I’ve heard this phrase “reactionary culture” being thrown around a lot, usually in the context of someone who is being criticized by many people on Twitter. “Reactionary culture” to me means crowds of people on the internet responding to a person or idea in a quick manner. As a reaction, it’s the first gut instinct you have that gets communicated to the world, via the internet. I personally don’t like how people use this reactionary culture statement as almost an excuse for why they shouldn’t listen to valid criticisms because the criticism gets lumped in with the mean-hearted comments. The internet does this wonderful thing of giving people a voice. Sometimes you are confronted with a mass of voices that are similar to your own and sometimes we are confronted with voices that criticize everything we do, but you get to hear both opinions.
When reactionary culture becomes a problem is when it prevents people from being heard. The whole point of seeing the masses reacting is that you get to hear varied opinions that you wouldn’t normally hear. So, although I disagree with people like Tomi Lahren and Milo Yiannopoulos, both people who I think use anger and shock rather than fact as a way to communicate their points, I want to hear everything they have to say because either their going to talk themselves into the ground or do something redeeming. I respected Tomi Lahren so much when she stood up for her thoughts on abortion despite a split with her party. CBS Sunday morning did a piece on how Twitter attacks over a piece that wasn’t even published was getting so much hate. A reaction on something you didn’t read or listen to isn’t ok.
I’ve been thinking about this in response to a situation where a Youtuber who reviews makeup was criticized by mass amounts of people because she came out with a vitamin line. Describing her critiques as hate both demeans the valid points while reinforcing the idea that no matter how valid your concern is, your point doesn’t matter. If these people aren’t even going to buy the vitamins, you could argue that these people have no right to criticize. But I think in terms of safety, of course something should be said. On this specific case, there’s a comment floating around that the vitamins will alter the effectiveness of birth control pills; whether that is true or not (and based on the studies it’s true) that is very important for people to know, and if the person sellin the vitamins isn’t saying anything than of course someone in the comments should. If a well worded and argued comment inspires someone who is ignorant about a subject to research more then that comment was worth it.
It should also be said that there is a difference between a well-worded criticism and mean-hearted comments. I understand to a certain extent that people saying things like “go die” and “you’re an idiot” are doing so partially because they have an inability to articulate feelings and partially because these are actual thoughts that people are having. I have left one “hate” comment in my time and it was on a Miley Cyrus dance battle video from the MTV music awards, and it was along the line of “What a cheater Miley is for using a rapper in a dance battle.” The reaction from everyone else was immediate and harsh, I even got a “fuck you.” Why did I say that? I was twelve, and legitimately thought he was a cheater. As a teen, I thought everything was so cut and dry that in my head I was the only person who thought that and I just had to say something about it. That was the first thought that popped into my and I typed in the comment section and uploaded it. Of course cruel comments for the sake of cruelty should be ignored, but this post is really about the comments that are getting ignored because they are labeled as nothing more than hate.
So, I know this may be hypocritical because this is literally an opinion piece on opinions, but sometimes we don’t have to have an opinion. It’s ok to be neutral on a subject, especially if it doesn’t concern you or is distracting from other more important subjects. You don’t have to be angry about another warm eyeshadow palette, it’s just makeup, don’t waste your anger and passion on something trivial. And I think most importantly, maybe just give yourself some time to think over something that makes you angry. The world will benefit so much more from a thought-out critique than your knee-jerk reaction. In that response time you may realize that you were wrong, or that maybe your opinion isn’t based on anything, just what other people have told you or what you always assumed. As a creator, maybe the best thing we can do is confront our critics and either learn something or reaffirm our beliefs.
Better Off Reading 