Haters mad for whatever reason

One thing I’ve noticed a lot recently on social media is that people are getting irrationally mad about new ideas.

New technologies, new ways to use older technologies, new business models – as these ideas bubble up to the surface and people attempt them, they are beset on all sides by this weird, unprompted non sequitur rage from mostly pseudonymous accounts. It’s odd because there doesn’t seem to be any connection between the people who are so furious about everything and the ideas themselves.

Which is how you know that the fury is not about the topic at hand, it’s about something else. Some discomfort or unhappiness wholly unrelated. Financial Twitter is sometimes an information-sharing network but, at the fringes, it can sometimes be a venting mechanism. This I can understand. The pace of change seems to be accelerating and people can find themselves on the wrong side of it professionally – which might push them to lash out at new ideas or at experimentation in general.

It’s important not to let unsolicited opinions from the mob stop you from trying to do new and creative things, or from learning more about the innovations of others. The shrieks and kneejerk reactions you’ll hear are not really about what you’re doing. People are mad about something else and you become a convenient focal point for their unease when you put yourself out there.

That’s okay. It’s no different than showing up to junior high school with the “wrong” clothes on. Do your thing and let ’em rage. It has nothing to with you. It’s really about them.

In business and in life, the players are on the field, their names on their jerseys, doing the best they can to succeed. They don’t get caught up with what faceless, nameless people jeering from the bleachers have to say.