I have never really rated David Kosh, but he is spot on with his latest editorial piece.
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Taken from:
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/...e-the-loudest/
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500 years down the track I’m sure humans will still be talking about the invention of the internet, and how it revolutionized communication and all that jazz. Because it is pretty incredible when you think about it.
I know it's hard - but keep it to yourself!
But there’s one aspect of our heaven-sent, super-human communication abilities which is becoming more of an issue and to be honest, pretty annoying.
I’m talking about the way that notorious whingers and complainers, have been given a new-found power to affect change where it probably isn’t really necessary.
Technology has given these trumped up whingers way more power than they deserve. All of a sudden we have important decisions being influenced by a loud minority… not even minority, they’re more like a microcosm.
Instead of whining just to their neighbours and friends and generally being ignored, internet forums, twitter, Facebook and email have given so many nutty whingers a much wider forum.
I’m not talking about sensible people complaining about important issues. I’m talking about the grumpy-guts up the street who lives their life attracted to drama and constantly complaining. The wacky whinger.
Instead of just walking by and ignoring them, the world now has to listen to their tripe. The scary thing is they’re being heard by important people and influencing decisions just because they’re being loud.
Last week a report came out listing the 10 most complained-about advertisements for the year. As you can imagine this prestigious list is comprised of ads revolving around sex, erectile dysfunction, and making fun of certain female products.
Three of the ads which made the most-complained list were eventually taken off the air or torn down from its billboard. Now I’m not going to argue the merit of such ads, or tell you that they shouldn’t have been banned. That’s a whole different discussion.
What I had a real problem with was the fact that they were banned purely because of the complaints of a select few disgruntled citizens. I’m not talking thousands of complaints. I’m not even talking hundreds. You know how many there were? 50.
50 people decided they were offended by an ad, which would have been seen by millions, so it was removed. Just 50 people imposed their will on everyone else.
It’s political correctness gone mad.
I’m told by 50 people a day on the Sunrise soapbox that I’m an idiot who shouldn’t be on TV. Yes, I know, some probably wish I was taken off the air as well.
But people are never going to agree 100% with something. Never. But that doesn’t mean we should go around and fix every little thing that someone has a problem with.
More often than not some of these whingers should simply be told to get a life or a sense of humour.
The problem is only party that someone listens to the whingers. The other part is that there is just so much whinging going on!
Complaining used to take a bit of effort. Back in the day you had to sit down with a pen and paper, write out your complaint, address it, walk to the mailbox and send it away. You had to be a passionate whinger.
Today all it takes is a few clicks to a website and a quick email. Whinging has become so convenient that it’s bordering on being a national past-time.
I wonder how many people would have cared enough about these ads to call a company or post a letter, rather than jumping on their laptop and shooting off an email.
I have a mate who is part of a group of 10 who organise media campaigns against issues they want changed. They decide to tackle an issue by all separately emailing newspapers, radio and TV to push their point of view.
He is amazed at what they get changed. 10 blokes who just organise themselves well, influence issue that effect the rest of Australia. He’s a good bloke, but that’s just crazy.
What makes it worse, and often a whole lot more vicious, is the fact that whinging can be completely anonymous. Any old Joe can sit behind their computer and type whatever they feel like, safe in the knowledge that no one will ever know it was them.
I have thought for years that newspapers shouldn’t even print a ‘letter to the editor’ unless the person writing the letter has enough guts to print their name. I call for no more ‘anonymous’ contributors to our papers.
If you don’t have the guts to put your name to your opinion then it doesn’t deserve to be acknowledged.
The internet and its endless forums for debate and comment have fuelled the fire of abusive anonymity. It’s difficult to find a Youtube video, a blog post or a Facebook comment which isn’t followed by pages of anonymous punters having e-arguments. It has allowed people to say things they would never dream of saying to someone’s face.
The internet and email have become the new toilet walls.
When individuals are given the power to really abuse someone from the safety of their anonymous cave, it’s not exactly a path our society should be taking.
We get plenty of negative feedback on Sunrise, plenty of emails criticising any number of the things we do or say.
The funny thing is though, whenever one of us responds with a simple “thank you for your opinion, we didn’t consider that perspective…” the response we get is invariably: “Oh, I didn’t realise anyone actually read these emails. Maybe I was a bit harsh with my comment…”.
Take away the anonymity and suddenly people become human again.