“Words are free. It’s how you use them, that may cost you.” In this episode, I cover my thoughts on the two-sided weapon that has shaped our collective communities: social media. Using social media is inevitable, but how you choose to act yourselves and react to others is something we can control. These thoughts also sparked my next upcoming project, AAPI Leaders Unmuted, which I’m really excited about.
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Summary
Social Media. Probably the most powerful influence on our society in the last 20 years. And like most innovations, there are good and bad sides to it. Understanding perspectives, so I ask questions Social media is a place to easily obtain inputs, opinions, and perspectives…but it’s not the optimal solution. It’s too serial in nature. Context is often lost or misinterpreted. Distance works to the poster’s advantage to say things they may not say in person. Bottom line: be cautious on how you choose to interact on social media and don’t get caught in the trap of back and forth comments. Rarely is an understanding ever gained, with most people hopefully reaching an “I respectfully understand your opinion” end-state.
On a positive side: lots of people are using social media to continue or get started on AAPI Heritage month activities. Best of luck to those who have volunteered/voluntold to lead those efforts!
However, I’m going to go at this from a different angle. Instead of celebrating, I want to bring forward some important conversations to advance the Air Force as a whole when it comes to understanding and learning about the AAPI experience. The dirty stuff. The uncomfortable stuff. Maybe stuff you didn’t know or even think about. More importantly, I want you to hear our voices unmuted so you can understand the complexity of how and why we sometimes interact with non-AAPIs and with ourselves within the Air Force and American society as a whole. You won’t find this kind of information at a cultural celebration with food and dance (not that there is anything wrong with that), but I think it’s vitally important with current societal challenges and opportunities to highlight these subjects so we are all better Airmen and leaders.
So, starting next week I’m going to host some conversations with AAPI leaders on my YouTube channel to get some things off of our chest. Things like the negative aspects to the Model Minority Myth, Interminority Friction, examples of AAPI negativity you might not even know is happening, and probably some topics that just generally piss us off and we want to talk about and fix for everyone. We aren’t scholars or experts, just regular AAPI leaders who have risen through the ranks from different backgrounds and have had different experiences to get there. I guarantee you will learn something, I know I am just setting this up.