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Sometimes I must admit I might be less depressed without the Internet. Granted, I'd be lonely and never get to talk to any weird geeks like myself (my husband is a weird geek, but not in the same WAYS as myself). I'd rarely discover anything new. And I wouldn't be able to do my job properly, because I'd be much more out of the loop on, well, everything.
But that's part of the problem, too. It's easy to carve out a little niche for yourself on the internet, subscribe to all the sorts of articles you like to read, network with all the sorts of people you like to network with. If one is not careful, one can develop a rather skewed view of the world. And it seems like the world is FULL of people with skewed views of the world. And constantly seeing this every time I compare, say, Twitter (where most of the people I follow are book-and-library people. And some movie-and-TV people, but in this case I'm thinking more about the book-and-library people, who are more into social justice than at least MY movie-and-TV people) to Facebook (which is mostly full of, with three exceptions, people I know personally,* who may in fact have little in common with me otherwise), is more than a little disheartening. Actually it's mildly terrifying.
I know I've talked about this before. But it's making me particularly sad today, that people are SO determined to Take Sides that they never SEE when the Other side might have a point. Heck, they can't even believe that the Other side is not Stupid if not outright Evil. And by "they" I mean... practically everyone. Not an Issue comes up that people don't start preaching to their choirs using partial (slanted) stories and slander of the Other side. And it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't look at one person's impassioned plea on one side and another's impassioned plea on the other and think "Well when you put it THAT way, of course YOU'RE right. Except you're completely ignoring the valid concerns of THIS person, who ALSO looks perfectly reasonable based on the evidence and emphasis THEY'RE presenting."
But no one will ever know, because everyone refuses to see, and even if you point it out, like I am doing right now, everyone just says, "YES, if only THEY would listen to ME, then we could work things out!" Or they DO decide to "listen" to the Other side, but the people they've chosen to listen to are the stupidest, craziest, and most Out-There people on the Other side, so naturally they come to the conclusion that they were right all along. The Other side IS full of crazy stupid people, because this crazy stupid person is speaking for them.
And there's no hope for it, because everyone who's reading this is automatically picturing their Other Side, and saying, just like I said they would, "YES, if only THEY would listen to ME!" Or maybe they're saying, "No, Amy, you're wrong about THIS issue, because LOOK at that crazy person who is ON that Other side from me!" Also like I said.
Which makes me look like a hypocrite, because obviously I'm just making everyone else into my own Other. But I don't claim to be some kind of prophet. I'm just making the observation. I'm just mentioning it because it scares me. It scares me how much hatred gets thrown at the Other to the point where all involved are convinced there can never be compromise, all the while not realizing how much the Other is not SO different after all-- if we could only talk to each other without using our side's jargon and without kneejerking to each detail we disagree with.
So there. I'm going to post a Year of the Tesseract post on Calvin sometime in the next few days when I get a chance. Calvin-- there's someone with a gift for communicating across cultures and disagreements. Too bad he's fictional.
*(and actually, I should say, PEOPLE I HAVE MET IN PERSON, as sometimes I think I know![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iamdamanda, one of the three exceptions, better than most of the people I've actually spoken to in real life)
But that's part of the problem, too. It's easy to carve out a little niche for yourself on the internet, subscribe to all the sorts of articles you like to read, network with all the sorts of people you like to network with. If one is not careful, one can develop a rather skewed view of the world. And it seems like the world is FULL of people with skewed views of the world. And constantly seeing this every time I compare, say, Twitter (where most of the people I follow are book-and-library people. And some movie-and-TV people, but in this case I'm thinking more about the book-and-library people, who are more into social justice than at least MY movie-and-TV people) to Facebook (which is mostly full of, with three exceptions, people I know personally,* who may in fact have little in common with me otherwise), is more than a little disheartening. Actually it's mildly terrifying.
I know I've talked about this before. But it's making me particularly sad today, that people are SO determined to Take Sides that they never SEE when the Other side might have a point. Heck, they can't even believe that the Other side is not Stupid if not outright Evil. And by "they" I mean... practically everyone. Not an Issue comes up that people don't start preaching to their choirs using partial (slanted) stories and slander of the Other side. And it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't look at one person's impassioned plea on one side and another's impassioned plea on the other and think "Well when you put it THAT way, of course YOU'RE right. Except you're completely ignoring the valid concerns of THIS person, who ALSO looks perfectly reasonable based on the evidence and emphasis THEY'RE presenting."
But no one will ever know, because everyone refuses to see, and even if you point it out, like I am doing right now, everyone just says, "YES, if only THEY would listen to ME, then we could work things out!" Or they DO decide to "listen" to the Other side, but the people they've chosen to listen to are the stupidest, craziest, and most Out-There people on the Other side, so naturally they come to the conclusion that they were right all along. The Other side IS full of crazy stupid people, because this crazy stupid person is speaking for them.
And there's no hope for it, because everyone who's reading this is automatically picturing their Other Side, and saying, just like I said they would, "YES, if only THEY would listen to ME!" Or maybe they're saying, "No, Amy, you're wrong about THIS issue, because LOOK at that crazy person who is ON that Other side from me!" Also like I said.
Which makes me look like a hypocrite, because obviously I'm just making everyone else into my own Other. But I don't claim to be some kind of prophet. I'm just making the observation. I'm just mentioning it because it scares me. It scares me how much hatred gets thrown at the Other to the point where all involved are convinced there can never be compromise, all the while not realizing how much the Other is not SO different after all-- if we could only talk to each other without using our side's jargon and without kneejerking to each detail we disagree with.
So there. I'm going to post a Year of the Tesseract post on Calvin sometime in the next few days when I get a chance. Calvin-- there's someone with a gift for communicating across cultures and disagreements. Too bad he's fictional.
*(and actually, I should say, PEOPLE I HAVE MET IN PERSON, as sometimes I think I know
iamdamanda, one of the three exceptions, better than most of the people I've actually spoken to in real life)
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 09:33 pm (UTC)From:But back to your point here. You're right. And I'm one of those folks who posts all sorts of things that back up my viewpoint. I know it. But I have never dissed anyone who chose to disagree with me. I have one friend in particular who likes to poke at me regarding the economy and I usually agree that he's right on some points. There are, admittedly, a couple people I've blocked from my feed because I feel their political posts have just been disrespectful and I'm not on Facebook to get pissed off. There are perhaps people who have blocked me because of my politics and if that's the case, then so be it. I'm cool with that.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 02:33 pm (UTC)From:Whether you, like Lewis, believe this dichotomy (I *think* that's the word I want) comes from the devil, or is simply the result of human nature, I find it somewhat comforting to think that it is not a new phenomenon, that it is something people have been struggling with for a long time, trying to find the balance in their own lives between two sets of opposites.