I have friends of color. I have a couple black friends with ties to Ferguson. I have white friends. I have friends, who are conservatives and others that are liberals. When I say friends I mean real and/or Facebook. To
all of the above I could substitute the word friend with relatives. I mention this because in my Facebook feeds I get multiple opinions on the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. What has struck me most strongly is that there seems to be a strong dichotomy that is tending to break down along lines of color and position on the political spectrum. People are not so much discussing the situation as throwing opinion bombs at each other.
There was one posting on the Michael Brown case with a lot of reinforcing comments to the posters opinion of Michael Brown being a criminal. What struck me so vividly was the way the posters and commenters saw blacks. They were definitely “others”. They were a group separate from them, and something to be feared. Last time I looked we were all humans and we all bleed red.
I’m not the first to notice this phenomenon, that we do not discuss issues anymore. It just seems amplified on social media. Items are posted on Facebook in two basic ways. Someone will post an article or link, but generally a foreboding picture, cartoon or video. Sometimes these are posted because the poster believes it is important and needs to shared, or perhaps they wish to generate a discussion. Often the posting is the aforementioned opinion bomb. — Which is all fine and dandy.
What does surprise me just a little are folks who become offended when other people do not agree with them. The response seems to be that they should just remove themselves from the other’s page. I personally do not expect all people to agree with my positions all the time. And my expectation is usually fulfilled. Any number of times I have been flamed (do they still use that term?). It is just part of the environment that is the Internet. Occasionally, I take it personal, but I try very hard to just shrug my shoulders and move on.
We all get into a rut, a silo, where we just read, watch and listen to what is comfortable to us. What does make us comfortable are items that reinforce our beliefs and positions. Humans are very varied, and with very many perceptions of reality. As long as we stay in our own silos and do not try to understand or at the very least have an awareness of what is perceived in the other’s silo we will continue to drift apart. Much of the media seems geared to this paradigm. I feel like there is some unknown force driving wedges between the various factions of our country and of the world. I’m not a big believer in conspiracy theories, but it feels like the “powers that be” want to keep the little folk bickering among themselves. It is the magician’s sleight of the hand. Distract the masses with these wedges and the powers can go on with whatever it is they want to do.
It is in the discussion and exchange of ideas that we learn to be comfortable with each other. We need to be listening to each other to solve our common problems. There is a hole in the lifeboat, but because it is at the other end we do not think it has anything to do with us. The lifeboat still sinks. We should remember that we are in this together and determine someway to repair the breech.
Dude, you had me until the “conspiracy” portion. Life is full of randomness and self-interest. Marketing, politics, religion have been focusing more and more on the narrow sliver that is their demographic. In a poorer country, there is more commonality. In a wealthy country, one can consume within one’s own group. We get reinforced because we want to be reinforced. We live in echo chambers. I believe you are correct in your viewpoint of us human beings looking to categories, etc. to make live “easier.” It is easier to sell cars to people who want to buy cars. It is easier to sell meat to omnivores than it is vegetarians. There does not need to be a conspiracy, just a noticed trend and a marketing campaign to attract your demographic. I don’t remember the exact phrase, but it has to do with the “Power of Large Numbers” or some such thing. Ten people buying hula hoops? Not much to see here folks, move along. One million people – join the in-crowd folks! Do the ice bucket challenge! Be part of the crowd! Oh, well, in my usual “Sheldon” way I will have endeared myself to no one, and stated things in exactly the manner needed to alienate my reader(s).