It's Different!

There are a few people in my Facebook friend list who never fail to amuse me. When my entire wall is buzzing with cricket fever, echoing the country's sentiment (Ind vs Pak match, to be more specific), they'll tweet about a hockey match between a couple of insignificant countries. When most status messages are applauding Sachin Tendulkar's 100th ton, they'll find something negative to say. If there is no current rage to denounce, they'll just get very critical about something or the other. The point is, they'd just be against the grain. They’d just be different.

But somehow, this ‘different’ is often a comment which is either negative or critical. Don't get me wrong, it is certainly not a bad thing. In fact, criticizing and cribbing is my forte. I used to get extremely pissed off with love birds littering my Facebook wall with hearts, 'aww's, 'love you', 'miss you' and 'mwah's. Public Display of Affection on a virtual social platform seems more perverse than PDA in real. As a knee jerk reaction I might have posted a sarcastic or rude message or two in a fit of irritation. But it always felt wrong, even though that realization hit later. One thing I admire about these social networking web portals is the 'options' they provide. Mr. Zuckerberg is a smart man and he understands that people can be unwittingly irritating at times. Hence, he gave us the option to hide notifications of such personalities while fulfilling social obligations as well (Refer to the earlier post: New 'Social' obligations http://slangguru.blogspot.in/2012/02/new-social-obligations.html). Such options have given me the freedom to choose the people I want to know about and how much access I grant them in my personal virtual life. Hence, it is now easy to avoid getting irked up at every other thing.

Being different or having a different opinion from the general trend is perfectly acceptable to me. In fact I respect and admire it. But I also strongly believe that to avoid the ire of most people one needs to know the art of presenting your distinct opinion in a diplomatic and polite manner, so as not to hurt someone else’s sentiments. I’m not the master of articulation and etiquette, but I get by fine just by knowing when to put a lid on my mouth. No one likes being boo-ed for having something different to say. I certainly don’t. But that doesn’t mean I’ll be a sheephead and follow the herd. Thankfully, there is a middle path: Shut up! Just because I like to think I am smarter than most people going ga – ga over Farmville, I won’t advertise it cheaply (excuse my language) by saying nasty stuff about people who play it. It definitely is the era of free speech, what with blogging and facebook-ing and twittering and what not becoming all the rage. But free comments are much like free advice. It is almost always worthless and invites flak.

Also, I’m sure having something different to say ensures lot of comments on your Facebook update but you don’t have to be something you are not, just to be popular online. Fake orgasms might sound like fun, make your partner feel macho, get the neighbors jealous but in actual it would just be extra effort on your part and not much fun.

So the next time you get irritated by a flock of girls giggling over Virat Kohli because he almost hit a double century or teenage boys updating status messages praising Tendulkar longer than their English exam answer sheets or a new couple getting mushy all over your wall control that urge to tick them off and update a status which would demean a lot of people. Because unless you are a pretty and single girl, you’d just be boo-ed down. And if you are a pretty and single girl, then ignore the entire blog. Do as you please. :P

Being different is a gift. Share it with people who will appreciate it. And don’t fake it. It might increase the number of hits of your virtual profile, but it will definitely hit your self respect as well.