If the past three weeks have taught me anything, it’s that people have opinions on a variety of topics.
There are those for the protests in Ottawa, those against the protests in Ottawa, those from other countries who have an opinion on the protests in Ottawa. And believe it or not, mixed somewhere in all of the opinions are non-political opinions, such as those about sports, business and entertainment.
But predominantly, the past three weeks have been a tidal wave of political opinions.
The great thing about living in Canada is that, as part of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we have the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expressions, including freedom of the press and other media and communication.
For all of its faults, social media is a very effective medium at giving people a platform to express their opinions, beliefs and thoughts. All one needs is an internet connection and an email address to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or whatever other social media platform and they can instantly start posting.
It’s a great way for some to connect with those from their past, stay informed on local events in real time, or to join groups of other users with similar interests.
However, it can also be overwhelming.
Over the past few weeks, I have found myself trying to “cleanse” my timeline of groups or people that have posted or shared certain things that I personally do not agree with.
Normally, I just skim over my timeline but with all of the events in Ottawa the past few weeks, I’ve found myself reading more of these opinions and watching more of the videos, and it made me anxious, angry… for no real reason other than I didn’t agree with their views.
My wife was having similar feelings. Instead of becoming “keyboard warriors” we would sit on the couch and vent. After a while, the conversation would end with a statement along the lines of, “I’m exhausted, this is stupid…”
Sure enough, we’d end up looking at social media again while watching Netflix at night.
And the cycle continued.
Finally, on Monday afternoon while having a coffee, my wife looked up at me after reading yet another social media post and said, “I’m muting this person, I can’t do it anymore.”
Like a character from an old Looney Toons cartoon, a lightbulb went on above my head.
“That’s brilliant.”
For those that don’t know, you can “mute” or “unfollow” a person on Facebook while remaining friends with them. You can permanently unfollow a person, or mute them for 30 days.
After muting a few people, I found my social media experience to be much more relaxing – it was finally about looking at sports news, finding out what is going on locally, and just seeing what friends are up to.
The past three weeks of events in Canada have taught me three important things.
Our civics curriculum in high school needs a massive overhaul. For example, “first amendment rights” are not a thing in Canada, as the first amendment to the Canadian Constitution was the Manitoba Act, 1870. Far too many people are confusing the First Amendment of the American Constitution and Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that is on the education system.
Kindness goes a long way. For example, I wrote a column a few weeks ago that many disagreed with. Some responded with aggressive or rude phone calls and emails, while others were very polite. One gentleman called me, calmly said he’d like to talk about the piece, and for the next 15 minutes we had a very civil conversation that, in the end, revealed we agreed on more than we thought we did, in my opinion.
Nobody is forcing you to read certain social media posts or videos, or forcing you to watch a certain TV news broadcast or read a certain newspaper or website. If you don’t agree with it, don’t read or watch it.
The mute button is your friend.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Feedback and comment is welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
