Mirth vs. Mockery
By: Goivanna Irelund
Tags: Emotions, Social Media, Facebook, Social Change, Facebook Reactions

What Your Use of the Facebook Laugh Reaction Says About You

When Facebook first released its laughing face, I thrilled to the possibilities. With one quick click I could tell my friends I liked their jokes, share a giggle with childhood pals, and give my little brothers a healthy dose of good-natured, virtual teasing. Almost like the old days.

Over the past year, however, I have come to hate it. Yes, I still use it on occasion, but I wish it did not exist. In a few short months of global turmoil, I saw the laughing face transform from a means of chuckling with others to a cruel, silent form of mockery.

Living in the U.S. Midwest, perhaps I see more examples of the mirthless usage than most users do, as it seems more often than not that the far-right conservatives in my area prefer it as their default reaction (see examples from a local news channel below).

What does your use of the laughing face say about you?

Do you:

Use it as a means to share a chuckle

2. Use it to laugh at opinions in opposition to your own

3. Choose it because it riles people up

4. Choose it because might make someone smile

If you chose options 1 and 4, congratulations on making positive choices in the treatment of your fellow human beings. However, if 2 and 3 better describe you, I would like to posit a handful of questions you may not have considered.

If your reaction is to an individual, would you laugh aloud if they made the same statements or posed the same arguments to you, face-to-face? Would you take similar pleasure in their grief, disgust, concern, sadness, worry, anxiety, fear, frustration, or anger? If the answer is no, do you believe in all truth that the reaction is less harmful, or hurtful, or malicious in emoji form?

If instead, your reaction is to a public or private organization, news story, etc., would you laugh aloud during their press conference, group meeting, or other event? Would you break out in guffaws over their statements of death or loss, sadness or grief? If not, why do you believe it’s an acceptable reaction in the virtual world?

I must admit here that I am not one for coddling the masses. I believe people are far more prone to imposing their sensitivities and frailties on others’ behavior than they should be, and yet I cannot conceive of the rudeness the laughing face so often conveys. I picture the same people invading my personal space spurting out gales of laughter, spittle and all. It infuriates me. I want to react to their laughing faces with an angry face of my own. A righteous anger swells within, yearning to squash the bullies and protect the hurting.

Yes, I understand the implications of most scornful reactions. The reactors often believe they are making a political statement about the media, the government, the establishment, or popular beliefs. Somehow, they seem to think, mockery makes them look less like “sheeple” and more like free-thinking, intelligent humans.

To such arguments, here are my counters:

Yes, you stand out from the rest. As a prick. Social media shakedowns are common in the business world these days. As a professional who has hired and fired employees, I would hesitate to hire an applicant who mocked others openly online, and I would considering firing one who chose the wrong story to ridicule. The hurting and oppressed among us yearn for compassion now more than ever, and these days, nearly everyone qualifies as the hurting among us. Agreement or no, compassion is classier than scorn. The next time you experience pain or loss, what will you say to the soul who ridicules you?