Friday 17 October 2014

Celebrate the good

It buzzed past on my facebook feed that Mark Zuckerburg was donating $25 million US to try to stop the spread of Ebola, as it is in the critical stage, and needed to be contained NOW.

I clicked on the comments, and there was a trail of hate, along the lines of "Well he spent $100 million buying a private island" or the very mature "Facebook gives you Ebola". How does something positive attract all this negativity?

I have noticed on Facebook there seems to be people that can't help spouting hate - they see a concert promoter post about a pending concert, and instead of just scrolling past, they have to jump on and share with the world how much they hate the artist. I am dumbfounded by the energy involved on something that shouldn't even fill your thought processes for a nanosecond. If you don't like the music, don't buy the tickets.

Back to Zuckerburg. We all saw the movie, we all have judgments based on that telling of the story. However, this time he's doing something really generous, that benefits us all. So what if he got himself a private island at vast expense. I am paying off a house that is purely for my benefit. The price difference is huge but the end result is the same. The amount of his personal income he is donating to this cause is also vastly greater than I can give.

I find it a very disappointing side of humanity, this tendency for an outpouring of hate on anything and everything. I'm not saying don't voice your opinions on injustice. Just don't share your negativity on things that don't matter, and celebrate the good where you can. If we showcase and promote the good in the world, there may just be more of it!

Linking up with ThankfulThursdays, as I'm thankful some people are donating and providing money where it is badly needed.

6 comments:

  1. Yep, I just don't get it Lydia. All that energy spent on being negative, imagine if it was aimed at something good.
    I think some people feel that that need to have a really big opinion on everything, when sometimes it's just not their worry.

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  2. I don't get the endless negativity either Lydia. Occasionally I see it on public sites like Mamamia (usually I avoid the commend section). It's craziness. I can't see the point. I am not a Buddhist but from what I understand, the underlying principle is "being good makes you happy". It's true. Putting out all that hate and criticism just breeds hate and criticism, and at the end of the day you end up feeling yucky about it. Thank goodness the Zuckerbergs and the Gates of this world do donate squillions to actual causes. Of course the wealthy are going to do seemingly crazy things like buying islands, or rebuilding Titanics. Behind that crazily wealthy and powerful will never be ethical when there is so much poverty in the world, but at least the rich and powerful have the means to inject money into causes like Ebola.

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  3. Sad isn't it. I don't know why but I've noticed that Australians seem to be really good at the negativity too (tall poppies). You've pointed out why I dislike using Facebook because you see this type of thing on it daily compared to Instagram which is a much healthier place. Great news about the donation.

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  4. It's fantastic he has injected money into Ebola. We need someone to do it! Good luck to him if he can afford to buy an island!

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  5. I always find it interesting when people hate on people with lots of money for what they spend it on. I mean..what else are they supposed to do with it? Keep it in a room and roll around in it? For the record I would totally do that if I had a lot of money lol.

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  6. I think that too many people who don't have the guts to say what they want in person and be accountable for it say it on Facebook. I say go Mark, it's not his fault his company has done so well, it's the fact society now prefers to interact this way than in real life!

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