Gianni Zucchet
20 November, 2020
Social Media Zombification
Social media allows for instant connections across the world, an objectively good thing, until we factor the different interactions. Specifically due to the increased participation in politics, and the subscription to political ideals backed by campaigns, social media has become a battleground. Here, with lack of remorse -like a zombie- individuals, some which have been my own friends, viciously attack the other side with all sorts of defamation. These actions are not exclusive to a single political party, most people at or around my age have become zombified, enraged creatures ready to rip the throat out of the man on the other side of the screen. Where does that leave the uninfected? The ones who are able to see the evil in these actions, no justification can be made even if you support the best policies. Personally, I am in the cellar, I don’t believe Ben, who thinks a little participation is fine. The farmhouse is not safe, the safest thing to do in times like these is the cellar, let it pass, let the conversation die off and then see if there is any peace left afterwards. As Helen Cooper said, “We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn't going to solve anything”. When these political conversations - or rather, inflammatory conversations - are had, no progress is made, as soon as one disagreement is found, the conversation devolves into ad hominem back and forth until someone quits. After the battle, the two parties have gone through so much defamation that what they fought so hard to win, ends immediately with no victors. Both parties essentially “die together” with no progress in political ideology or social movements. Another characteristic of the zombified social media is that all arguments are automatically dismissed as madness. You support abortion? Then you’re a cold-hearted murderer. You don’t support abortion? Then you are a misogynistic pig. The zombification prevents serious discourse to be had, because all of the responses -like an infection- are predetermined and unchanging. In the heat of the social media zombification outbreak, anyone with an online profile is a possible victim, this plague does not discriminate on any grounds. Many times, in heated battles, someone gets caught in the crossfire, a friend of one of the participants, family members and/or significant others. This case is just like Ben’s final moments, where all he did wrong was exist in the wrong place at the wrong time. This outbreak needs to be cured especially for victims such as this, who never wanted any part of the infection to begin with. There should be an increased presence of political leadership, but, I mean real leaders. Leaders who are able to have discourse free from the infection, with understanding, clarification, and most importantly with humanity.