MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Why Posting Certain Images to Your Social Media is Insensitive

By

First off let’s define ‘Social Media’ – it is any application or online sharing facility that allows you to post your mundane (and sometimes not mundane) thoughts and images hopefully for the enjoyment of others in your group.

The most controversial groups to be part of are presently the many neighbourhood groups set up on WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, etc.

In these groups one finds an eclectic mix of people: all race groups, all ages, all cultures, all religions and all sexual permutations. Whilst this, on the one hand, is a ringing positive indication of social change as we grow closer together and unite as a people emerging from a severely divided country it is also, on the other hand, a potential hotbed of misunderstanding and breakdown in relationships between neighbours.

EXAMPLE:

An older White Man posts an image of a black woman carrying a dog in a blanket wrapped around her back – the way that most black women carry their babies. Now the background to the image shows that the woman is in a suburban (presumably white dominated) area and her clothes suggest that she is a domestic.

Because of his conditioning the White Man sees nothing wrong with this image. His conditioning since early years has been that domestic workers are instructed to do a range of activities for their employers, along with being slightly less intelligent and frankly beneath the employer.

What the White Man is not taking cogniscance of is the fact that on the Social Media platform he has posted this image to are many people of colour whose mothers and grandmothers probably were domestics and worked very hard to afford to put children and grandchildren through school and university. Images such as the dog on the back of a domestic bring painful memories to the children and grandchildren along with a sense of being persecuted once again so soon after the fall of apartheid.

ADVICE:

  1. If you are posting a image or a joke or an opinion STOP and think before you do of what other people will feel; think about how you would feel if the person/s depicted in the image were your family.
  2. Never post potentially insensitive images
  3. Avoid any images that depict people of a race/culture that is different to yours
  4. Stop and think about the wider audience, your reputation and potential fallout.

Before you knee-jerk with comments about apartheid being over and obfuscate by blaming the government, the sun, the moon and the stars – rather grow up slightly and take responsibility for your actions. Rather post images/opinions/jokes that serve the purpose of a higher goal, one that puts South Africa and ALL it’s people first and not one that brings people down or reminds them of how kak life really was under apartheid.

Go On – Share the Gqeberha Love!

Post Views: 42

Gqeberha’s Latest News and Events can be accessed on MyGqeberha.com.

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profileMy Flickr profileMy Pinterest profile

Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.