Okay, I uploaded a very rough transcript pulled from the audio and I will edit it as I can. I still can’t see very well on a computer screen without being a few inches away from it but I will get this cleaned up as I heal from the ocular aneurysm I had a few weeks back in my good eye. Well, it was my good eye... 🤣
This has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year on social media so far but the last two weeks have been the worst so far. Sometimes, when grownups and kids are in front of a computer and can’t be punched, the say the most terrible things you can imagine to others–things they wouldn’t ever say if they were in front of the person. And if they would say those things in person, they need Jesus really bad. So, we are going to talk about body shaming and insults and how we should treat one another.
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Hey, before we start the program, I want to make a little add-on because something really great happened. And the woman we were talking about in the program apologized. Apologies are really important, and we need to give credit where credit is due because she did wrong. But now she’s doing right.
Hi, I’m Miss Tyler. Welcome to this week’s episode of Context for Kids, where I teach you guys stuff most adults don’t even know if this is your first time hearing or if you’ve missed anything. You can find all the episodes archived at contextforkids.podbean.com, which has them downloadable or at contextforkids.com, where I usually have transcripts for readers. But not this week because I had what’s called an ocular aneurysm and I can’t see out of one eye, and the other eye is blurry because it happened to that eye last year. And so I can’t write out a transcript. It’s it’s really hard for me. Anyway, this will be on my Context for Kids YouTube channel, where I usually post slightly longer versions.
All right. I want to talk to you about what’s been happening on social media a lot this year because it’s really, really awful. You know, when I was a kid, we didn’t have social media when I was a lot of your age, actually, we didn’t even have computers in the house. We didn’t have video games like you would know them now. There was no VR. There were no–only very, very rich people had cell phones. We called them cellular phones and they were huge. They were huge. They were like the size of–I don’t even know. They were just really big. They had a big battery and rich people would have them in the car.
Maybe in an old movie you can see that because it’s really funny to look at that now. Yeah. We didn’t have wireless anything. Everything had a cord attached to something else. It was very different. We didn’t have books on computer screens. We only had books that you can hold. And I really like having books on computer screens now because I need to make the size of the writing huge so I can see them because I’m getting old, guys, I’m going to be 56 next month.
Oh my goodness, we didn’t have any internet. We wouldn’t even know what that was. We would have thought that was just crazy talk and would have to be magic, because we couldn’t even imagine anything like what is happening now. My kids have always had all these things. This is normal to them and it’s normal to you. My kids are 24 and so they grew up in a completely different world than I did.
If we wanted to see a movie, we had to go to the movie theater. And then when I was a teenager, we got stores where you could rent videotapes for five days and watch the movie and we only had like ten TV channels. And if you missed a show that was tough, they weren’t going to show it again. And it’s just so different from anything you guys could imagine. And it’s not like it was like, oh, poor you. I mean, it’s like, no, that’s not a tragedy. It’s just annoying. But what we didn’t have and what I’m glad we didn’t have is social media. We couldn’t go online and talk to people from other cities, other countries, or even our friends.
If you wanted to call someone a long way away, you had to pay a lot of money. It was like $0.10 a minute, which really adds up. Let me tell you. Didn’t know what texting was. We didn’t have an easy way to videotape anybody. We had to get these big, bulky cameras and videotapes, and there was no computer to load them up to for anyone to see.
That is so new. Okay. And I’m glad that a lot of the really dumb things I did when I was a kid didn’t end up on the internet. I am glad that a lot of the really dumb things I said didn’t end up on the internet. I’m glad that the people who bullied me in elementary school and high school weren’t able to do that on the internet, and that I could go home and just go to my room and not have to deal with that stuff anymore.
But you guys live in a different world. You live in a world that’s a lot easier in some ways and a lot harder in other ways. You can find information that I didn’t know existed, but you can also find a lot of wrong information out there, and bad information and evil information out there that you don’t need to know about, and a lot of which, because it’s not even true.
