UNIT I Blogger Assignment: "Stupid cancer."
This Facebook status message has been popping up a lot in my Facebook Newsfeed lately. And not only that, but different types of people have been posting it, from my friend-who's-always-drunk (not pictured; must protect the guilty!) to my best friend's mom. Despite having a grammatically dubious sentence in the middle of it, it's received some traction in the social media world.
Basically, this is a short ode to those who have died, survived, or is currently fighting cancer. The writing is short and simple, and the call to action is direct. Its author is unknown. Through simple copy-and-paste, this message has been passed along through Facebook. I'm not sure how long it's been going around either.
When I saw this, I connected it with the second chapter in Everything's An Argument on Pathos. It's using some pretty strong emotions to ensure that you do re-post the message. First it comes out and says something we can all agree on: "cancer is stupid." It then relates to its audience by acknowledging shared wants (it drives this home by using "we"). By directly calling out people for NOT re-posting it, it makes you to stop and think "wait, I'm not one of THOSE people." I wonder how long this will stick around.
Things like these stick around FOREVER. I really can't stand it! Who exactly is this person to call me out for not posting something on Facebook? It's Facebook! Realm of the unimportant!
ReplyDeleteIf you REALLY cared, wouldn't it be better to post a link where friends could donate to the cause of eliminating cancer? This doesn't do anything for anybody except inflate their sense of self importance and irritate their (annoyingly) realistic friends like me.
These Facebook posts might as well be considered a meme in themselves since they all follow the same format, utilizing pathos to sustain their livelihood. If people weren't guilt-tripped into re-posting them then these statuses would die off instantly. April raises a good point about posting a link where one could go to donate money as opposed to merely re-posting a status you read and re-iterated in order to enact real change and show genuine support for whatever topic you are posting about.
ReplyDeleteSome other posts that fit the Facebook guilt meme are...
"In honor of 9/11, i say this: 9/11 was a day when americans were not feeling the same sense of national security. no one knew what to make of it. but in the middle of the chaos, americans began to work together to make their country what it used to be. the truth is that we will never be the same. we will forever remember and honor those that died on that sad day in history. and to help in this cause, i ask that in honor and remberence of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, that you repost this."
"Repost If You Love God, If Not Keep Scrolling."