This has been going on for awhile, but this may have been the worst week when it comes to people using/abusing social media. Whether we're talking about Facebook, tweeting, Snapchat, or blogging, or the other ones I don't know about-it has really gotten out of hand.
During the past week or so there were four incidents that have gotten a lot of publicity, the wrong kind. It's not just embarrassing to the person who did it, but I think it's embarrassing to everyone. And, none of the four incidents came from the White House, where I do think the President goes overboard at times, despite it serving a real purpose to reach his supporters directly.
The biggest incident of course was ABC canceling one of it hit shows, "Rosanne", when the star of the show, Rosanne Barr, basically tweeted things that were out of line, reprehensible, and irresponsible. Not to be outdone, only days later, TBS's Samantha Bee, hurt her own show by calling Ivanka Trump on the air something you might only hear in a locker room.(maybe not there either) She's lost a lot of advertisers, but has not lost her show.
The third story was MSNBC's Joy Reid, who had awful blogposts from years ago surface and she had to apologize.(I'm pretty sure that years from now if someone reads by post on putting orange juice in my Cocoa Krispies, they won't be offended) She's been in trouble before from social media posts with one suspension under her belt. She currently still has a job, but at some point she may not be able to survive her past and her recent posts or tweets. The fourth story came from the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team,who announced they have agreed to part ways with their successful General Manager, Bryan Colangelo. This might be the most bizarre of the bunch, because it was discovered that there were five secret accounts that someone in his house was tweeting on. These were mostly used by his wife who was criticizing current and past players. At least one account was being managed by Bryan Colangelo and it's not clear if that one was out of line or not.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. For some reason people who are famous or not known at all, believe that everyone wants to know what they think about everything. We really don't care, at least I don't. Just because something enters your mind and you think about it does not mean you should tell the world what you thought about it. Matter of fact, most of those thoughts should just stay in your head.
What is the cost? A job, money, your reputation, embarrassment for you and your family and for people who like you and support you. If someone is paying you a salary, whether you're an actress or a pro football player, you have a responsibility to be professional and decent in how you present yourself. Otherwise, your boss, has every right to stop paying you when you embarrass them.
It may seem hypocritical to you that I occasionally will write a blog on some serious subjects instead of keeping those thoughts in my head. However, I'm only writing this for my family and a few friends. If someone reads it or not, it's up to them. If they like it fine and if not, that's fine too.
I'm not going to get this disease and hopefully you won't either.
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