What to Do When You’ve Been an Idiot in the Past

Were you an idiot, once upon a time? (“Yes.”) Did you share your idiocy publicly, say, via social media? (Hangs head, “yes.”) Are you an idiot now? (“NO!”) Well, good. There’s hope for you.  The internet in my immediate geography is buzzing over some old tweets from a person who is now in elected political office. Wait. That could be misconstrued. Not recent tweets from our president-elect — OLD tweets from a city councilor. It’s different.

The tweets are offensive and the owner of the account has since apologized publicly (on Facebook) and is no doubt, hoping this issue goes away.

The wonderful and for some, terrifying thing about social media is that it allows people to publish their thoughts freely and without editing. That can be pretty hard for people who don’t possess an internal filter and who have thoughts that are offensive to others. And if you’re a person who cares about your reputation, or has thin skin, or who wants to craft a certain persona, it might be wise to stay away from social media altogether.

If it’s too late, however, and you were an idiot in the past, but you’re MUCH BETTER NOW, proceed with caution. Know that people will be watching you now more than ever before, and that for those who want you to be successful, they want to see you proving how authentic you are by continuing to share your thoughts. Could you be an idiot again? Possibly. But that’s the beauty of an unfiltered form of media — the real person behind the account can come shining through.