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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-07-22, Page 5Wednesday, July 22, 2015 • Huron Expositor 5 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com What is it like to be offended? Go onto social media right now. Facebook, Twit- ter, Youtube, whatever. Now click on a news story that someone shared and look at the comments. For the pur- pose of this experiment, try to pick something benign, you know the soft news. How long does it take you to find some- one absolutely losing his or her minds over the mildest little thing? Two comments? Three? In my opinion we're living in the age of overreaction. It doesn't take long to find some- one screaming and ranting, shouting and TYPING IN ALL CAPS to express their anger online, over what? The President saluted with a cup of coffee in his hand? The price of that coffee went up a nickel? The image on the nickel is going to change? With the rise to promi- nence of social media everyone now has a Column Matt Recker voice, which means eve- ryone has a soapbox and with a soapbox comes the need to use it. Nobody pays any atten- tion to someone who chimes in their opinion of "That's nice. I'm glad this is happening" or even worse, no opinion at all. Social media is a noisy wedding hall and the only way you're going to get to deliver your toast is to shout it as loud as you can over the crowd. I'M SO ANGRY OVER HYPHENS!' Earlier in the year, just before the Super Bowl, I read a news story that said Ontario prison guards are going to be paid overtime, so that some prisoners could stay up after lights out and watch the game. Being a rational, calm person not prone to overreaction my thought was "That's nice." A reward for good behavior." Of course I didn't comment, but the people who did were furious. Well, one tweet said, "I hope they get some nice cold beers and maybe some burgers. Sounds like a party!" "Prisoners get conjugal visits, cable TV and now the right to watch the super bowl," proclaimed another. People were just so angry that some prison- ers, as a reward for good behavior, got to stay up two hours past lights out to watch one foot- ball game. A classmate of mine shared a story in class the other day. Accord- ing to her, her boy- friend's house caught on fire and he saved a bunch of kittens as it was burning. Yeah, it sounds a little made up too but I don't think she's the type to lie, anyway. He also has two dogs and when he posted a picture on social media of the kit- tens in a little enclosed area in the backyard after the fire, the com- menters were in sensed. Apparently he was a heartless, cruel person for confining kittens to such a small space. He should be arrested, beaten, killed according to these peo- ple. What they didn't know what they were enclosed so that the dogs wouldn't get them, that's what the picture didn't show. Everyone just jumped to the conclusion that the owner was a monster. Last week on a local radio call-in show, the host was talking about a factory that wants to buy an old apartment building and convert it to housing for it's letter to the editor Residents asked to help welcome visitors for Celtic Roots Festival To the Editor: The Celtic Roots Festival is fast approaching. The festival is one of the largest events in Goderich each summer, attracting more than 10,000 people. As a result, accommodations, including campgrounds, hotels and bed and break- fasts, fill up quickly leaving many last minute visitors without a place to stay. Tourism Goderich is once again offering a solution and we are asking the citizens of Goderich and area for their help. If anyone has ever wondered what it would be like to run a bed and break- fast, this is their opportunity. Anyone wishing to offer bed and breakfast accommodation during the Celtic College, August 4 to August 8, and/or on the weekend of the Celtic Festi- val, August 8 to August 10, is asked to come to the Tourist Information Centre, at the corner of Hamilton and Vic- toria Streets (by the Dutch Fountain) as soon as possi- ble and we will coordinate overflow bed and breakfast accommodation. When they speak to us, they should be prepared to give us informa- tion about what they have to offer and rates. Our travel counsellors will be happy to assist them with this. So as not to offend estab- lished tourism operators, we will attempt to help fill the existing accommodations first, but we need to be workforce, largely immigrants. The hous- ing wasn't mandatory, but meals would be paid for and rent would be low in order to accommodate the work- ers. WOW, what a horri- ble thing, at least if you believed the callers. "They shouldn't be able to force their workers to live in their housing." Um, they aren't? "Why do they get to live rent free because they work for the factory?" Um, they don't? The host to her credit was just as baffled as I was by the ludicrous overreactions. Call after call of igno- rant, reactionary opin- ions of people who seemed they didn't know what they were mad about, just that they were mad. I'm a great fan of social media, though it's not without it's dark sides, and this is one of them. We live in a time where the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the one who yells informed when they are full. Our sources indicate that many are full already. We will then refer visitors to our Celtic Bed and Breakfast Program. This can only be accom- plished if everyone works together. For more informa- tion about the Celtic Bed and Breakfast Program, please call us at the loudest gets the most attention. All the while the meek, the lev- elheaded, the rational just sit in the shadows with our reasonable opinions and watch from afar. When blog- ging about issues, I like to suggest a solution, but I don't know what the solution is. Is it a tighter control of com- ments on social media? I don't think so, I believe fully in the freedom of the Internet. Is the solu- tion to disable com- ments on news articles? No, free comment is what makes social media work. I don't know what the solution is, but I know how I saved my sanity. Don't look at com- ments ever. They only get me mad. I keep my comments to myself, I don't listen to others, only those from friends and people I know won't fly off the handle because we have to put our garbage bags in cans now. 519-524-6600. Let's welcome our visitors to Goderich during the Celtic Roots Festival, in fact all year long, and let them know that we are not only Canada's Prettiest Town, but also the most hospitable. Thank you, James Cox Economic Development/Tourism Coordinator LET'S MAKE CANCER HISTORY Canadian Cancer For information about ce ncerrSociety services Q r to make 3 donation i'88 939'3333 • ww .cancer. Societe canadicnne flu cancer