Tips for the Times
We currently live in a hyper society. Things are growing fast around us — so fast it is hard to catch up and adapt to certain everyday happenings. With that said, there are things that just shouldn’t be tolerated anymore. With our advanced technological state, public shaming should be the new vogue.
Friends shouldn’t let friends take crappy pictures. Compared to 10 years ago, the cameras on our phones are marvels. Blurry pictures should be a thing of the past. Have some self respect and use the camera to the best of its (and your) abilities. With that said, stop taking pictures of food. There is an inherent ridiculousness of taking pictures of something you will be turning to waste so very soon. Pictures of babies and pets are fine, though. Unless they are eating.
Blinkers on vehicles should be used as they are meant to be. They aren’t positron colliders. You don’t have to fight a magic giant in front of an inverted space vortex in order to use them. This is something that we need to re-learn. If you are going to change lanes, let the people around you know. Is there something I missed at cool school? Is haphazardly swaying into an adjacent lane the new backwards hat? I seriously think that police should allow some outstanding citizens to carry paint ball guns in their vehicles to mark terrible drivers.
Social media is not a place to have an argument. As my grandmother used to say, “Arguing over social media is like calling the police on someone for stealing your weed.”
My grandmother never actually said that, but you get the point.
Music should not define who you are. Yes, people have more than 7,000 songs in their collection. Yes, someone can listen to a different song every day for the rest of his or her life. Yes, it is like living in the future. That shouldn’t mean that one should feel the world come out from under them if someone doesn’t like their music — or that someone should burn down their friend’s barn just because they don’t agree on what hipster band has a more thorough understanding on the state of the human condition. Music should be the soundtrack to your life, not the driving force.
Finally: other people’s opinions. There is nothing in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that states that someone cannot be offended. There is no law guarding delicate sensibilities. If there were, stupidity would be painful and the world would be a far more chill place than it is now. Discourse, social or otherwise, challenges people to understand those around them. As long as their beliefs don’t end up breaking someone’s nose, things can be talked out, learned about and, hopefully, understood more.
trent.wilkie@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/thetrentwilkie
Originally published HERE on Tuesday, May 28, 2013.
The Trent Wilkie 