#Thinspiration

UP Beauty Online

“So many people hate me and love me for the exact same reasons. This is all the proof I need that my opinion about myself is the only opinion I should ever care about.”

                                                                                 ~ Unknown

Adam Richman’s Instagram fiasco 

“Man Finds Food”, an upcoming series scheduled to premier on Travel Channel, has been pulled from the rotation about a week after star Adam Richman (“Man v. Food,” “Best Thing I Ever Ate,” “Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America”) got into a distasteful war of words on Instagram. Initially, Richman posted a picture of himself related to his recent weight loss, something he was very proud of, with this “had ordered this suit from a Saville Row tailor over a year ago. Think I’m gonna need to take it in a little…” text, using the hashtag #thinspiration.

So here’s the rub. According to an XOJane essay by Amber Sarah, “thinspiration is very popular in pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia circles, generally consisting of pictures of emaciated bodies.” Adam was not aware, in any way, of the negative connotation of his made up word, thinspiration, and was caught off guard when a follower complained of its use.
This is where it all went terribly bad. Richman, evidently annoyed by the complaint, which I’m sure he felt was unjustified as his intention was never to insult or offend anyone or any group (his eventual apology reiterates this fact), reacted with a harsh reply prior to thinking it through. This of course is an absolute no-no on any form of Social Media, doubly true if you are famous. This set off an expletive laced volley (which we will not repeat here) of back and forth comments between Richman and followers that blew up and spread like wildfire, apparently at least temporarily costing him his new gig on Travel Channel.
   

So what can we learn here?
One of my favorite quotes, and I need to paraphrase, goes something like this: “If you wake up looking to be offended, you’ll most certainly succeed.” We get what we expect to get, and wouldn’t the world be better if we all just let most things slide, maybe care a little less (see opening quote), especially about what outer circle acquaintances think?
Social media is an extremely limited form of communication; what you end up with are flavorless words on a screen, leaving the meaning up for conjecture, and maybe worse, to the whim of the follower. We have no idea of the ‘posters’ (tweeters, texters) intention, so misunderstandings run amuck. There are no body language clues or voice inflection hints that in face-to-face can help us tune in meaning. Perhaps we as a compassionate culture should incorporate some empathy into our day-to-day Twitter (Facebook, Instagram) interactions with this understanding in mind.
And as far as reactivity, a very human and common attribute amongst us, don’t do it as it leads to nothing but disaster on social media sites. Some very passé sayings are incredibly pertinent here, despite their dated references to old fashioned spoken word. How would “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything”, “think twice before you speak”, or “count to 10 before you respond’’ work if converted for the inane world of 5 second attention spans and 20 words or less comments and replies?

Look Better, Feel Better, Live Better
Finally, thankfully our present culture typically endorses forgive and forget (of course made possible and practical by incessant, rapid fire news feeds of someone else screwing up worse than the object of our current forgiveness) as a second chance giving mechanism. And who amongst us couldn’t use a dose of second chance after inserting foot in mouth on a twitter hashtag, Instagram screenshot or facebook rant?

We all need to lighten up and care less about random opinions and care more about our own. Can’t we just talk?

     “Social media is an amazing tool, but it's really the face-to-face interaction that makes a long-term impact.”   
                                               ~ Felicia Day

                                                                                                                                                                  

PS: Any good stories of other social media faux pas that you dare to share?