Here’s a thought provoking article. The events of the past few weeks (specifically our election and the aftermath) are really reinforcing my “Wizard Motto” dictum to question everything. In many cases, that means entertaining ideas that make me uncomfortable. Here is one of those:
I assume that social media that keeps me in touch with my friends, new feeds “specially tailored” to my preferences, etc. are all good. I get to keep up with friends and news that interests me. HOWEVER: that also means I’m being ‘protected’ from things those news feeds and social streams don’t think I want to see. They want me to spend more time liking them, so I’ll see more of their ads and they can make more money. I get that. However, if I don’t actually make the time and take the effort to seek out news from “the other side,’ I find myself, like so many of my friends and colleagues, shocked and amazed to discover the level of anger and intolerance that much of the population of our country is feeling. I find myself without the information and experience to even begin to understand what is happening.
Here’s the thing about that: If I don’t understand what’s going on, I have no ability to affect it. If anything else, what is happening now proves that top-down, legislated change doesn’t work. It only pushes the anger, the hatred, the intolerance down just beneath the surface. If we pretend otherwise, as we apparently have, it will pop right back to the surface when there is a bit of pressure.
So, how do those of us like myself, with my capabilities, my sensibilities, really make a difference? How am I being, what am I doing (or not doing) that has allowed this to be? What have I been missing, and how can I educate myself to stop missing it.
Here’s something I can start with today: I’ve been seeing a lot of things in my social media streams I would normally ignore–some that would normally cause me to unfriend the people posting them. I think I’ll start attempting to engage at least some of them. Perhaps I’ll even search some of the terms that make ME uncomfortable on Twitter, and follow some of the folks posting in those streams. And when I’m feeling triggered by what they say, when I’m most triggered to respond with negatives, I’ll resist that urge, and see if I can manage to hear what they are saying, to understand why they are saying those things. I’ll resist my urge to challenge them, and just listen (read) what they have to say.
That’s just something I know I can do. I’m sure some of you might have other ideas, as well… and I’d love to hear them. After all… if you’re reading this, you’re probably already inside my filter bubble. I promise I’ll still read what you have to say anyway.
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