Petty:
b) Having little or no importance or significance.
c) Marked by or reflective of narrow interests and sympathies, small minded
Originating from Middle English 'pety', small, minor, alteration of 'petit'
- Websters Dictionary
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| Wise Words From a Decent Addict |
It seems like the information age (Twitter especially) spotlights pettiness. People get excited about their # of followers, their tweet count, & their retweets like they get paid a commission for each. People follow people to see twitter beefs and silly arguments between celebrities (How many of you followed Chris Brown & Raz-B when they were having their cat fight?). Gossip blogs and "Celeb News" outlets, like TMZ, provide you with all the mundane aspects of a stranger's life, like which celeb has a sloppy beach body, or which actor is about to dump Jennifer Aniston this week (...speaking of which, doesn't it seem like she's getting dumped at least 3 times a month? Maybe she should try E-Harmony), while reality TV lets you watch the sensationalized vacations of lames in Jersey.
If you focus on petty things, you become petty, right? So if the majority of us are now petty without realizing it...is it no longer taboo to be petty? Should people take pride in their pettiness? Is that what's hot in the streets? Should we shun and ridicule those that are broad-minded much like we {used} to look down on those that were petty? Should we re-evaluate what we consider petty, making concessions for the new behaviors that this generation has acquired & tolerates?
This decent into pettiness isn't a new thing. It's been happening in different parts of society for decades. The days of protests in the streets have been replaced by complaining on message boards. The only time you really see people care about a new law being voted on is when it has something to do with marijuana being legalized. Seems like people are willing to take what they get as long as they can continue living vicariously through others or their toys. From celebrity obsession to pointless consumerism, the attention of the masses isn't on anything of actual importance. Knowing their audience, media caters to the crowd. Civil unrest, political coups, economic recession, & the energy crisis are very real issues, yet Charlie Sheen is headline news. Some people can't tell you about a single political issue that effects their life daily (Aside from rent being too damn high), but can tell you the last 12 celebs to have a nude pictures on MediaTakeOut and how Twitter reacted to it (All those chicks on Twitter that said Amber Rose has ugly titties are damn liars).
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| Judge if You Must |
To be honest, depending on how you draw the line...I'm petty as well. I notice trivial things about people/situations and joke about them. I follow Charlie Sheen on Twitter (@CharlieSheen), I went to MTO to see pics of Amber Rose (I had to do my...research), I've taken pictures of chicks wearing Jordan heels to post on FaceBook and make fun of them (That's right...want to fight about it?). The difference could be the amount of time & attention I give petty things. I try not to let petty things consume me because I get nothing out of it, aside from a few shallow laughs. To be fair, we all have petty moments & we can't be expected to be deep and cerebral all the time. Ultimately, the determination of what is and isn't petty is subjective. Just make sure the things you focus your attention on are worth it to you (but if they aren't worth it to me...I'll still look down on you).
First, is that a real Charlie Sheen quote???
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just b.c u acquire a characteristic (i.e. "petty") doesn’t mean u lose others…Even tho some1 is "petty" in certain aspects, they could still be broad-minded in others...I think peep are aware of other economic/social issues but they choose to use vehicles of entertainment (twitter/FB) for that. It wasn't til recently that businesses, activists, etc. started catching on and using social networking to grow businesses and for change. I remember years ago telling my business partner that we need a FB business page and it was gonna be the next big thing. Look at it now! I think people are more aware than we know. The prob is not pettiness but getting people to voice other aspects of their life, personality and so forth on social networks because of the change/impact it could create. And also letting them know the impact of their “petty” remarks in the world as well…Maybe every time I sign a petition of change (which I do often… sometimes weekly) I should tweet bout it? Perhaps that's it. We just don't see others' involvement/doings in the community on these fun/playful sites…And folks don’t take accountability for their remarks either…
SN: On this very day… Thursday, March 10, 2011, #TwitRelief if trending WORLDWIDE on Twitter as opposed to Charlie Sheen… Perhaps your blog has changed the world!
Yes, that's a real quote.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I didn't make this clear, but this isn't only about social media posts. Social media is an example that I used, but it's not the only place where I feel people are becoming more petty. People do look to Twitter for entertainment and something shallow & disposable fills that need, and there isn't anything wrong with that.
My point is that if all you are about is light, shallow, unimportant topics than that's what you might become.