you extremist you! *pulls cheeks*
The rush to create a personal brand online is leading us to define ourselves in black and white. The internet has given us so many places to voice our opinion that often we have the means but no opinion and force ourselves to have one.
Are you with Kolaveri or are you against it? Do you think that was a flashmob or not?
Slot. Slot. Slot.
Clearly you can’t say you’re a musician and then go on twitter and not have an opinion on every piece of music being shared. You may not even have an opinion on A R Rahman’s new piece but to build your brand, you must.
God forbid you have mixed feelings about anything. God forbid that you should want to comment on a post without sounding like an extremist. With 140 character profile descriptions and your life laid bare online, there is an urgent need need to define your brand.
Comments, likes, posts, tweets and status updates seduce you into giving an opinion. Any opinion. And Quickly.
No wonder then that all you see online on forums, sites, social networks are angry, pissed-off people who either rush to embrace the next new thing or shred to pieces anything that they don’t instantly love.
Read this disrespectful comment on someone’s post – ‘You are either joking or your ideological-obsessiveness has made you stupid.’ Or just look at the unprovoked nasty messages Chetan Bhagat gets on twitter.
And it doesn’t matter that the extremists have no real reason for hating anything.
Why? Because online you either love it or you hate it. There is no in between. No one wants to engage with a moderate voice.
Moderation makes not a good brand, I suppose.
