Social Media “Dragging”

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The public respnded to Kendall Jenner’s controversial Pepsi ad with hatred and mean comments, what some would consider “dragging.”

Jamila Williams, Staff Writer

Recently on social media, many people have become very opinionated to the point of where it could quite possibly be seen as bullying. People have become so opinionated that the minute a person expresses his or her views, they are tackled down by an opposing view.

So why have people become so sensitive to the ideas of others? Has it always been this way, has social media brought out the worst in people?

On social media it has been said that there has been a complete change in the way people react to incidents that they personally do not agree with. It seems as though “dragging” someone for making a mistake could possibly be a new “trend.” Dragging is a form of saying very mean things through social media about a person, company, etc. The question here is why are people drawn to the idea of causing someone’s life to be miserable for two days and then constantly bringing it up afterwards. Could this be seen as cyberbullying?

The controversial Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner is an example of what some might call “dragging.” The Pepsi commercial displayed Jenner coming from a modelling shoot and outside of the building a protest is going on. To end the gap between police and citizens, Jenner gives a cop a Pepsi and the protest is simply over. Many people felt that Jenner was demeaning social injustice protests and that not only a Pepsi can could stop the police brutality and social injustice amongst people of color. The ad and Jenner had been talked about so much that the advertisement had to be taken down.

Another case that many people are aware of is the Kehlani incident that happened in March of last year. The singer/songwriter was dragged on social media for speculations of her “supposedly” cheating on her ex-boyfriend. Many social media users stated their disgust of her and called her names. Days later, Kehlani posted a picture of her in the hospital  bed explaining what happened. People on social media dragged her for something that they hadn’t known about and caused her to become suicidal. Many cases like this have been surfacing lately. Celebrities could make a mistake and instantly they are shunned.

So why is social media making people so prone to instantly jumping onto a timeline and dragging someone for just about anything? As seen in psychologist Henry Tajfel’s research on group hate in his minimal group paradigm study, people will hate over one another over silly things, even something as small as a coin toss.

“I think that it’s very wrong about how people continue to drag people up and down the timeline. I’ve seen some of my favorite artists be constantly drug for some of the stupidest stuff. . . it’s unfair,” says WSHS freshman Sara Mcdoungh.

It’s been known for years that people will sometimes be drawn to hate each other, and science has proven that people do, but no one has yet to find out why.