But there’s so much information now and it’s just so confusing. Right. And it’s almost like because of that, you’re expected to know something about everything, even if what you know isn’t even real, isn’t even accurate. And that’s crazy. That’s not fun. I should imagine that’s very exhausting for you guys. Makes you tired thinking that you have to have an opinion on everything and have to know everything.
You have to be able to look everything up and not know if the people telling you stuff on the internet even know what they’re talking about. Used to be that if you wanted to know stuff, you had to go to the library and get books. And back then it was harder to publish a book that just had nonsense in it.
It wasn’t impossible, but it was a lot harder. But now you guys just have web pages talking about everything, and an awful lot of people I’ve noticed, and especially people who write about the Bible or make YouTube videos about the Bible, actually don’t know very much about the Bible. And sometimes they’ll teach things and the things they’re teaching don’t make any sense when you read the whole Bible, okay?
And sometimes they’ll only know a little bit and sometimes they’ll, they’ll read verses like they were written yesterday. And so they will think, okay, well, this verse says that we can’t even say the names of other gods, but if we’re going to read the Bible out loud, we have to read the names of other gods, or we’re not reading the Bible.
And that’s not what that meant back then. Okay? It meant you’re not supposed to worship them or give them credit for anything. And we talk about this kind of stuff here. But what I want to talk about this week is something I’ve been seeing really, really bad over, especially the last two weeks, but especially the last, I guess, since the beginning of the year, although it’s nothing new and that’s grown ups behaving so badly on social media and being mean and cruel and acting like children shouldn’t even act.
Even children should know better than to act the way a lot of adults are acting, because these adults are forgetting that we’re supposed to love one another. These adults are forgetting that we are all, every single person made in God’s image, and that it doesn’t matter what you look like or what you sound like, what language you speak, where you were born, how much money you have, if you are good looking or if you’re athletic, or if you’re musical or not.
It doesn’t matter. Just because we’re talking to someone on a computer screen doesn’t mean we’re talking to a computer; it means we’re talking to a real person on the other side, a person who has things that they’re happy about, things that they’re sad about. Sometimes people are so sad that they’re just looking for a reason to keep on living. And when we talk to them, we don’t know that if we’re kind to them, maybe we can save their lives. And if we’re mean to them, maybe, you know, they’re going to do something bad to themselves or others. We just don’t know. And so it’s so important when we’re talking to people we don’t know, talking to people who we disagree with, talking to people we don’t understand, that we treat them like Jesus died for them because he did.
And when we treat them with, well, you guys know, the fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness (or we can call it faithfulness), gentleness, and self-control. That’s how we’re supposed to behave. And I would say, especially when we’re not standing in front of somebody and when we feel like there’s no consequences for our actions.
The other person can’t hit us or push us or kick us or whatever. And so maybe because of that, we say things that we would never say if they were right in front of us. But if you wouldn’t say it, if someone was right in front of you, you shouldn’t just say it at all. So I’m going to talk about a couple examples that are going on lately that adults are listening to and reading and talking about, and some of the adults are talking about it in ways that are good, and some of the adults are talking about it in ways that are bad, and make it worse.
But I think the one that shocked me the most was a few days ago when somebody I really, really, really respect because she is so strong and so courageous, and she’s been a good example of hard work and taking care of her mental health and, and speaking up for other people who have problems and telling people that it’s not okay to make people ashamed themselves because of how they look. And she shocked everybody the other day because she’s always been so classy and everyone loves her. We call her the greatest of all time. And as far as the sport she competes in, nobody has ever been as good. I can’t imagine anyone ever being as good, ever. She’s just–she was born to do what she’s doing.
