May we please have less name calling and a little more open discussion?
- If I think you are wrong, I will not call you names. I will not say that you are an idiot, or insane, or evil.
- Your logic is probably sound. We start from different core values and first principles. We may have different loyalties. We base our conclusions on a different set of facts.
- I take none of these things as permission to attack you personally or to question your intentions. I won’t. I promise. I ask only for the same.
I hate it that I even felt a need to write this but if you spend any time at all on social media, especially Facebook, you've no doubt seen the steady stream, from both the left and the right, of goofy pictures, statements used out of context, rants with little substance, angry and hateful comments thrown at entire groups of good people because of a different idea about something, and so on, and on, and on. So far, the social media communication revolution has done very little to improve public discourse. It has simply made us more efficient muckrakers, complainers, and name callers. Shame on us!
That's my opinion. If you have a different one, you're wrong. You're not stupid, or insane, or evil. You're just wrong. Let's discuss it.
k only for the same.
2 comments:
LOL DOUG! so after that very righteous rant, (With which I happen to be in full agreement)you finish by: " If you disagree, it's OK, but you're wrong" or something like that. That's funny! But it is still very right. The problem is not so much with social media, again, it's just a tool. The factor (and not the problem) here, has to do with what anonymity (yes even if we post a full profile there's a certain degree of anonymity that does not exist in face to face conversation)does to our psyche. It stimulates that sense of Power that comes from the loss of inhibition. Just like a drunk who probably knows he's doing something or saying something he shouldn't, but because of the booze fumes in his brains, he is way past caring about it. I hope we will grow out of this stage. We are all still in our infancy when it comes to social media. I have hopes that as a civilization we will grow more refined in this area as well. But rants like yours are necessary to put our moral eyeballs back in their proper sockets. So thanks for the reminder. I am probably guilty of painting one group or another with the wide brush because of the actions or sayings of one or a few individuals. I'll try to be more civil...ized from now on. :)
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