Emojis are creating havoc

Insert laugh-out-loud emoji here

After weeks of decline, the S&P 500 index entered correction territory last Thursday, which is defined as a drop of ten percent or more from its all time high. Responding to reporters on the White House lawn, President Trump said, “It’s not that big a deal. Most Americans don’t have much money anyway. They’re not going to notice anything. Also, the fake news media is publishing these stock market charts upside down. It’s terrible. Just turn the fake news chart the other way and it looks beautiful.”

Federal agents moved to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist, born in a Syrian refugee camp, with Algerian citizenship and a US green card. Khalil entered the US in 2022 on a student visa to attend the School of International Affairs at Columbia University. In 2023, he married Noor Abdalla after a 7-year long distance relationship, which paved the way for him to receive a green card and permanent residency. Khalil is accused by the US State Department of acting in ways that are detrimental to US foreign policy interests. Speaking to reporters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also accused Khalil of playing fast and loose with trial accounts. “We have uncovered evidence that shows that Khalil has created hundreds of Gmail accounts and used them to sign up for free trials from Spotify, Netflix, Paramount+ and Peacock, and then cancel them when the free trial period ended. We’ve got 46 complaints from Youtube TV alone about Khalil in the last year. This cannot be allowed to stand. He needs to go.”

Ukraine and US officials negotiating in Saudi Arabia agreed to a 30-day cease fire with Russia. Ukraine agreed to the US proposal to cease land and air hostilities against the Russians until they are able to catch their breath, recruit new soldiers, and regroup for a new bout of vigorous fighting. Reports say that Volodymir Zelenskky, the President of Ukraine, has politely rebuffed a US proposal for him to relocate to Belarus for a month where he would be hosted by KGB agents in a tall building with lots of windows.

Canada’s Liberal Party chose a new leader, Mark Carney, giving the country a new Prime Minister. Political pundits have lauded the development saying, “His name is not Trudeau, and that is all Canada needs in this moment.”

In his latest round of mayhem, President Trump signed an executive order to gut the Education Department by laying off more than 1,300 workers on Friday. President Trump remarked, “I don’t think anyone is going to miss them. Frankly, I think they colluded with the CIA to assassinate JFK. Think about it. JFK might have been alive today if we had not had an Education department. He would be 108 years old but he would be alive.” Trump also signed executive orders to allow Robert Kennedy Jr to gut dead bears and beached whales with a chain saw without fear of recrimination or public shaming.

Last week, Trump hosted a news conference in front of the White House that was, in essence, a car-show to promote the sales of Tesla cars. “I have no idea how to drive a car. I’m not allowed to drive cars. That is a good thing, trust me. I am allowed to be the President with my fingers on the nuclear button, but I am not allowed to drive cars. It’s very strange but true. Very strange. But I’m going to buy this car, and Zelenskyy has agreed to drive me around for 30 days during the cease fire.”

In other news,

Lady Gaga released a new studio album titled “Mayhem.” Seems appropriately named, given what’s going on today, isn’t it?

Taylor Swift is rumored to have hired McKinsey and Company to advise her on executing a peaceful and orderly break up with Travis Kelce, her boyfriend and tight end for Kansas City Chiefs, after their Super Bowl loss. Speaking on a condition of anonymity, a McKinsey partner revealed that “Tay Tay has accumulated enough material to write a dozen songs about Kelce in an unflattering light. The situation has become untenable now that she wants to release the album. This project is now top priority for us, above the Greenland and Canada annexations that until recently were our top projects.”

On a somewhat serious note: Emojis are creating havoc

There is a lot going on these days. You’d be surprised to hear that the use of emojis has been creating quite the ruckus in social networks these days. Emojis have been with us for decades now. They were initially born out of necessity. NTT DoCoMo in Japan introduced “pictograms” to help users of their pager service to get around character limitations in messages. Since then, emojis have grown to become a global phenomenon and a universal language, transcending language barriers. They are a testament to the power of visual communication and the creative spirit of digital culture.

They are also causing a good deal of consternation in certain quarters. Increasing numbers of social media users are exploding in anger daily over what they deem inappropriate or insulting uses of emojis. What used to be seen as a fun and innocent way to communicate could now carry huge personal safety and legal risks. In the last decade, courts have been increasingly accepting of emojis as evidence in civil and criminal cases.

In 2017, the Supreme Court of Queensland ruled that an unsent text message on a mobile phone acted as a valid will. The text message contained a smiley face which convinced the judge that the deceased had indeed authored his will out of full consent. In 2020, a high profile lawyer sued a colleague for defamation for the use of the “zipper-mouth-face” emoji. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff saying that the meaning of zipper-mouth-face is ”a secret” or “stop talking,” and the plaintiff had been the subject of “an adverse result” from its use.

There is a lot of potential for miscommunication and misunderstandings these days. People are revved up and on the edge. They have chosen their teams and keenly parse social media for allies and enemies. They are easily insulted these days, less likely to forgive and even less likely to apologize for the simplest of mistakes. Everyone is doubling down. Emojis are adding to this environment of distrust and antagonism, not helping alleviate it. You can use a smiley face to be sarcastic or you can use it to be friendly. To complicate matters, social media platforms each use their own versions of emojis. A laugh-out-loud face on Twitter is not the same as on WhatsApp and could potentially convey different intents and energies. When someone sends an emoji that is a water pistol, is that a threat or is it just a joke?

Let this be a warning to you before you send me that thumbs down to this.

Have a great week ahead. Cheerio!