She is amazing. But when she was younger, there were people on the internet and off the internet who would make her feel bad because of her body. She has these huge muscles. Okay, that’s one of the reasons she’s so good. She’s–she’s tiny, okay. She’s even a lot tinier than me. And I’m only 5’1”. A lot of you guys are probably bigger than me now. Or you will be pretty quick here. But she’s tiny. Tiny! She’s not even five foot tall. I think she’s like 4’9″ or something. She’s teeny and she has these huge muscles. And people would tell her that she looked like a man. Well, no girl wants to be told that she looks like a man. She was just a kid.
She was just a teenager, actually. And people were being cruel to her because they were telling her she didn’t look like a woman. But you know what God made her to look like? Made her body in such a way that she is like, has the perfect body and the to do this sport that she does. And everyone just loves her. Everyone just loves her. But a few days ago, she did something completely unexpected. She started a fight on social media with somebody who has also been sticking up for women who are in sports, and this other woman is not as famous. As a matter of fact, the only thing she’s really famous for is standing up for people who are being treated unfairly. Okay, for women who are being treated unfairly. And all of a sudden, this woman that I really respect, that everybody just really respects, she said something terrible. She was very insulting. But then at the end, she made it sound like the other woman looks like a man. And we were all really surprised that she would do that.
Now, neither of these women look like men at all. They’re obviously women. But the one that we have respected for so long, she she made it sound like the other woman needed to be ashamed because she’s the same size as a man. Which actually isn’t true. I think she’s only 5’5″ and, like, weighs 130 pounds.
And she’s got big muscles because of her sport, but she doesn’t look like a guy. And she’s not the same size as a guy. And no woman wants to be told that she looks like a guy, or she’s the same size as a guy. And we were surprised because people were mean to this other woman all her life for that. It was a nasty, unkind thing to say. And because she is who she is, like everyone in the world saw it. How would you like to be insulted by somebody and have the whole world see it? You guys, how would you like for some famous guy who everyone knows to go on the internet and say that, you know, you look like a girl and that you should be ashamed because you don’t look like enough of a man, all right?
And I know things like that do happen, but it’s not famous people, just bullies at school and that kind of stuff. Usually. And ladies, how would you like to be told by, like, one of the most famous women in the world that you don’t look like a woman? That you look like a man. How would that make you feel inside? How would people use that to make fun of you and to make you feel like God made a mistake, and make you feel like you aren’t bearing God’s image? That’d be horrible. Oh my gosh, that would be horrible. And why did she do it? Well, she did, because they disagree on something and that’s never a good enough reason to be cruel about how somebody looks.
And I don’t care who you are and I don’t care who you’re talking to. You know, God made your body, your face, everything about you because he loves it, all right? God doesn’t think you’re ugly. God doesn’t think you look the wrong way. God loves you. He loves us all in different ways because we all need to be loved differently. All right? You don’t need to be loved exactly the same way that I need to be loved. But He does love you as much as he loves me. It’s just that how He shows you love is going to be different than how He shows me love. But you know what? How we all show one another love is by not being cruel about the way people look.
It’s shameful. It’s saying God made a mistake. It’s saying that God does bad work. It’s saying that God needs to think that what we think is attractive is attractive, but He doesn’t. All right. What we think looks good is because of what the world thinks looks good. All right? It’s very important to remember that whenever we think someone is pretty or ugly.
Well, who gets to make that decision? We’re not asking God, are we? No. And I can’t even think of anyone in the Bible who gets called ugly. Isn’t that strange? It’s important that we look at other people with the eyes of God. And I think I’ve told you guys about the dream I had about a comedian named Gilda Radner, and this was about 15 years ago. And she came up to me and Gilda–nobody thought, well, her husband did. Nobody thought Gilda Radner was ever going to be a supermodel. Okay? She wasn’t beautiful in the way that the world looks at someone being beautiful. But when I saw her in my dream, she was the most beautiful woman I ever saw in my life. And when I woke up, I cried and cried and cried. And I would have given anything to see her again. Not because she looked different, but because I saw her. How she really looks in God’s eyes. I mean, it was obviously Gilda Radner. It was her. She looked just like her. But she also–I got to see her as God sees her, how she really looks when people aren’t being prejudiced and ridiculous about thinking that if you look good, then somehow you are good, because that doesn’t make any sense at all.
