Anti-social Media…

One of the reasons I find social media entertaining is because the level of stupidity that some people expose in their effort to be convincing is beyond comical. There are times when it takes an extra measure of self control for me not to troll them along a little. In our proverb today, Solomon warns us about rebuking or correcting a mocker.

7 Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get an insult in return.
Anyone who corrects the wicked will get hurt.
8 So don’t bother correcting mockers;
they will only hate you.
But correct the wise,
and they will love you.
9 Instruct the wise,
and they will be even wiser.
Teach the righteous,
and they will learn even more.

Proverbs 9:7–10 (NLT)

This advice is so very appropriate for the way we interact on social media. There are two types of people mentioned in the proverb;

• The mocker – who responds with insults and hate to anyone who disagrees with them.
• The wise – who considers what they read in a discussion and responds respectfully in disagreement,  and with appreciation when they are appropriately corrected.

I have encountered both types of people in my interaction with folks on social media. There are some with whom I can disagree quite vehemently, and they with me, but we choose not to attack each other personally, and there is a level of respect despite the difference in opinion. There are others, who the discussion invariably ends with them calling me all sorts of wonderfully descriptive (though not exactly flattering) names and giving me detailed instructions regarding what I might do with my ideas, where I might put them, along with where I should plan to spend eternity. At this point I typically exit the discussion string with a brief apology for whatever role I may have played in getting their knickers in a knot. While I find this type of interaction entertaining occasionally, when I do blunder into one, I typically try to avoid engaging as it rapidly becomes counter productive to my intention of being a source of salt and light in the social media world. Interaction with those on the wiser side of the equation is much more conducive to the broadening of one’s world view, and constructive conversation