What's on my mind?
The introduction of G+ is the best thing that can happen to someone who posts regularly on Facebook but really doesn't quite like it, because that someone sincerely believes that Google is the next best thing since mankind discovered God and FB is not Google, and stands for everything that is not Google, and therefore is the watchword for everything that is evil in this world, i.e. someone like me.
Not that I post more on G+. But now that there is G+, my self-loathing knows no bounds if I post on FB, and not on G+ (for reasons listed above) and it's a bloody bore to copy-paste. And now there's a Novak Djokovic to the Federer/Nadal debate with Twitter coming along, and it's just painful to say the same thing on 3 different forums. Particularly if, for some reason hitherto unknown to human intelligence, some poor soul follows me on all three media. Even I don't like myself that much.
I know, I know, I'm free to not put up status updates. It's a free, bloody country, and a freer, bloodier internet (unless you're in the harmonious People's Republic of China). But you're no one if you don't have a social profile. Even Anna Hazare has an FB page. So I have to keep up appearances. It's just something that has to be done, like shaving or tying your shoelaces. Somebody felt it was a good idea at some point, and so now we all do it.
But more crucial to the matter, is someone really interested in what's on my mind?
Has the "Like" button dumbed down our lives?
Do I really need to copy-paste what's on your mind, and put it on my mind, so that my friends "like" your mind or my mind or someone's mind?
Mind it, most of the outrage that spews on FB these days, can primarily be answered with "OK".
An OK that would mean something on the lines of:
"I see that you're outraged, and you probably have very good reasons to be outraged and you know what, you're really nice and all, but I really don't share your grievance, so can we all just move on?"
"I know you're incensed because when you were growing up everyone told you that if you do good things only good things will happen to you, and here you're doing all the right things but OMG is your life screwed or what?"
"You see, what they didn't tell you, was that life was just as messed up then as it is now. It's just that when you were growing up, they didn't want to spoil the surprise for you by telling that it's really not worth growing up, you know? You'd still have to pay the bills, you'll still have get the money on the table, and do whatever it takes to make sure that when your kids come along you tell them that only good things will happen to them if they did good things."
"You know, life is unfair. Live with it. We live in a world where the only fundamental difference between you and Rahul Gandhi, is that his dad didn't meet your mom at a café in London before he met Rahul's mom. It's neither your fault, nor Rahul's nor really anyone's. It's not really a fault. For whatever reason, your mom wasn't in London, and his mom was. End of Story. If your mom was there, and the son of Indira had taken a liking to her, we'd probably be making videos of you right now as to how you're looting the nation under the garb of democracy. I don't think you'd be complaining."
Phew… Fit that in 420 characters, Zuckerberg...
Like / Dislike / +1, whatever…
We cool?
OK.
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