Rebuilding Rob

What do you think will be socially unacceptable in 10 years?

I don’t know that it will be, but I hope that In 10 years, Trumpism and all of the negativity on social media will be socially unacceptable

It’s a pipe dream, I know. But I hope that 10 years from now, the percentage of the electorate who voted for Donald Trump, twice, looks back and think to himself “my God, what did we do?”

Earlier this morning, I got an alert from the New York Times that people within Trump‘s transition team/administration are already planning to carry out an immigration rate in Chicago as early as next week. I think these next four years are gonna be absolute hell for a progressive liberal like myself; let alone for anybody who the Trumpers deem as “the other”.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I know. I know that I will be “OK“. As a white, middle class, educated male, I’m going to be fine. Hell, most people look at me and automatically assume that I voted for Trump. But his blow hard rhetoric, and his ability to just overwhelm the senses with so many random soundbites about any given thing under the sun, being amplified by the power of social media is almost too much to endure.

I’m reaching a point where I’m considering just abandoning social media altogether. I’m just tired of the negativity on the “toxicity” of social media.

It reminds me a lot of something I heard working in retail. I’m going to get the numbers wrong in this, but you’ll get the point: “a customer will tell for other people about a good experience they had in the store. But that same customer will tell nine people about a bad experience that they had at a store.” I guess as humans it’s just natural to focus on the negative, unfortunately.

But then look at all the great things that have come out of social media. People being able to reconnect with long lost friends or even a family members. The world becoming a significantly smaller place as people are able to communicate with each other on a global scale. I see people raising funds, and just spreading overall positive good news. So in many respects, I think social media has solved just as many problems as it is started.

I turned this writing prompt into a rant. Sometimes when I go down the slippery slope like that, I have to remember the Fred Rogers quote just above this text. Think about the helpers. One thing I always tell my students whenever there’s some big tragedy going on in the world is that “these events bring out some of the very worst in humanity; but they also bring out some of the very best.” 

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Acknowledge Me: The Simple Art of Being Seen
• Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision

The article “of social media, toxicity, and Trumpism” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob