Social media...it is a bastion of free speech (as long as you say and think what big brother wants you to say and think). It is on social media that you can post pictures of your newborn child (Mary, hold him still...and get those shepherds out of here...this one is for his grandfather) or describe in great detail your political beliefs with nary a hint of censorship.
Of course, that last half of the last sentence is a huge lie. It is like the people at Facebook, twitter, and google have never read 1984 or the constitution. But that is not what this little rant is about. Today's blog is about trending...specifically what occurred in the last couple of weeks. Recently a post about a quarterback was "trending". Trending is when a lot of people are liking and reposting something. This particular post was describing how this quarterback was a "warrior" for playing in a meaningless game while dealing with an injury.
I won't go into the specifics of it. I won't name the team or the quarterback. But I will offer this...people who play sports for giant sums of money aren't warriors. They aren't heroes. They aren't people who we should idolize for their magnificent exploits. History is full of real warriors, heroes, and those who have accomplished great things. They are the ones who should be worthy of discussion. They should be "trending".
Here are some examples of what my world of twitter would report as trending:
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull was a great warrior. He stood up against the idea of being put on reservations by the invading white man armies. He led his warriors to wins in the Battle of the Rosebud and Little Big Horn. He refused to be "told" what to do by the American government. Read more about Sitting Bull here.
Desmond Doss
Corporal Desmond Doss, who was enlisted though he was a conscientious objector, was a medic in the Pacific during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for saving lives while he was wounded during the fighting on Okinawa. The film "Hacksaw Ridge" is based on his heroic exploits.
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer, and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. He faced great the great unknown of space travel and accomplished what nobody had ever done before.
Sitting Bull, Desmond Doss, and Neil Armstrong all deserve to be trending...forever! So excuse me if I don't gush over a guy who throws a football with a little bit of discomfort. I hold my heroes to a higher standard.
So...do you think this post will be...trending?
Trending? It's all relative. Sports has had it's true heroes. Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson for two. I agree that sports is out of whack. Show business too. We'll bankrupt ourselves to be entertained. Go to the library. It's full of entertainment and it's free. You mentioned Sitting Bull. He was killed for trying to maintain his rights. Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it's trending, but along Neil Armstrong/Sally Ride lines, people like them, who entrusted their lives to space technology to get them where they needed to go -- and. more importantly, home again -- inspired the 2020 movie "The Midnight Sky," directed by and starring George Clooney, which left me, frankly, very sad, for what we're doing to the earth and toward its inevitable end. I didn't sleep well that night.
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