When Michelle Obama sent out her Sad Face Photo on her #BringBackOurGirls hash tag Thursday, she inadvertently identified a growing trend: hypocrisy hippos now dominate the social expediency of Twitter.
Showing genuine concern for the innocent victims of abductions used to include personal visits to their agonized loved ones. Now sending your simpatico is as fast as you can attach an “appropriate” picture to a 4-world hashtag.
Nobody has to break a sweat when using Twitter. You can send messages making it appear as if you really care about 276 Boko Haram-kidnapped Christian school girls between gulps of java or slurps of iced tea.
For hundreds of politicians, celebrities and self-ascribed do-gooders, almost overnight, Twitter’s hash tag has become the new Kumbaya.
Lay it out in less than 140 characters and you’re ready to move on to the next publicity hunt, leaving no skin in the game.
In Michelle Obama’s case, throw in a sad sack picture making you look heartbroken and even woebegone, and you’ve got it made--even though Disqus commenters like sfcpete are fast to post: “Looks like she’s advertising for a lost dog”.
Used to be a time when ordinary folk believed the “Sorry for your loss”, “You are in our prayers and thoughts” comments of the politicians who make up world leadership.
That was until the masses figured out that among the about a billion people Tweeting worldwide, a whopping 80 percent of world leaders are making use of the hashtag.
Little wonder why political sincerity is in serious doubt.
President Barack Obama is the top world leader on Twitter.
That should tell us something.
“Barack Obama is political king of the fake Twitter followers, with more than 19.5 million online fans who don’t really exist.” (Daily Mail, Sept. 24, 2013)
It shouldn’t surprise many that the man with the false birth certificate has a false Twitter following.
Obama is the undisputed leader of of millennials (age 15-34). Twenty-nine percent of millennials also use Twitter.
Sadly, faking sympathy in the virtual world is the latest trend of the pop culture.
The abduction of the Christian Nigerian school girls dubs a new name to the ‘Queen of Mean’: “Mrs. Hashtag”.
Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
