A story is told of a Filipino man who hunted down his social media (Facebook) troll and killed her because of what he dimmed as ‘unwarranted insults’ that she always threw at him. The first time I read this, I couldn’t understand what kind of insult would drive a man to truck down and kill a person he met on social media. But as I pondered over the whole thing, it hit me that we are not all the same and thus our anger levels are rather different. We all get annoyed over different things. I for one, I have very low tolerance of almost everything that the people that have had a chance to know me personally, can justify to this.
On the number of occasions I have trolled people, I have received a lot of backlash from them because they were not happy with my tweets. Friends have even warned me about my trolls. I believe that as much as we have freedom on social media, we also need to be wary of the people that we may cross through our posts or tweets. I am no angel and nothing can stop me from airing my views as long as I see fit but I too, know the power that insults carry.
If you have been on twitter for long enough (for the Ugandans who have), you ought to know about a character called Bijou. Maybe you might have heard of this character from the people who know the whole #TweetLikeBijou story. With a simple innocent tweet, one thing led to another and this young lady ended up deactivating her twitter account. You see, back in the day, we were naïve and very aggressive. We trolled like Mavericks. We never took No for an answer. We were untouchable. We were the people who ran campaigns and made people leave twitter because we were too ‘mean’. We were grammar Nazis and still are. We woke up with the sole purpose of making other people’s social media lives uncomfortable. We ran those ‘twitter streets’. Back in the day, we walked on those twitter streets like immortals… Oh the good old days, what became of them?
Allow me to explain what really happened. As I said; we were young and naïve. We ruled those streets with an iron hand. If you think I am lying, ask: Felix, Conrad, Marvin, Samwiri, Katsiotho, Patricia, Kahill, Colin, Allan, Bernard. Just to mention but a few. Some of us even got blocked by some tweeps.
I am not twitter famous and I am no influencer but my tweets do carry ‘some weight’ on those streets. Oops I am getting off topic. Anyways, back in the day, twitter was like the Wild Wild West. We lived for the next tweet. What has changed you may ask? Well, people discovered this rather powerful platform and before we knew it, we were never the gun slinging cowboys that were once revered. New people joined and we got lost in their tweets. It became an abyss and we opted to create careers out of our social media presence and experience. We moved on and with the ’social media following’ we had managed to achieve, we used this to mine ourselves a living and now we are making money off it. You can also do it but it doesn’t take a night to create a brand. DO NOT make faces please, we are now brands and if you have noticed, we have brought to you some of the most nagging and cool campaigns online. We have influenced your views towards products and events. We have indirectly altered your minds. We have engineered some of the most talked about trending topics.
Moving on, if you’re reading this and have ever been offended on social media, why are you still on those platforms? Why have you decided to ignore the abuses and trolls but have chosen to move on as though you’re driving on Jennifer Musisi’s roads? They Fcuk up your car but you have nothing to do, so you drive on. Don’t you think there are other platforms you can join or pay more attention to rather than wasting time on twitter or Facebook with a bunch of people who will insult you with every breaking day?
If a man is to ever make it in this world, he has to learn how to take an insult from a friend, foe or even a stranger. You cannot keep losing your cool over some simple insults even though it is directed at your mother. I really have no kind words for people who insult another person’s parents. When I first heard that Bijou had deactivated her twitter account, I wondered whether people had gone too far or whether she was just taking a simple break. But being the kind of person I am, I decided to opt for the latter. I believe that no insult can ever drive me away from something I enjoy doing or let alone pull me down to the level of the person who has insulted me.
We should not be so quick to be judgmental because we have been insulted. Take time off and try to understand the person who has insulted you. Ask yourself why they have chosen to insult you and what they intend to achieve. You might be getting annoyed over that insult yet you also once insulted them or one of their friends.
STOP being so comical when you’re insulted. I am no fan of the man with the vision (M7) but I love the way he has mastered the art of ignoring insults. Even though some of the people who have insulted him have been ‘worked’ upon in one way or the other, he still carries his ever shining bold head around like Janet just told him he is the most handsome human to ever walk this earth.
So do not be like that Filipino who ended up murdering someone because of a social media insult. Be man enough to either retaliate or walk away. But do not let your anger drive you to the point of no return. Which reminds me; there is a guy whose toes I stepped on and I later overheard him tell his friends how he wanted to give me the mother of all beatings. Well good luck on that.
DO NOT run away from social media because of an insult. Take a break from that platform and concentrate on other platforms. Alternatively, take a break from social media and write a letter to your partner or even pick up a book and read some literature. Social media will make or break you but never let it show your weak side.
NEVER RUN AWAY. IT GETS BETTER WITH TIME.
Futures Past 