Opinion Overload
The 24 Hour Editorial
If you talk to some elders, they’ll tell you that growing up for them they just did what they were told. There weren’t a lot of conversations, just a lot of directives;
When the street lights come on you bets be in the house.
Don’t touch that!
Don’t eat this!
Do your homework!
Stay out of certain neighborhoods.
An opinion was something you kept to yourself. Expression was played out in instruments, song, dance, and art. The good old days some say.
Once upon a time written opinions were for the editorial section of the newspaper. Relationship questions were answered by Abby and on television your local news anchor gave their take on a hot topic the last five minutes of the broadcast.
Cable television was introduced and if 24-hour cable programming wasn’t enough, the trial of the century happened, you know — The OJ Simpson Trial.The OJ Simpson case rocked the world, Ojession is what I called it. I define Ojession as the obsession with the Orenthal Simpson Murder Case & Acquittal. That case introduced us to some real life characters which helped shaped the television pundit and in many ways foreshadowed what we’re experiencing in today’s news climate.
News is supposed to be written and reported with FACTS ONLY. Report the facts and then I, the viewer will form my own opinion, voilà then there was the blog.
Create your own blog and create your own content, that’s great, but many bloggers that reported the news often times reported with no facts. They had a platform to express their thoughts and feelings. We followed these bloggers and they became our reporters. Reporters with no credentials. Google was the primary and secondary source. As the world turned and technology advanced something came along that rocked our world — social media.
Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate. Remember those elders I mentioned at the top of this article? Those silenced voices from yesteryear are yapping in up on Facebook. They talk a lot too, geesh! Pick your form of social media. Folks found their groups, their like minded people to talk to and vent to. Everyone is talking and connecting.
With COVID, with George Floyd, with the President, with the partisan news, with the social media videos of the Karens, the protest, the loss of loved ones, the loss of our favorite celebrities from Kobe Bryant to Sean Connery, the isolation, policing friends and family members for not wearing masks or traveling it’s exhausting! Those are just a few of the issues that we’ve collectively dealt with this year.
I’m overwhelmed with the commentary, the interviews, the talking heads, the quotes, the the videos, the Instagram lives, the conversations, the divide. The images. White folks finally waking up and realizing that like their life, Black Lives Matter too.
Watching everyone protest George Floyd’s death globally, and for just a minute, solidarity felt amazing. I don’t feel that anymore, not with this election.
We’re not even agreeing to disagree. There is no dialogue, no common ground. Think like me or you’re cut off. Grown folks acting up. Grown folks sending the wrong message to the younger generation. Our kids and young adults are watching, listening, and mimicking.
The world is gearing up for this 2020 election and whatever the results are you’re about to be inundated with opinions, 24/7.
