Your Opinion No Longer Matters

When you browse through your social media feed what do you see?

No longer are the days of cat videos, pictures of what we had for dinner or updates on the amazing places you visited while on summer vacation.

Instead we are inundated with opinions, thoughts and anger towards this current COVID19 landscape. Families are divided. Friends have been removed and women named Karen are losing their jobs based on viral videos showcasing epic Planet Fitness meltdowns.

Why is that?

The simple answer is divide.

We are mode separated and divided in our beliefs than ever before.

Science is now distributed by someone you went to high school with who suddenly became an expert on infectious disease whilst his days at the Jiffy Lube were hindering his true intellect and interest in the subject. .

Politics and economic policies are now being led by that one mom in your Facebook Moms Group who suddenly seems to understand the complexities of State funding better than Robert Reich.

• Mask or no mask?
• COVID19 is real or it’s some government conspiracy?
• Vaccine or no vaccine?
• Trump or no Trump?

The fact of the matter is this - your feelings no longer matter.

Yeah I know - and to think we were all holding off on Bill Gates becoming GRU and forcing us into tight jean overalls while dancing to Pharrell.

Here’s the thing….

Your opinions don’t matter.

Do you know why?

Because your opinion has done absolutely nothing to stop, slow or prevent these things from happening….

• 16 year old Andre Guest lost his life. Herman Cain, a former Republican presidential candidate is no longer with us. U.S. Senator Annie Glenn died of health complications related to the coronavirus….
• These are real people from both sides and no sides of the fence that were impacted.
• The Labor Department has reported that for June nearly 18 million Americans were out of work. 1.2 million people filed first-time claims for jobless benefits last week.
• 30 million Americans who are currently already claiming unemployment benefits.
• J. Crew, Gold’s Gym, Neiman Marcus & hundreds of other nationwide businesses have filed for bankruptcy.
• 43% of all small businesses have closed and may not reopen. Generations of businesses now have been decimated.
• 19,900,000 global cases of COVID19 have been reported as I write this. With 732,000 deaths associated.
• In the United States we show 5,100,000 COVID19 cases reported with 162,000 deaths associated.

Opinions shared across social media riddled with cut and paste feedback loops have yet to do anything positive for what we are all experiencing.

They have not slowed the spread. They have not stopped businesses from going under. They have not stopped the huge increase of unemployment that has eclipsed the Great Depression.

Your opinions did however cause fear, doubt, divide and uncertainty.

Shared opinions without action lead to harmful rhetoric.

Stop telling people to wear or not wear masks.

Stop telling people Trump is the Devil or the Savior.

Stop telling people your thoughts on infectious disease.

Unless….

You post action and lead people into something they can do to participate in fixing whatever problem you are highlighting.

As you look for the next post to share on how masks are taking away your personal right to get vaccinated while going back to school as you drop off your absentee ballot for Joe Rogan this November - think of sharing this.

Spread resources and action plans not harmful buzzfeed articles…

Here are two very different action plans based on two separate sets of beliefs.

Group 1: COVID19 is Real & You Want to Help

• Nationwide List of Food Pantries: https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank
• Nationwide List of Health Departments: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/index.html
• VOTE! https://vote.gov

Group 2: COVID19 is A Government Made Virus Aimed at Limiting Your Rights:

• List of Governors by State with Contact Information: https://www.usa.gov/state-governor
• Contact your Local Elected Officials: https://myreps.datamade.us
• VOTE! https://vote.gov

Stop the spread of opinions & click bait articles and spread the word on things you can influence to make change to support your opinion. That is what makes this country so great - you can choose.

Honestly I need more memes and cat videos in my feed - so please choose your direction and next steps wisely. And don’t forget - WuTang is for the kids.

Cheers,

Kolby