I’m sure you’ve seen them; they do the rounds on social media with dismaying regularity. Memes from simplists who can’t understand, “How can we be spending money on …(fill in any group you have no sympathy for)… when deserving …(fill in the latest knee-jerk hungry-puppy equivalent meme)… are going hungry?” And the next thing the same people complain about is how much tax they have to pay.
Well, besides responding with “that’s the way the world works,” which isn’t very helpful, my only response is, “What have you done lately?”
It’s all very easy to stick up for our latest pressing social need if all we have to do is push “share” on our Facebook pages. But I’m sorry, folks, your opinion on Facebook is only empty electrons if you haven’t gained the credibility to spout it.
Putting Commercial Success on the Line
Leaders in the business world are conspicuous by their silence on social issues. They may give a great deal to charity, but when it comes to taking a social stand, they back off “in case they hurt their business prospects.” Which gives you an idea of how much they believe in those social issues.
They aren’t all like that. Michael McCain of Maple Leaf Foods ripped into Donald Trump lately about the plane crash in Iran. Will that cost him sales in the United States? Possibly.
Heather Reisman, CEO of Indigo Books, is vocal on social media. It is her contention that you can’t be one kind of person in your private life and another kind when it comes to business.
I have to agree with her. If you believe in things, but you don’t stand up for them for economic reasons, then you don’t really believe them, do you? “Your values are your values,” as she puts it.
Apply That to Your Own Social Media Posts
So the next time, before you do a knee-jerk re-post of that crap about “why worry about foreigners when our own poor are having problems,” ask yourself, “What have I done for Canada’s (or the world’s) unfortunate lately? And if you haven’t done anything, shut up and do something useful instead of tearing down the help other people are trying to give.
How It Works
In case you hadn’t thought about it, the whole idea of democratic government is based on the power of large groups of people to use resources effectively. So instead of each individual giving whatever he or she can, the government collects all our money and uses it more effectively to help those in need.
If you don’t like the way the government is allocating those resources, you have several choices; wait for the next election and work for a different government, or find a private group that is doing something along the lines of your beliefs and work with them. Find corporations that follow their hearts, not their bottom line, and buy their products.
Don’t sit in the comfort of your office chair and spout useless nonsense on social media. Think. Act. Make a difference.
PS
And in case you’re wondering whether I have the right to talk, I remind you that the first cost a journalist pays is doing research on a topic before posting an opinion. I write about 120 posts a year on three different blogs, and that adds up to a lot of research on a lot of topics. You don’t have to agree with me, but you have to admit I think before I post.
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