I was the biggest and most obnoxious bully in my college years. I hated where I was so I took out my anger on everyone around me and I thank God daily for getting a grip years and hundreds of enemies later.
Thankfully, it takes a bully to spot all the vile ones on social media. I have come across thousands of posts of people making fun of others, embarrassing and humiliating them just for a two-second laugh.
If a public figure decides to marry a much younger woman, he goes from being a proud groom into a disgusting meme. Why people think it is okay to turn someone’s wedding into an embarrassing nightmare is beyond me. I don’t think they realize how emotionally damaging their sense of humour is.
If a bride, who can’t afford to get her makeup done somewhere fancy, ends up looking eccentric, people actually have the audacity to share her personal photo and make fun of her in front of the world. Word of advice: We all have different tastes, and one day either me or someone else will come across your wedding makeup photo shoot, think you look like shit and share it on social media or even write an article about it. How does karma feel?
If a family appears on a beach in Sahel, dressed differently than everyone else, owners at the resort immediately assume they are outsiders and share their personal photos on the karya’s Facebook group, expressing their disgust. Note that the family did nothing to annoy anyone, they just looked different. I’d like to remind those owners that they are all in that karya because they couldn’t afford Hacienda White. See, you are not so special after all.
Yet the thing that got to me most was when a Cairene fashion designer decided to look different. Now let’s face it, we are a mainstream country, most of us are afraid of setting trends because of the “I can’t accept different” backlash and this young man is a perfect depiction of everything that is wrong with Egypt’s social media.
He is not even in his mid-twenties and he is the most unique artist in the country. When I was his age, I was a lost soul with no aim, purpose, personality or sense of style. Now I can only imagine if at that time I was a public figure and everyone thought he/she had the right to hurt me because I was fearless and decided to express myself in a mundane country where everyone looks the same.
I salute everyone who is trying to kill such a bright soul and turn him into another polo T-shirt wearing robot; this is exactly what is missing in Egypt. How does his pants, haircut or sexual orientation affect you in any way?
Bullies of the world, I am one of your kind and I know somewhere in the dark pits of your soul you hate your life – that is, if you have one – so you are trying to make everyone around you feel awful about themselves.
Stop judging and hurting others. No one is perfect and, if someone is, by all means it is not you.
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss Egypt’s Bullying Problem.