Social Media: The Absolutely Everything Medium
Social media is like a kingdom for ‘demagogues’ like Donald Trump to exploit. It is clear that he is an attention-seeking type of person, and social media — mainly Twitter, in his case — is where he feels he can write whatever he wants, regardless if it is appropriate and/or offensive, to the masses. President Trump (who I truly cringe at labelling as ‘president’) is a cyber-bully. He hides behind his computer making jabs at people he simply doesn’t care for like a little boy, and boasts about how incredible America is doing under his control. But… plot twist (just kidding)… he never owns up to anything he may have done wrong.
Moreover, it is clear he knows very well how powerful and watched he is on Twitter, actually admitting that he uses it as a place to get back at people, stating, “when somebody says something about me, I am able to go bing, bing, bing and I take care of it.” It terrifies me (and many others too, of course) that America’s leader thinks so little about what he’s going to say next that he can describe his effort to tweet by saying “bing, bing, bing.” Although, this lack of thought explains how he thought it was completely alright to call the leader of North Korea, a country who has threatened the world with nuclear technology, “Little Rocket Man.”
Unbelievable.
So, yes. I believe social media empowers characters like Donald Trump (who should never have been given any power, in my humble opinion) to showcase his true, ugly, colours. Trump even believes it is what helped him win the presidency. He gave credit social media for allowing him to “speak directly to voters” and “bypass” what he felt was “unfair media coverage.” Do YOU think the outcome of the 2016 election would have been different if he wasn't tweeting up a storm?
Nevertheless, on the flip side, I think that the beauty of social media is that anyone can have a voice on it - hopefully infusing it with insightful ideas and thoughts. In the case of Oprah, I believe social media is exactly what sparked people to believe she could be run for president in 2020, after many heard her powerful speech at the Golden Globes and posted about how incredibly inspiring it was. Thus, #Oprah2020 was a trending topic on Twitter. Articles posted online, such as “Social Media Fuels Speculation That Oprah Winfrey Will Run for President in 2020” by The Washington Free Beacon, have expressed enthusiasm for the potential of a Prez Oprah.
So, I guess other people agree with my hunch that social media was the main driver here, once again. I believe that as much as people like having a laugh and seeing absurdity, they also crave harmony and balance, and most importantly someone who can bring people together (AKA someone who can reconcile). This has to be why positive, influential leaders like Oprah have the power to get individuals to post and converse about relevant and important topics (i.e. #TimesUp)! Could some filter bubbles also be popping!?
Now back to #Oprah2020.
Pictured below, are a couple of tweets from celebs who are really into that whole idea; just sitting, waiting, wishing (read: praying), I assume.
Someone was even so hopeful that they took the trending movement to Instagram and made their own display picture!
But sadly, recent reports now say that she said she is not planning on running (and yes, this information was retrieved from multiple sources on my social media feeds). *insert crying face*.
To sum this all up, I believe social media is an everything medium, and is for everyone. Exploitive leaders (Trump), and people representing the hope for a brighter future (Oprah), all have a space on it, and most notably, a constant flow of people watching and/or responding. So, there’s that.
