Summary

The article emphasizes the need for individuals to take personal responsibility for their actions and the spread of negativity, rather than solely complaining about the world's problems.

Abstract

The author of the article expresses fatigue with the rampant complaining and negativity on social media, particularly in response to global events and societal issues. They point out that while it's easy to criticize others, it's more important to recognize that everyone contributes to the world's problems through their actions and treatment of others. The article suggests that the root of many global issues, such as racism, tribalism, and corruption, lies in individual behavior and the failure to treat others with fairness and respect. It also criticizes the media's role in amplifying negativity for engagement. The author advocates for personal accountability and kindness as the key to counteracting the cycle of negativity and making a positive impact in the world.

Opinions

The author is tired of the endless stream of complaints on social media, which they believe contributes to the stress of observing global issues.
They argue that the outrage and speaking out on social media often do not lead to meaningful action or change.
The article highlights the hypocrisy of people who criticize others for behaviors they themselves exhibit.
It points out that tribalism and ethnocentrism are significant issues, using Nigeria as an example where different tribes discriminate against each other.
The author notes that African Americans can also be discriminatory towards Africans, despite the historical context of slavery.
The article suggests that the cycle of negativity begins with individual actions and spreads through social interactions and media.
It criticizes the media for perpetuating negativity due to its tendency to drive engagement and profit.
The author believes that personal kindness and fair treatment of others are essential to breaking the cycle of negativity and preventing future evils.
They emphasize that complaining without taking action is a way of avoiding personal responsibility for solving problems.
The article concludes that while the world will always have problems, individuals can make a difference through their own positive actions and treatment of others.

Stop Complaining About Everything Going on in the World

You’re part of the problem too

Going through social media these days is very overwhelming. Many things are happening, and many people are amplifying it to make it look like one string of unfortunate events. Honestly, 2020 has been eventful — we’ve never seen any year like this before. I agree.

My problem is with the endless complaints. Have you been on Twitter lately? I guess it’s because people have been indoors and are just using the pent up energy to react to each new development in the world. But I’m tired of the complaining.

Just as we got tired of seeing COVID-19 content, I’m tired of seeing complaints on how someone somewhere is behaving, how the world is terrible, and how one race, gender, group is wrong while the other is the better one, etc. It’s stressful to see.

I have a question. Haven’t bad things been happening before now? Why do you think people are so outraged, and it seems like everyone is speaking out?

There’s now a medium to see what’s going on in the world and air our views. We see people’s opinions, and we are triggered to comment further — and it goes on and on till it the matter dies out — then we jump on the next problem.

The problem with this is, we get so used to talking alone, without taking any action — few people protest, and that’s the end of it.

But we are measured by how we treat others and not what we say. There’s always talk about racism. But within ourselves, we still treat people beneath us unfairly. In Nigeria, for example, there’s unapologetic tribalism. You see, Hausas hating on Igbos, Igbos hating on Yorubas, Yorubas hating on Hausas, and vice versa.

Ethnocentrism is rooted in our veins. One tribe believes their way is the right way. They see other tribes as beneath them.

African Americans treat Africans in the same way. You see African Americans making fun of Africans because of their accents, culture, etc.

Yes, bad things are happening, but everyone acts so hypocritically. We only start to see faults when what we’re used to dishing out to people is dished out to us.

Yes, Africans were sold to slave traders, but the sad thing is, it’s still we Africans that sold our fellow Africans for money — out of greed.

We Nigerians complain about corruption and bad leadership, but we don’t act fair to our fellow country people.

I’m not blaming a particular group here. I’m blaming the individual. It is easy to generalize problems without looking inwards. The challenges of this world started from a single source and spread from there — so does everything.

When we give off negativity to the next person, that person takes it and gives it to the next person, and it spreads. With social media, we are now more connected. We can spread our ideas, feelings, characters, traits, with the world, with just a single post — one person would like it, and reshare to his thousands of followers until millions of people have seen that content — that’s how negativity and positivity alike spread.

Sadly, the media thrives on these negative news because somehow, they drive the most engagements and get more people talking — they have to eat, so they keep publishing the negative news to rattle people up.

Imagine a world where it’s the opposite — it sounds like the garden of Eden because negativity is what drives this world.

So amid all the negativity, all we can do is to be good to the next person. You might wonder why there’s so much suffering in the world and how bad things keep happening; it all started with how one person treated the next person.

Would there have been slavery if our forefathers stood their grounds and didn’t trade their fellow men for money? Would George Floyd have died if the Cop treated him better? Would there be rape cases if we didn’t see ourselves as objects?

Every evil starts with the individual. More evil will still come unless we decide to be good to the next person and treat them how we would like to be treated. Pointing fingers won’t change anything. It would only increase the hate in everyone’s hearts.

We’re continually building our fates with what we do and how we treat others. It’s all a domino. When we mistreat others, somehow they mistreat the next person, and the negativity spreads, then one day, something big happens, and we see it on the news, and the whole complaining starts again.

We complain again about how bad the world is and still not make the adjustments on our end.

Complaining is the easiest thing to do because we remove the responsibility of actually solving the problem from within. There has never been a time in the world of complete bliss — bad things would always happen. But you make the difference by how you treat people around you. Because what you do comes back to you.