Asha Coutrier

UWRT 1102
Ms. Voltz
February 10th, 2016

The trouble with todays snarky pipsqueaks who break off a sentence or two, or who
write a couple of mean paragraphs, is that they dont go far enough; they dont have a
coherent view of life. Spinning around in the media from moment to moment, they dont
stand for anything, push for anything; theyre mere opportunists without dedication,
and they dont win any victories.

David Denby, Snark: Its Mean, Its Personal, and Its Ruining Our
Conversation (2009)
Not going to lie, I enjoy my fair share of arguments, when they're constructive,
otherwise it's pretty much useless to be because I am not only wasting my time, but
there's nothing new to be said or learned from it. By no means am I, or really any nongenius person, really capable of knowing every and anything about all things, but that
doesn't mean that I or others cannot be knowledgeable beyond the basics of whatever
issue is being discussed. The introduction of the Internet and other forms of media has
made life exponentially easier when it comes to connecting with others and saving lives,
but it also made it more difficult for these newfound acquaintances to chat with one
another. Also, it created a great deal of people, who I absolutely cannot stand, who
bounce from discussion to discussion as part-time activists with nothing of substance to
add. It's great that people care about Global Climate change, but how many of them even
do the basics as observing Earth Day or recycling. It's also great that the Black Lives
Matter Campaign and all those other groups advocating for both minority and nonminority rights exist and care about the ending of police brutality for all, regardless of
race; but, how many of those people that stand with these groups correct people in their
ignorance or hold meaningful discussions when topics like race relations in America
comes up. Not many.
So not only is this counter-intuitive, but it projects a false image of those within my
generation to others that our attention spans last as long as the vine we were watching.
We all have words and sometimes really insightful ideas, but they are of no use if they're
only heard instead of enacted upon. So while media is great for educating people and

spreading opinion/ideas, people should also do so when they're not online. The manpower is there for some serious change to happen if people just remain steadfast in
putting their effort into constructive activism.