Of course we are in the middle of a presidential election. This has created some clearly marked battle lines. What really worries me, however, is how this battle is being fought in social media, especially FaceBook. Someone creates a meme that shows how they feel, twists statistics to support their viewpoint, and thousands forward the meme as gospel truth. It does not matter which side you support, it's happening in every topic!
Let's look at some non "hot button" issues for a second. Every time FB makes a security change there are half truths and outright lies about the effects these changes will have. Post about privacy settings and legal use of timeline information went around six months to a year ago, and now, all of a sudden they are back. They are completely useless and non protective. Do you ever hit the share button? So, are you not supposed to share if someone has said don't use my pics or info on my time line? (And as artists, don't we want the share to happen? As long as someone else is not taking credit for our work, that is!) Amber Alerts are another one. Of course we all want to be on the lookout and possibly save a child, but any time you see an Amber Alert without a child's name, and certain descriptive information to look for, it's not a real Amber Alert!! Want to sincerely help there? Most states have a system you can sign up to get real Amber Alerts sent to your phone.
So now we come to the nastiness that is the current political race. It's very interesting to me that I see citizens of other countries forwarding some of the memes that are going around. I think that what we do and the choices we make do have an effect on the rest of the world. I hope we can make those effects be for the better. Here is my plea, especially for my artist friends as we go through these next few weeks:
1) Register to vote if you haven't already. Please.
2) Do NOT get any political information from FaceBook. Most of it is crap, with a spin put out there to support one viewpoint or another. Be extra cautious about what you see on the news as a good number of programs seem to have lost their ability to be objective. Go out and research, look up actual statistics. Get informed. It's more important now than ever. Get the facts and then if you support one candidate strongly, then get involved in the political arena in your community. Stop spreading misinformation around FB.
3) Here is the important one. We are artists. We are supposed to be bringing beauty and grace to our environments. We should be looking to uplift and bring thought with our art. I am asking you to rise above the nastiness and craziness out there right now. I'm asking you to help me rise above it. I suffer from depression, and I have a hard enough time fighting that fear of failure. I look to my fellow artists to be inspired, to make me work harder, to be determined to do better. I no longer want to see the mocking, degrading and just completely uninformed mistaken information being passed around. I'm asking you as artists to just stop it. Focus on what you can create and share here, and lets lift each other up. We all have bad days and it's ok to vent to feel that community support and love out there, but let us focus on the positive. Let us be the community leaders in fighting ugliness. If we don't do it who will?
I'm grateful to be a citizen of a nation that supports freedom. Freedom to vote, to express, and to do what I wish to do, which is to create. I ask that you consider the above, join me, and if you like what I've written, please share so that other artists will do the same. Thank you for that, and thank you to my artist friends who have been there for me. It means more than you'll ever know.
klc
