The Dark Side of Tik Tok…
By: Missy Joy Bayes Mauder
Covid 19. Im really tired of this pandemic. It’s going on 15 months now with no sign of stopping. Its brought out the kindness and giving nature in humans and the dark and malevolent side of them as well.
When the stay-at-home order was made people hardly knew what to do with themselves. According to socialmediatoday.com “people spent 20% more time in Apps during the Covid 19 Lockdown.” One app that skyrocketed during the Lockdown is a social media app called Tik Tok.
People needing a way to connect with other people and entertain themselves, Tik Tok blew up becoming a media sensation. This app allows people to be as creative as they want to be in short, one minute videos. There’s everything from cooking, acting, singing and dancing to the latest trends all with audio clips you can make yourself or use one of Tik Toks millions of already downloaded clips. There’s informative Tik Toks and small business owner Tik Toks. They even have a Recovery Tik Tok where recovering addicts from all over the world support each other. According to Music Business Worldwide the week of March 16th 2021, the video app was downloaded 2 million times (an 18% increase in downloads from the previous week.) This all sounds great right? But what if you stumbled upon the dark Tik Tok? A side of Tik Tok where there is bullying, domestic violence, satanic cults like the Illuminati, pedophiles.
Scrolling thru videos one day there was a video that got my attention. I don’t really know why, I mean it didn’t stand out among the millions of videos. It showed 4 young men, I’d say early 20s, sitting in what looks like a living room and all 4 of them had the most hideous masks on. They never spoke thru the video, but they typed what their message was onscreen for us to read. Their message was that all the women in their lives, past and present were sneaky, lying, cheating manipulators.
So to get back at them and women in general they declared April 24, 2021 as “National Rape Day” Hold up…national what day? I was shocked then I got angry. “Rape” is not a word you use in casual everyday conversations you see.. My opinion folks.
Well you can imagine the uproar that shook Tik Tok to its core. Men were getting on this app declaring murder if any of their families were hurt. Women put war paint on their faces and said things like “Happy hunting bitches!” Some women healing from actual assault said it triggered the memories of their attack. Being an advocate for women who have suffered sexual assault and abuse I was not only angry and saddened by this I was a woman on a mission I wanted to get this message out and hold Tik Tok accountable. Now here’s my question. Has humanity fallen so far where now “Rape” is being joked about? There’s now humor in that? A comedy show where your just chuckling and nodding your head?
I mean humans have shown their sinful fallen sides throughout time. The Bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah and The Tower of Babel. Then in our history of WWII Adolph Hitler and the massacre of millions and millions of Jewish people, I could go on and on… Are we so conditioned in the world that this is just another conversation on another spring day? I would love some feedback from some of the more experienced writers on this app. With April being “Sexual Assault Survivor” month my heart and prayers go out to all the young women and men who have been assaulted. May you heal gently and love yourself. YOU ARE WORTH LOVING.
