Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect: the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before.


Sometimes I fear that my words / actions have too much gravity. I can make or break a relationship. I can spoil, inspire, uplift, or break a person's spirit. I can make their wedding day they happiest of their lives. I have the ability to make the DJ show up on the wrong day, double book a Ballroom, forget to order their AV equipment. I could alert the media of the secret auditions for a TV network or tell them where the state's football team is preparing before the game. I have resources at my disposal to do powerful things.
We all do.
The Internet, for example, is a powerful weapon available to us all. We live in a time where our separate worlds collide. Nothing is secret or sacred or private, and it is our human condition to pass judgements on what we see in front of us.
Now we surround ourselves in this lifestyle where you can tell 350 of your closest friends about your hatred towards your ex-person / boss / self at that moment.
It immortalises our thoughts and feelings, when these things AREN'T ever permanent. 
When social networks enable us to present our opinions as facts, doesn't that just promote the idea of judging someone purely by face value? FaceBOOK value?

If we want to have a party, we 'create an event'. 
If we want to reinvent ourselves, we update our profile pictures. We tag, untag, upload, delete, crop, post, share, like and comment.
And apparently, if we want to make ourselves feel better by putting someone else down, we can crucify the way someone is perceived with the click of a button. 
I don't want anybody to have the power to do that to me, but the sad truth is that the Internet just makes it easier for people to project their bitterness & be both an obvious and subtle bully. 
What I've learnt is, it's not the Internet's fault. Those same people might be saying bad things about me using other means. At least this way, I can see it for myself. 

In the Events World, the Butterfly Effect can be a son of a bitch. If a client finds one small thing to complain about, I can bet my mini-salary that there will be more issues to follow.
Yes, I am aware that there is currently a tea and coffee station set in your room, with no fresh tea and coffee currently available to you. Yes, I do have the paperwork I sent you in front of me, yes I am aware it says a tea and coffee station is set in the room. You are looking at it. If you read the paperwork I sent you, your "TEA AND COFFEE BREAK" is scheduled for 2:30pm, written in three different ways, on each page. Yes, I can see how this is not made clear. Yes, next time I will not make the 25 cups, saucers, mugs, spoons, sugar, tea boxes and side plates visible while you notate buzz words on butchers paper.  I will remember to cover it with my invisibility cloak until it is serving time.
I do, once more, apologise for the inconvenience. You will probably now, very conveniently, notice that the air conditioning is one degree too cold, that the corner of your sandwich did not contain cheese, that the PA is not simply switched off- it is an indicator of my disorganisation, and that we don't even KNOW THE PASSWORD TO YOUR LAPTOP. It is YOUR laptop! But I do apologise that my staff were unable to assist you with your concern on this occasion.

The butterfly effect with our social networks is this:

We pass on our opinions as facts, and we create ripples in our real worlds.

We can cause couples to break up, friends to create pack mentalities and people to perceive you forever in the wrong way.

Take twitter for example - it's the global acceptance that your every thought deserves to be projected! They aren't all gems, and some things just aren't meant to be shared!
Want to connect? Pick up the god damn phone and call me!
Want to catch up? Don't write on my wall and then never comment back, just come and see me!

The Bright Side (because there's always one of those)
I do have to thank Facebook, and take my hat off to Zucheberg. Remember those people in our past (or unfortunately, in our present), that were way too good at juggling? They juggled friends, manipulated their stories, had multiple partners and never got caught? Facebook is like the lie detector of the 21st Century. Everybody is desperate to leave their imprint - all you have to do is follow the trail of breadcrumbs!
Even if it takes a map and a double shot of bourbon to navigate, I will find the answers I seek! Sometimes, though, it can be too late. Like for example, when you're happily fluttering along in a casual love-induced daze and soon realise, after lengthy perusing (I refuse to use the word "stalk"... The information is right there!) that you're actually The Other Woman.

Do you
a. send the unsuspecting partner a private message?
b. organise a shipping container to China for your betrayer. (I have given this one some thought and decided that it would be best for both parties if they were at least tranquillised. I know, I'm humane).
c. Stupidly wait for them to call you and explain that the whole thing is not what it seems (hint.. it always is). Even if they do call, it's like finding a chicken nugget in your fries. It's a pleasant surprise that you weren't expecting, but at the end of the day, it's just a nugget. It'll go down the exact same way.
d. Realise that sometimes the best business, is to mind your own. Jugglers can't keep those mini beanbags up forever, and those ripples in the Butterfly Effect aren't for us to make.


Waiting for the other shoe to drop,


<3 Miss Coordinate

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