Rant: I Really Am Trying to Understand, But I Still See a Bit of Hypocrisy

This is probably going to be a rant - a rant about social media and the choices that we make when interacting with the world at large. It will probably be a rant that I've been on before - one that I cannot change but that I feel is detrimental to how we work with each other and to the profession at large. This is not something that I choose to engage in actively often, but that I think has to be brought up every so often.

Here's the situation. Often, I find that music therapists are taking to social media to post their personal beliefs, ideas, and situations with hashtags that identify these personal beliefs as part of the music therapy community. Those personal beliefs are then sent out to the world as representative of the music therapy world. At times, these personal beliefs mirror my own but just as often, they do not represent me, my beliefs, or what I want my profession to be.

Oh dear, I am slipping into judgement here, and that is exactly what I am ranting about. I need to remove the judgy attitude from what I want to write...let me try.

I am thrilled to work for a profession where there are many ideas, theories, experiences, opportunities, and attitudes. I celebrate the fact that my way of doing things is not THE way but just one of many ways to interact with other humans through a musical interaction. I try hard to read all social media posts with a critical but supporting view, and I try to limit my own opinions when I choose to interact. Most often, if I come across something that is personally or professionally offensive to me, I mute that voice or block that user from showing up on my feeds. I firmly believe that we can each hold our own beliefs and opinions, but there has to be a line between the personal and the professional. (Again, this is part of my rant, is completely my own opinion, and you can take it or leave it as you want!)

The posts that get to me the most are the ones where someone makes a vagueish statement about another music therapist and then slaps a judgement statement on them as well. Most often, these tend to be couched in terms of "rights" and are probably posted from a state of frustration or disempowerment. Here's the formula that just gets to me each and every time...

"It is wrong when other music therapists impose their own _______ on clients by _____. Clients deserve to be respected."

Fill in the blank -beliefs - making session themes that offend me (without knowledge whether these themes are relevant to the client base)...political views - singing the National Anthem...emotions - blowing bubbles in music therapy.

Now, this statement on its own is not offensive, but it does include quite a bit of judgement. Why is it wrong? Is it certain that the therapist is imposing those mores on clients? What if the client is the one asking for such programming? How do you know that this is an imposition? How do you know that clients are not being respected?

I find this type of post to be offensive (which is also a judgement, I know) because there are so many setting events and situations that may or may not be affecting those other music therapists that you are unaware. Making a statement about how another music therapist is imposing beliefs onto clients without proof or knowledge of the clientele, client preferences, situations within the expectations of the music therapist's position, and all sorts of other experiences, just illustrates a negative attitude and an attempt to put down those who think differently than myself.

In these days of social media obsession and availability, it is easy to put your attitudes and opinions out there into what often seems to be a void. That void is not without consumers, however. I try my best to never put out a statement about other music therapists on any platform other than here, on my blog which is reserved for my opinions. When I do respond to other therapists on social media, I try to make sure that I am using "I" statements and am only trying to reflect my own experiences and opinions.

What I've found by being a person who lived before social media and then experiencing the societal shifts as we have become more and more vocal on different platforms is that there seems to be evidence that we do not use words the same way that we used to. Oh dear, another judgement.

The hypocrisy that I see in all of this is that we are slapping judgements onto other therapists for making judgements. We often seem to be placing our way of doing things as better than others' ways because WE would NEVER do such a thing. In the statement, though, aren't we trying to impose OUR beliefs onto someone else?

It makes my brain just go round and round.

I cannot control anyone other than myself, so I am going to make a pledge to keep my opinions contained here in this blog rather than on my other social media platforms. I will not respond to the opinions of others, but I will also not tolerate such statements about "others" on my social media feeds. I will block those who are judging others for judging or who are trying to impose their beliefs on others. That's how professions splinter into different factions, and I do not what that for our profession. There is room for all sorts of opinions, and I feel that all voices need to be valued rather than judged.

End of rant? Nope - this will continue, I am sure, because it is one of my favorite rant themes. It may be time for a social media cleanse. I have been trying to do TikTok lately, but I just don't see much value in it as a therapeutic tool yet. What's with all the rants and then dancing?? I'm so confused. Anyway...

I'm off to judge what I want to see on my social media feeds now...hypocrite. That's who I am.