Swan Song For Summer (In Retrospect)

Swan Song For Summer (In Retrospect)
Dane La Born

Dane La Born

It has been a summer of hardship and loss, despite all the fun in the sun many of us have had. It has been so rough, in fact, that to list everything in a row makes it sound like one is talking about the last year, not the last few months. Elliot Rodgers, Gaza, Ebola, Mike Brown, Ferguson, Mo., insane U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Nude photo scandals, and death after celebrity death. This summer alone we lost Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall, Richard Attenborough, and Joan Rivers. Even with distractions in the form of Sunny Day activities, it’s been hard to watch everything unfold.

More than ever before, we feel connected to these events. The reason, of course, being social media. We’ve never had quite the amount of power we do now, able to take to Facebook and voice our opinions, no matter what they may be, as events unfold in real-time, sometimes hundreds of miles away. It connects us to people we would have never had the chance to connect with even 10 years ago, and gives us a chance to make something good out of all the ugly.

Through all of this, all of the insanity of this summer, there has been a common thread, a speck of gold amidst the muck that the world dishes out. People use these horrible things as a chance to start talking, and I mean really talking, about what these issues mean. Out of Elliot Rodgers, the #YesAllWomen hashtag rose, drowning out the sicker aspects of his crime and using it as a chance to talk about things that many people had never talked about before, and try and make others aware. That was the first time I saw this thread, and in that moment, I thought it was a fluke, but it wasn’t. People wanted to talk about these issues and they didn’t have the time or means to take it to the streets or to Washington. They had a keyboard though.

From Ferguson rose discussions on the state of racism in America, and talks about the militarization of the police. Through all of that; the protests, the tragedy, the insanity; people were trying to show those who either did not or could not understand what everything that was happening meant, in the larger scheme. Spreading wisdom where there was once ignorance. This is still the internet, and no matter how much Social Justice Warrioring is done, it will always remain a place where anyone who thinks any way can make their voice heard. The idea behind many people’s arguments with the more racist individuals was to try to change the way they thought, and while it didn’t always succeed, it was always worth a shot.

When Robin Williams died, we saw discussion turn to suicide, and the truth behind it. Many people came out saying he was a coward, and that created a ripple effect that ended up focusing on informing the masses of depression as a crippling mental illness rather than just a word. After all, if the man that made people laugh — arguably more than anyone else — was actually this sad underneath the surface, what could that mean for others? It was another moment to teach those who were unaware, to show them that it isn’t always as simple as we think.

Even as I write this, internet Hashtagvism has taken off again. In response to the Ray Rice scandal, where Ray Rice brutally abused his wife, was then banned from playing a few games until the security video hit the internet and the world at large saw how heinous his actions were and the NFL fired him, two hashtags, #WhyIStayed and #WhyILeft have popped up, making an attempt to spread awareness about the reality of abuse. I was a child of an abusive relationship. It spilled over onto me. I know it is never as simple as it seems, and these tags are trying to explain that to those who may not know that reality.

While it has been a hard summer, what I have seen has been great. I have seen people trying to help one another, trying to teach, trying to live a better way. I saw my own beloved city prove to me why I love it so much with the anti-discrimination ordinance and the city council meeting that happened around it. I like to think that we, as a human race, are working toward a better way and a better world, and seeing the kind of interaction I saw this summer helps me feel that maybe that’s not just a pipe dream.

You can follow Dane on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dlaborn

Categories: Commentary