Symple Mistake

Can you try and show some sympathy? Obviously empathy is out of the question here. What the symbol represents to me, that erect thumb protruding from the fist... you probably can't fathom the shame that engulfs me. But on the other hand, you can't protest with a plea of ignorance any longer.

We are finding the courage to ask, to beg: please stop. 

I like to post just as much as anyone with an internet connection, but please don't “like” my posts.  Post traumatic stress is not a joke. My amygdala fires and I flash back. It's there in my mind: the white plastic gloved hand and blue cuffed work shirt...

No, I don't think it is appropriate or necessary to tell you what the exact scenario was in my case, and there are scores of confessions that make me feel as if I've retained some innocence, some precious naivete.  My ultimate goal would be to forget entirely, but I, and so many others like me, need help, sensitivity and cooperation before we can begin to heal.

Even now I can see that little blue and white binary idol, like a screen shot in my mind, and every time I log in, it's there to greet me. With a ding on my phone, or a buzz in my pocket... no more.  Please.

 I've written app developers and gone through an email gauntlet of insanity.  But with countless hours and phone calls routed throughout the world, I keep running into the same firewall of menace. The thumb reigns, and the network laughs. Thumbs Up. Up what?

But I'm not the only one stepping into the light.

We're forming a coalition for equality and campaigning for true net neutrality. As fellow users of a free internet, we will end this symple mistake. We seek out vindication and peace for our cyber community. We raise our fist to stop the thumb.

#symplemistake

We need your help to create this sustainable sacred space.  Help us stop this misguided form of antisocial networking.  There is an ever increasing number of victims who are finding the moxie to speak out, but so many  more are still too ashamed or afraid of discriminatory repercussions.  

Help us.  The fear and chemical imbalances... the night terrors and heart palpitations inflicted by the need to click "like" must change.  The vote of approval should amount to something less prone to trigger emotional suffering. Let us appreciate a smiley face or some other universal kudos. Perhaps, this time, one lacking patriarchal effusion. A symbol less invasive, because right now, it is cyber sadism, plain and symple.  The soul slapping click of a mouse might be unintentional, and the fact is, most people do in fact like it.  They like getting thumbed even more than you like giving it.  Unfortunately it's a rampant cultural phenomenon, but now it is time to realize that this little dopamine burst of joy for you is pain and anguish for we few.  Hear our voice.   How many times, and for how much longer? If not mercy, at least compassion.  Join, and our cause can only gain traction.

For those of you that do understand #symplemistake
If not for me, than for the children.