As a writer who studies media and social media posts, to find inspiration for new stories, I find it harder and harder to stare at the ugly content we see today. History is no longer history, not something we learn from, rather it is now testimony to the avarice of man and it must be wiped away. Policy debate has degenerated from discussion of merit to how ugly a candidate’s parents were, or how screwed up their kids are. Past foibles and mistakes can never be forgotten or forgiven. Stumble climbing stairs proves that you are decrepit. Praising the joy of American life means that you don’t see or don’t care about the problems. The founding fathers, all old white slave holders, wrote a document that doesn’t apply today. If you are poor, you must be lazy. I miss good old debate and discussion, the kind that might let us agree on something as simple as when life begins. Like most people, I skip about eighty percent of the posts that I scowl through.
With that said, I began to wonder what social media might look like for other creatures. For example, it could be a lot of fun to take in DogBook, or Whimper. I can see the posts now.
“He can’t be a real lab, he’s not black.” “I’ve about had it with border collies, they think they are smarter than everyone else.” “She was born in a puppy mill; she’ll never amount to anything.”
“Setter supremacy, papers, retriever school, owner paid field trips.” “Born a pit bull, born a bully.”
“Karen Collie is just famous because Lassie was her grandmother.” “German Shepherds, French Bulldogs, Irish Setters, Russian Wolfhounds, all over here eating our dog food.” “Fetching slippers, he’s just a slave of the man.” “If she doesn’t chase the ball, she can’t be a real dog.” “Poor victim huskies, tied to a gang line, pulling a sled.” “A spaniel with a duck in its mouth, accomplice to murder.” “He was once in the pound, don’t trust him.”
Then I look down at our dog, Weatherby (Web) who sleeps at my feet hours every day, waiting for me to hit save on my computer. His posts would be more like, “OKAY, IT’S WALK TIME,” or “throw the ball,” or “just one bite of your steak…PLEASE.” He’d struggle with how difficult it has become for humans to communicate, to share our needs with others, and their struggle to help. He doesn’t even need social media to communicate, one yelp to go out, one bark to come in. Simple, instead of trying to force feed me what he believes, he cares about me and helps me care about him.
With the exception of good friends, and the readers of Rodger Carlyle books, I kind of wish the rest of you on social media were dogs. I suspect it would be mostly like what I suppose Web would post. We might just be nicer. We might post to help one another. Now if I can just teach Web how to type.