Monday 3 June 2013

"It's All About Popular"

[From the Discover Ireland FB page]
I recently got through to the final stages of a competition to win a trip to Ireland, which I was pretty excited about-until I discovered that the winner was going to be chosen by Facebook vote and then I was a lot less so. I knew pretty much right away that I wasn't going to win it simply because by making it open to Facebook, it becomes a popularity contest-and I have never been what you would call popular. There was a time that I did want to fit in, wanted to be cool and wanted all the popular kids to like me, accept me as one of them, but eventually I realised that this was never going to happen. I started embracing my uniqueness, trying to make a point of standing out, actively seeking to be different and not one of the crowd, to be anything but popular. I mean if it's going to happen anyway you might as well make it your own, right?

Also, I use Facebook as a convenient place to keep all my friends together for when I need to tell them something important, but most people seem to use it as a way of collecting as many "friends" as they possibly can-almost as a way of proving how popular they are. I know everyone on my friend list and regularly have culls to delete those people I no longer really speak to any more. Against someone who has 3x more virtual buddies than me, I was never going to be able to hold my own.

I also noticed that the "competition" was really bringing out the nasty side in people-right from the start there was a couple-let's call them Couple 1-that I had a particular dislike for just because they came across as pushy and unpleasant, like they knew they were going to win anyway so it didn't matter if the rest of us tried or not. Before the ballot had even been opened they put out a plea for votes from the site's fans in a manner that just got my back up-but also in a way that had I replied to it I would have either seemed unoriginal or catty. Suddenly I minded losing to them, would rather any other pair won just so they didn't.

About half way through another pair-let's call them Couple 2-got a sudden upsurge in votes, overtaking Couple 1 (who had been leading right from day 1) by a considerable amount. Couple 1 started accusing them of cheating-of buying votes and clamouring for the votes to be investigated by the site. It just reeked of being a sore loser and that they didn't think anyone else should win but them. It almost felt like if you weren't playing dirty in some way then you couldn't win-Couple 1 had amassed over 120 votes in the first day alone while the rest of us were somewhere around the 20-70 mark and I think we basically all knew we didn't stand a chance against them. Whatever tactics they were using obviously worked because (of course) they won with 571 votes-the next nearest couple had 415. We were third and had 154 votes so it's not even like we had a shot any way. Couple 1 seemed really ungracious and I just really didn't want them to win because they don't come across as very nice people. (Although I am judging this solely on the comments I saw on the poll from them, so what do I know?)

The whole "competition" caused a lot of nastiness and bitterness, and for what? 48 hours in Dublin. Yes, it would have been an amazing prize to win but I don't think it's worth crapping all over other people just because you can. To be honest, I sort of wish I wasn't involved with the whole thing because it left a decidedly nasty taste in my mouth. Some people will do anything to prove that they're more popular, more loved, better than someone else. And yes, there was a prize at the end of it, but it didn't really feel like it was the end goal at points, it felt more like a high school competition-'I've got more friends than you so I'm better than you and you're nothing'. I didn't want to participate in those whilst I was at school, let alone now, when I should have (happily) left it all behind me.

So I hope Couple 1 enjoy their holiday, but I'm kinda glad that I know nearly everyone who contributed to those 154 votes. I might not be popular enough to win Facebook contests but I have a good bunch of excellent friends. If you took the time to vote for me then THANKYOU. I'm so grateful to you all for that. And while this means that I won't be able to write excellent Irish blog posts for you, I'm sure I can find something to fill the time instead.

See you there!

-Jenni-

Title of Post taken from 'Popular'-Wicked The Musical

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