Girls, not every guy
who sends you a message is trying to show you his penis. Some guys truly just
want to be your friend and get to know you. And as hard as it may be for you to
believe, not every guy on this planet wants to fuck you, especially over a social
network. Sure, it’s sad that there’s a lot of guys who send girls dirty,
inappropriate messages, but isn’t it just as sad that most girls won’t even
give a guy a chance; that if a nice guy sends a girl a message, containing only
an innocent “hello,” he stands a very good chance of having his conversation
screen-shot and plastered over the internet, the girl labeling him a “thirsty
pervert.” I once stated that I hate social networks; I hate what they’ve done
to our society and I hate the way they’ve changed social interactions, but the
person whom I said that to made a very good point: he said that social networks
have helped the shy gain confidence; that someone who may have never been able
to ask that girl out can now do so via a computer. Well, that’s great, but how
can our shy friend ask his dream girl out, if the minute he sends her a message
she assumes he’s trying to “hook-up” and ignores him, or even worse, slanders
his name online?
There’s
a problem in our online culture. There’s a problem with our youth. There’s a
problem with us. When a girl has to worry about what’s going to pop up in her
inbox, there’s a problem. When a guy has to worry about being labeled “thirsty”
or a “perv” because of a harmless “hey,” there’s a problem.
The
fact that many guys send inappropriate messages to girls has been addressed
countless times, but no one seems to want to talk about the other half. We no
longer live in a world where face-to-face interaction is the only way to meet
people. We have had so many advancements, but are we really making any strides?
Men are still objectifying women. Women are still cruel to men. And because of
these “advancements” our daily lives are filled with some of the most revolting
things imaginable. The internet is, at this time, nothing to be proud of; it’s
not something we should glorify or lionize. It’s a tumor. It’s growing, and
it’s progressively getting worse.
And
yet, despite all of these glaring evils, we have the power to make the internet
something great. We can change the way we use it, and we can change what’s on
it. No, we can’t obliterate every bad thing online, but we can make a conscious
effort to improve it. We can finally learn to respect women, and not just
online. We can learn to give our fellow human beings the benefit of the doubt.
We can start with social networks. There’s no reason things have to be the way
they are; it’s our choice.
We
may not like it, but the internet and social networks are here to stay; we can
either accept the fact humans suck and nothing’s going to change, or we can all
try to improve it. And who knows, maybe improving our online culture will
kick-start an even greater improvement. Maybe one small change is all we really
need to prove to ourselves that we are more than capable of doing something amazing,
not just for ourselves, but for posterity.
