Blogpost by Gordon Kaye, Editor, GDUSA
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have helped me be true to myself. I used to worry whether I was normal since, when I see Facebook posts, I often feel multiple emotions — not just “like.” Sometimes I reacted with love or laughter or sadness or anger. Was I the only one who had these thoughts, impulses and desires? I became confused and isolated, hiding my secret, fearful of being different and shunned for it.
But now my long nightmare is over. Facebook has added five emoji options in addition to “like” and Mr. Zuckerberg has affirmed that having a range of feelings is acceptable. Even normal. He writes: “Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don’t like their posts. People want to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions.”
That is deep. And liberating. And validating. Say it loud, I have complex feelings and I am proud. I wish there was an emoji for gratitude. Bless you, Mr. Zuckerberg, bless you.
