“I desperately wanna think
People are good
But if you’d seen the things I’d seen
I don’t know if you would”
“The Drama” — Kesha

In 2009, Kesha Rose Sebert had her first major success as the featured singer/rapper on Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” which vaulted up to the top spot in pop and hip hop charts.

She immediately began making hit records on her own accord under the stage name Kesha (once upon a time stylized as Ke$ha, but now the more common use).

Kesha would record ten top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, but a legal dispute with a former producer, along with personal issues that she sought treatment for, led to Kesha stepping away from touring and recording for a number of years.

This song is on her “Gag Order” album that marked her return to both live performing and releasing new music and fulfilled her contracts with Kemosabe Records and RCA Records, allowing her to produce her music again after the settlement of the lawsuit with her former producer.

She’s now released her first single through her own record label and has new management as well.

“The Drama” didn’t reach major heights as a single, but the lyrics were hailed by critics for Kesha’s ability to write about her lawsuit and issues with her former producer without directly implicating the situation, which is why so many of the songs on “Gag Order” have been relatable to people in their own lives.

Growing up, a phrase that I recall my mother saying (though for the life of me I could not tell you what initiated the comment) was “don’t be a drama llama.”

Of all the bits of great advice the woman has blessed me with over my lifetime, that one stuck for whatever reason.

The more fun part is that “drama llama” has a fairly lengthy Urban Dictionary (UD) entry, so whether she knew it or not, my mom was trendy in her use of such a phrase.

The top-ranked definition for drama llama on UD is the first of two definitions.

It says drama llama is “an overly dramatic person, or one who causes non-dramatic situations to become overly dramatic,” while the second definition reads, “a situation that is blown out of proportion for seemingly no reason.”

This past week forced me to remind myself of that motherly advice.

Recent changes in downtown construction, along with the start of the Democrat National Convention seemed to coalesce into a lot of negative and conspiracy-laden posts on my social media feed.

I found myself responding and commenting on social media, attempting to offer information that I’d researched or been privy to through my work here at the paper.

That…went about as well as you could imagine.

I was labeled as a sheep, an idiot, and told that my opinion was “BS” (though the fully typed-out version was utilized).

Now, that’s not abnormal as I get comments like that thrown my way after columns frequently, so I simply stepped beyond that, but of course, attempting to combat emotion with facts has about as much chance of working as cooking a baked potato in the microwave.

You’re way more likely to blow something up than to come to the resolution that you’re hoping to achieve.

When we get onto social media, we’re often presenting a curated, intentional profile of who we are. Few are willing to share the average days in life - focusing on the high-end, happy moments and/or the major struggle moments of life.

Frankly, look at your engagement on social media.

When you post on your social media that you attended an informational city meeting, you’ll almost never get interaction on the post.

However, if you post that the same meeting discussed changing something about the city, immediately the drama llama is unleashed and comments and interactions will take place.

Much of the complaining or alarm raised in the last week could have been avoided with a simple internet search for facts behind what was being posted before reposting or emotionally responding to something without that education.

However, that certainly isn’t going to get us the likes, views, and comments that helps us know that our social media interaction has value, right?

That’s the entire issue. We’ve become so used to being in a drama llama culture that seeking affirmation through social media-based feedback is a “normal” thing now.

Check out your own posting and commenting.

Are you sharing well-researched, educated opinions, shares, and updates on your life?

…or are you sharing primarily drama llama responses — videos, photos, and comments that are emotion-driven and haven’t been researched to ensure their veracity?

While this definition version does not have the best ratio of upvotes to downvotes on UD, a definition of a drama llama person that I really like from that site reads, “A person who randomly throws their drama on others, in the same way a llama randomly spits.”

No one enjoys being spit on. I had to step back from the drama that was created to ensure I wasn’t doing the spitting as well.

People truly are good. When we approach our interactions online and in our day-to-day lives with that in mind, it can significantly change how we interact with one another from behind the security of a keyboard or a phone screen.

With a potentially contentious election coming up this fall, and with major projects going on in the area, we should all work hard to make our social media a drama llama-free zone!