SOCIAL MEDIA — FRIEND OR FOE?
By: Keith Richardson
Social media continues to be an important means of communication, as well as a powerful influence for good or for bad. Recent news headlines have disclosed that various hate groups have fomented their hatred so effectively that people have actually killed others based upon hateful rhetoric. On the other hand, there have also been stories of social media being used to motivate people to take helpful—even heroic—actions for the benefit of others. On the NGSPA Facebook page, people often post championship information, championship running orders, championship results, brags, breeding information, and share their photos and stories about NGSPA history and tales of NGSPA past times and camaraderie.
We are each responsible for how we use social media and how much we allow ourselves to be influenced by it. The NGSPA has grown in its successful use of social media to share information that is helpful to participants, and we will continue to improve in this area. There are many participants who use social media in a positive way to share information such as newly drawn running orders at our events and other updates that fellow participants find helpful.
On the other hand, there continue to be participants who seem to have an “axe to grind” and feel it is their responsibility to recruit others to their points of view. Their messages may be directed against NGSPA clubs, NGSPA leadership, field trial chairpersons, or other participants. Sometimes the messenger has good intentions but bad information, which becomes “fact” as soon as the Enter key is hit.
Regardless of whether any particular item being spread is fact or fiction, the reader has a responsibility to approach every message with skepticism until you do your own fact-checking—or simply ignore it if the sender is someone known for negative posts. You know who these people are—they never have a nice thing to say about anyone or anything. We are all better off by just ignoring their ignorance. Don’t respond to it. Don’t spread it. Just ignore it.
I recently saw a reply to a negative post that said, “My mother taught me that if I could not say something nice about a person, don’t say anything at all.” This reply is pure and time-tested wisdom. Let’s all think about this before we say or pass along anything bad about someone or something. We are a very small community, and we all need each other. Why would anyone want to criticize and potentially drive off one of the “chosen few”?
When I first put a dog with Eldon Hongo, I will never forget him telling me, “Field trialers are among the chosen few. We participate in the most noble sport in the world. The purity of effort by our talented dogs and the purity of people exhibiting good sportsmanship. There is no sports endeavor more noble.” Let’s live up to that standard—just as our dogs do.