And so we were really disappointed, and we’ve been talking about it on my Facebook page. Well, grown-ups and I talked about why she did this and, and how could she do this. And it was wrong. Okay. And no matter how good an athlete she is and no matter how famous she is, what she did was wrong. And I’m really, really hoping she apologizes because she should apologize. (She did, and I am grateful and happy she did it)
They can disagree about stuff and it’s fine to disagree about stuff. We don’t have to all think of the same thoughts, and we can’t even think all the same thoughts, can we? That would be impossible. And not only that, it’d be totally creepy. But she didn’t have to do that. She could have just said I think you’re absolutely wrong. Well that’s valid. There’s nothing hateful about that. I mean, people think I’m wrong all the time and I think people are wrong all the time. Doesn’t mean I hate them. But you know what? I’m not going to be mean to them. I’m not going to say things about how they look. How awful would that be? Looking good isn’t the same as being good. Being a good athlete isn’t the same as being a good person. Being a good singer isn’t the same as being someone that God can be proud to have representing Him.
One more thing, and I didn’t actually think I would talk about this that long, but there was also something else going on the last few weeks. And it is horrible because it involves two of the richest men in the world, and they’ve been fighting with each other online saying the most horrible, childish things imaginable. I mean, it’s been like watching two kids, two little kids on the playground, just saying nasty things to each other. And it’s a terrible example. And it’s awful to think of the fact that these people control the lives of a lot of other people, because when you’re rich, there are a lot of people who are working for you. When you’re in politics, there are a lot of people who depend on you to be a good person who’s going to pass good laws, who you can trust to not be immature and not be unkind, and not to say horrible things about people on social media. But one of these person has been saying terrible things about other people for a long time, I don’t know about the other guy.
I don’t look–you know what? I’m not on Twitter. I mean, I am, but I never go there. I don’t understand how it works. I can’t figure it out. But it’s sad to me when I see you guys growing up with these people who it would be nice if you could look up to them, who it would be nice if they could set a good example for you.
But they’re not. They’re choosing not to. They’re choosing to be mean and cruel and to say terrible things about each other and about other people, where everyone in the world can see it. Grown-ups shouldn’t act like that. I mean, let’s be honest, kids shouldn’t act like that either. You shouldn’t be just taking shots at other people on the internet.
You know what? Once you put something on the internet, it is there for ever. You can’t get rid of it. It won’t just go away. Someone’s going to take a screenshot of it. And I’m really glad that I’m not famous because I’ve said some stupid things on the internet. I’ve said things about people that I shouldn’t. Now I have this rule on my Facebook wall that no one is allowed to say anything bad about anyone else because I don’t like it.
I’ve been bullied. I have been made fun of, and I have sometimes felt like I didn’t even want to be alive anymore because it was so sad. I’m glad that I didn’t do anything. I’m glad that, I realized that things blow over. Okay. Things get better. You can move away if things get really, really bad enough. You know, when you get older and a lot of the times, the things that are terrible when we’re kids just aren’t there anymore.
When we’re adults–and a lot of times the people who are rotten as kids don’t do very good as adults because they don’t stop and they get in trouble at work and they get trouble in their neighborhood, and all that stuff doesn’t always happen. But we need to learn to protect people on social media, all right? No bullying.
It’s not okay. And I don’t care who’s doing it. If someone’s doing it, it means they can’t be trusted to be mature enough for anything. All right. And we shouldn’t laugh. And we shouldn’t make excuses. Anyway, I love you. I’m praying for you. And I want you to always think before you put anything online, because it can never be taken back.
What is this going to do? What’s the absolute worst thing that could happen? It’s important that we think about it.