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The Medal Stand at the Suffer Olympics
“I’m convinced that empathy is more powerful than hate and that our lives should be dedicated to making it go viral.” ― Zak Ebrahim, The Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice.
I’ve had a few opportunities in the past couple of years to “go viral” on Twitter.
It’s supposed to be something we all strive for. To suddenly see your tweet amass hundreds or even thousands (or, ultimate virality, hundreds of thousands) of likes and retweets and comments.
So many people on one social network, reading your words and ideas.
But here’s the thing …
Not once has it been something that I would seek out again.
Every time I’ve “gone viral,” it was a reply or comment made in the heat of the moment that I didn’t think twice about until I was flooded. They are statuses that skewed to sensationalism or referenced a particularly dicey news story of the day.
Generally, I’m not all that incendiary a character online.
To be honest, it takes a lot of energy and effort to be a lightning bolt for spite, and I’d rather put that time into other pursuits.
But when I am fired up about something, I tend to write passionately.
