Portugal is literally on FIRE !

[Hynad]

vivster said:

Hynad said:

I see. 

Maybe it doesn't give these events visibility? Making more people aware of this unfortunate situation, which then allow more people to feel empathy for those experiencing all this, ultimately making them willing to help...

Nah. It's only narcissism in place. 

I think your comment and the way you are expressing it speaks more about your person than anything else. Cynicism seems to be how you roll.

What good does it bring to "bring more visibility" to a big event anyway? If you didn't know this was happening you obviously also don't care what happens in the world anyway. Posting "prayforX" does nothing. It has literally no benefit other than pleasing narcissistic urges.

Every day there are bad things happening to people and the vast majority doesn't even get nationwide recognition, let alone world wide recognition. Highlighting a single event is actually ridiculous if you think about it. It's basically an insult to everyone who had a tragic event without thousands of people posting "empathy".

Call me a cynic as long as you don't pretend that people who post empty phrases on social media are any more good or meaningful than me. Because their impact in the world is exactly as big as mine with the difference that I don't fake empathy.

I don't post hashtags. Haven't posted a single thing on twitter since Shanmue 3 got kickstarted. And even then, my usage of it has been quite scarce, to say the least. So my online culture might not be up to date. But I also don't pretend to know the motivation behind everything that is posted by strangers on twitter. I don't think I'm all-seeing, all-knowing, and I certainly don't read minds.

The rest of your comment is basically the definition of cynicism. People are going to talk about what they see and hear. They're not going to talk or be sad for things they don't know are happening. The medias are reporting about that event. People living in Portugal are talking and posting pictures about it on social media. What do you say to them? Nothing. It doesn't affect you, so why should you care? Right?

You don't fake it, but you're certainly not helping. Instead of expressing anything positive for the people that may be affected (we have some users here who are from Portugal, by the way), or discussing the event, you complain about what people might or might not feel or think when they use that hashtag. That achieves no more than the behaviour you condemn. I'd say it does worse, because it spreads negativity and puts the focus on the people who post those tweets (those you say don't deserve the attention to begin with), instead of the people who are affected by these fires.

You are such a nice person, Vivster.