I was originally thinking of writing the title: Holding Your Tongue but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t so much about Holding Your Tongue as it was telling people what they want to hear in the social media sphere.
I Agree With You
Many years ago, when social media and blogs and news websites and – let’s just call it what it is – the Internet, in general, were young and new and shiny, it was predicted that people would simply gravitate to sites that reinforced what they already believed or knew or thought.
Oh! That couldn’t be true. After all, the Internet would provide such a wide array of diverse thought, opinion, knowledge, news, etc. ad nauseum that people would naturally be better informed and more widely read and more “well rounded” (a favorite term from my liberal arts college days).
Bullshit.
People are attracted to their kindred spirits.
If you think too many Mexicans are crossing the border taking good American jobs, you probably listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and love Sarah Palin.
If you think the Government ought to do something about runaway health care costs or the shenanigans on Wall Street you read the Huffington Post and listen to Keith Olbermann.
…and you probably don’t do much to get a different perspective. It hurts too much and it just makes you mad.
You’re Right (….Your’re Right….You’re Right)
This came home as a slap upside my head, recently, when I added what, I thought, was a friendly but different point of view on someone’s Facebook status. I had noticed that this particular status update seemed to have a lot of echoes from other friends (not necessarily “mutual” friends). So I added a different perspective in, what I thought, was a short and friendly way. You know. All social like.
Well.
One of the “mutual” friends actually e-mailed me off Facebook to tell me where to get off the bus. It seems I really didn’t know the whole story with all the gory details and even if I did, I was wrong and blah, blah, blah.
Are Sycophants A Good Thing?
Dealing with negative comments or comments that disagree with your blog post or status update may not be the most agreeable thing. But do you really want to be told you’re always right and virtuous no matter what? Who will call your bluff when you’re just fishing for compliments or sympathy? Who will call your bluff when you don’t have your facts straight?
The sad part of all of this is that those who would add a different perspective or a new point of view get shut down and then shut out. We don’t like those kind of people. They’re not our kind of people.
And, thus, the segregation we eschew in real life, we embrace in our online world.
I’d be interested in your point of view or experiences with online diversity. Go ahead. Tell me what you really think!
I think it depends.
There is a large chunk of humanity that loves their filters, their particular flavor of beer goggles on reality, deeply, and never wants to have it challenged. Yes. Birds of a feather do flock together.
But it’s also true that too much ice cream (or bourbon, but that’s another story) will make you sick. I’ve reached a point where I unsubscribed and unfollowed and unfriended mass numbers of people because my viewscreen on the internet got a little (or a lot) too Stepfordish. I intentionally sought out and subscribed to divergent perspectives.
For a few, the clash between my POV and theirs eventually became friction I didn’t need in my life, so I quietly dropped off their map. But others have helped me pry the blinders a little wider, and I like to think I’ve helped them do the same.
The dividing lines of politics, religion and philosophy end up becoming less important than the dividing lines between the people who want to be inclusive of other perspectives and those who desperately fear discovering any tiny cracks in their current worldview.
Thanks for chiming in, Kat.
Yeah. the world view thing is a tough nut to crack and since the Internet is self-selecting it’s tough to pull diversity into the mix. Being “intentional” (whatever that means) is about the only way I know to do it.
Thank you for writing this! Humans are as humans do: we like to stick with what we know and people who seem just like us. If anything, the distinct niches that social media groups have created just emphasizes this fact by taking our propensity for group-think offline to online.
Perfect example: it had never occurred to me until a few months ago that Republicans actually used the Internet. I’m not kidding. I did some research and found out that more Republican congressmen actually used Twitter than Democratic ones. And I had NO idea. But I have no one but myself to blame. We surround ourselves with ourselves.
Lindsay Baish recently posted..The shareability factor- does your restaurant have it
Lindsay,
Surely you jest. Republicans use Twitter? I thought they were still stuck in the direct mail age.
Ken:
I am right there with you on this one. Oh, but wait, that means I am now part of your echo chamber.
Likeminds attract.
On the other hand, I think the strenght of a community is found in its diversity of thought and opinion. We sometimes need to step out of our comfortable communities were everyone agrees and look for others that think differently than us. It is only then that we can grow and learn.
I for one like communities that challenge me to think differently. Those people that see different points of view as an attack are about seeking control and power…at least in my opinion.
Jeff Hurt recently posted..Epic Thanks- Thanksgiving Traditions And Mercy
If I could be so bold, Jeff, I think what you’re pointing to, in part, is tolerance and open mindedness. Two qualities sorely lacking on the Internet.