Is it kind?(DW#21)
The messages that are perhaps the hardest to deal with are the passive-aggressive ones. They are mostly found on social media platforms such as Facebook but also creep into instant messaging from time to time.
Here are some examples: “I know most people won’t care to repost/respond to this”. “I am seeing who cares enough to read until the bottom of this post”. “If you love your brother, hit like and share”. “Please forward to x number of people if you care about this person”.
All the above are examples of the opposite of what I like to call “clean communication”.
It is not effective to use emotional blackmail in relationships and it is not great to use on social media or WhatsApp either.
If we want someone to read a post, to forward it or respond to it, please let us ask them directly. If we do not have the courage to do this directly, there is usually a really good reason for it, such as the post not being worthy of sharing or forwarding.
There will always be people who repost and forward such messages but most of us, when we become aware of the underlying manipulation we will resent it. The feeling of being manipulated or guilt-ed into doing something just to satisfy someone else is not a great friendship building strategy.
Let us do our best to stay clear away from it.
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