Soooooo a few days after our New Year’s Eve show (when 2016 turned into 2017), I got a Twitter notification. Someone tagged us in a tweet. I go to check it out. It’s some random girl saying she went to our show and didn’t like us. I scoped out her profile; looks like she is young and she is nonstop on Twitter, and posts her amazing opinions on random things all day long. Funny story…I remembered that she made a similar tweet about us the year before, too.
Well, jeez. That was hurtful. We worked hard to put on a great show! We set up hotel discounts. I worked hard to keep people updated about details and ticket sales. We practiced. We played some special songs. Have you ever worked super hard on something only to be pooped on by some thoughtless person? I’m sure we’ve all been through that. Ugh! Rude.
Some thoughts…
–Someone please help her! She clearly has awful taste in music. HAHA
–Do NOT tell my mother about this cuz if my mom knew about this girl’s comment, she would kick this girl’s ass.
–Why do people feel the need to post an opinion so publicly like that? It’s one thing to tell a friend “I’ve heard good things about Sweet Leda but I didn’t like them.” But to run to Twitter and tell the whole world? My question is…why? What is the purpose of doing that? Does she have people critiquing her work, art, skills, etc?
–Why on earth did she feel the need to TAG us? That means she wanted us to see that unkind note. WHY. Isn’t that…mean? Or is mean just accepted now, because posting opinions is so easy these days? People are mean and we need to accept it? We’re a band so it’s “what we signed up for?” (I’ve def heard that one before.) Because she tagged us, she obviously wanted to make us feel bad. Why? I really, really am curious.
–FYI. Wanna know what I did? I actually responded. It was a while ago so don’t remember the exact wording but I think I said something like “I’ll admit, we’re not the best band ever. But we try our best and we have fun! One thing I know I would NEVER do is put down another woman on a public platform. Happy New Year to you <3”
I was pretty proud of my response. (She didn’t reply.) But I do hope it sunk in. I hope she wondered to herself even for a minute “whyyyy did I feel the need to say something hurtful, and to say it directly to the band in a public format?”
–This isn’t uncommon. In fact, it’s very common. Especially for celebrities or more popular bands. I heard a lot of people criticize Fergie’s recent performance of the national anthem. I’ll admit, I didn’t like it. But would I post my opinion on FB and tag her? Absolutely not. If I did that and said something mean, what is that saying to our children? That they shouldn’t bully others, but it’s ok for adults to say whatever negative crap they want? Because we want to get a laugh? Cuz we wanna get “likes”?
Isn’t it strange that although allllll of us screw up, some of us feel the need to call others out when they do? And we act all high and mighty?! I’ve seen people write ranting online reviews cuz they had one less-than-perfect restaurant experience. People are nuts! We gotta give others a break. Some of us are trying really hard.
Maybe I’m going out on a limb here…but shouldn’t kindness be our default setting? I don’t think it should be a choice (do I want to be a kind person or an unkind person?) I think it’s the right thing to do. We should all strive to be kind. Some might say that’s crazy. But I don’t think it’s asking too much. I want kindness, damnit. I want us to strive for love. As our default setting.
Please be careful about what you say on social media! If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it on their page. Kindness rocks.
