Ridiculous Quotes

On Facebook, I started posting some statuses similar to what I see a lot of people posting; namely, pictures with quotes written across the middle, as such:

People have been "liking" them, and I am unsure if they realize what I'm doing with these, but regardless, I am happy they get something from them. On one hand, it is nice to post things people connect with, but on the other hand, I find it a little scary that these posts are being taken seriously, and by extension, do reach out to people. Why? Because, read the quote above...

"Love is not something you force, it is something you do not force."

This quote is one I made up and means absolutely jack shit nothing (I just cussed a few times and ended it with "nothing" for emphasis, haha). It creates a point and then reaffirms that previous point (a meaningless point to begin with) by repeating the same point with different verbiage. I really hope people are understanding that I am sarcastically poking fun at these kinds of posts, because they are not much better than the one presented above.

I'm doing this, because I think quotes like this do more harm than good. Firstly, they are lazy thought strung together to illicit reaction without saying anything of real value. Secondly, they are often a written form of already popular sayings (not that severe, but they condense ideas into few words, losing the true meaning of the initial idea 9/10 times). Finally, I believe they promote lazy, shitty advice giving. It makes me steam when I hear someone going through a hardship they have expressed and people begin quoting these lazy ass quotes in an "attempt" to make the person feel better. Good advice comes from listening, thinking, sympathizing, empathizing, and responding emotionally, rationally, or a combination of the two - not by quickly vomiting bullshit as the likes of the above quote (or actual quotes that are equally laughable).

I appreciate the fact that some people can achieve comfort and meaning from quotes like this, but it does scare me that this is the extent of our human ability to understand and garner comfort.

Listening to: "Fire Fire" by Flyleaf