A well-meaning deed went overboard

I myself am an avid Facebook user.

I’m not proud to admit this, but I use this social network as a convenient tool to follow girls online. You may condemn me as a stalker, I totally understand, nonetheless it would be apt to describe me as a healthy, non-pervert one. The girls post their pictures on a daily basis and I simply enjoy them, nothing else. Occasionally I would click on recent posts with unwavering anticipation. However, that fact has drastically changed recently.

Instead, now I click that button with a vague, indescribable fear. I must sit straight, take a deep breath and be ready for whatever may come. Don’t get me wrong, the girls still update their albums and it is not that they have become staggeringly ugly overnight. What I’m scared of is the knowledge that what would be present on my computer screen are unborn corpses, mutilated bodies, or bony children with their skinny limps and abnormally large stomachs.

You may wonder if I have mistakenly visited a wrong page. No, I’m pretty sure it is still Facebook. I have also checked times and many times again. Yes, it is Facebook. My reaction towards those grisly photos is always the same. I jerk my head away, feel a chilling shudder running along my spine, and am terrified further on seeing my literally melting legs. My former wonderland of chicks has been tainted by countless gruesome sights, and many more of them are still on the way.

The reason given is that the pictures will raise awareness about global and ethical problems such as hunger or abortion. It is absolutely justifiable. The photos all are so shocking as well as disturbing that it would definitely require you to have amnesia in order to forget. The lessons are taught the hard way, unpleasant but utterly effective. They have thoroughly pierced the veil of ignorance that has been virtually widespread in this day and age of materialism. Nevertheless, though the veil is torn apart, so are our faces.

There is nothing wrong with fighting against apathy. On the contrary, it should be backed and promoted. But has it been a little overdone? I am against this current trend of raising public awareness in an almost crude and primitive manner. Smothering others’ walls with bloody images? It is like to broadcast a movie marathon of The Ring on Cartoon Network-downright improper! One might argue that not until a person gets a dose of reality would their heartstrings be tugged. Congratulations, not only mine has been pulled, it is exactly ripped apart. The need for a wake-up call is urgent, however, respect must be given to where respect is due. The images have troubled many Facebook users. They use this network to socialize and have fun. Others like me stalk girls. Please do not let those photos detract from our supposedly joyous experience.

Further concern is the fact that posting the aforementioned pictures can be an indeed insensitive action. Once too often, the images come with elaborate description and harsh, stinging criticism towards people committed those so-called crimes against the humanity. Such vitriolic remarks can upset, dishearten and devastate a being. A case in point would be abortion. Only an insignificant portion of women who undergo this medical process consists of girlfriends whose thoughtless boyfriends forgot to use condom. The rest comprises mothers who cannot keep their children due to heredity diseases like AIDS or rubella. It hurts enough already when they had to part their babies. The pains, physical and emotional as well, feel very much similar to having your soul broken into thousands pieces. Maybe the owners of the photos thought that such a barrage of condemnations can serve as a ‘shock method’ to recover them from their relentless suffering; they couldn’t have been more wrong. Either because of an acute lack of consideration or a serious misconception, their act was equally cruel as those shown in their photos and thus unacceptable. Moreover, Facebook also took a severe blow.

I am no longer their avid fan.