Why It Does Matter Who You Follow

10/18/2020

Over the past few months J. K. Rowling has continued to make headlines for her shit-show tendencies. It's often brought up the topic of 'Does it really matter that I still follow her?' on my Twitter timeline. This question has been in the forefront of my mind for a few years now after some social media drama. and I have to say, yes, yes it does.

You can judge a person by what they tweet or post online, and we know that. That's why we all try to be the best versions of ourselves and that is so much easier to accomplish when you have to power to literally edit the words you put out into the universe. (Obviously when it comes to J. K. Rowling, she is a vile human being so seemingly doesn't give a crap. It's ironic that someone with less than a 100 followers (most of which are friends or family) care so much about what version of ourselves they show online, yet someone with a huge following can't find it in herself to not share hatred. But that's a different topic for a different day.) The Internet is this magical place where you can portray whatever type of person you wish to be, without actually trying that hard. Many find solitude from that, hell, I did when I was a teen. Twitter offered me an invisibility cloak while still making it possible to create friendships and socialize. I acted brave, confident, outspoken and that attitude eventually dwindled itself into my real life self. 

When I want to get to know someone, I always go and snoop on who they're following. More often or not, we follow the people we aspire to be or the people who say/do the things that we secretly wish we could. A guy I was once talking to followed so many 'leaked nudes' accounts, which were literally accounts where people sent in their ex's nudes to publish anonymously. Yuk. Gag. Humans are spineless. But from his own tweets, he seemed very friendly, kind. He retweeted feminism forward accounts. I was and wasn't surprised. Since then, I always take it upon myself to see who people follow first. So, yes, if I have a snoop on someone's profile and see that they're following J. K. Rowling I will automatically assume that they stand by what she says. It's the modern day version of 'You're friends with a openly hostile racist? Then I assume you condone their actions.' It's one thing to follow Donald Trump, I get that, he's the POTUS, you kinda have to know what the hell is going on there. But just people who spread hatred, sadness, and negativity? No. 

We are what we consume. Make yours worth it.

There was no real purpose behind this post besides my own verbal vomit, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think it matters who people follow? 

1 comment

  1. I think it matters too! I have to say, I was heart-broken was J.K. Rowling started saying those things. I love the HP books, so it's difficult to hear an author who wrote my favorites series say such horrible things about her fellow human beings. It really brings up the topic about loving the art vs. hating the artist. But I have unfollowed various people from celebs, to people I even know, just because I don't like what they have to say or what they stand for, because honestly, I don't need any more negativity in my life! I feel like sometimes people really are who they are when they're online. You don't have to hide, and J.K. Rowling and Trump and so many others have shown their true colors via social media. The internet can be a scary place, but your corner of it doesn't have to be. So you're totally right, we are what we consume!

    Great post and very thought-provoking!

    Emily | https://www.thatweirdgirllife.com

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