The Communicability of Blogs
It is such a curious genre, this. Offense boils out of every letter and all kindness seems only trite and condescending.
I am interested, after the devolution of a thread recently, what people think are the overwhelming difficulties of faceless communication of this nature? When does it become unhelpful and why do reactionaries and fundis seem to flock to it so much.
What blogs do you read and why and do you participate in any? Is the internet the death of moderatism because you never have to see a person' face or break bread with them? How do we, who see and know each other, embody a different reality on the internet?
I am interested, after the devolution of a thread recently, what people think are the overwhelming difficulties of faceless communication of this nature? When does it become unhelpful and why do reactionaries and fundis seem to flock to it so much.
What blogs do you read and why and do you participate in any? Is the internet the death of moderatism because you never have to see a person' face or break bread with them? How do we, who see and know each other, embody a different reality on the internet?
posted by Unknown at 12:32 PM
10 Comments:
Good question, Wilson. I do think that faceless communication has very real limits, and that those limits are probably tighter for those of us who follow Jesus. I think that the moment one starts to write out of anger or bitterness (especially with those one hold's dear), the line has been crossed. I don't think electronic communication is a helpful conflict resolution tool. I think it only ramps up conflict. By conflict I am intending to mean interpersonal conflict, not a conflict of ideas.
Wilson,
I just experienced this myself. I posted an article I wrote that I knew was contradicting the emotions of the herd http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=17822
My article was picked up all over the Anglican blogosphere and vitriol was rained upon my head by a certain element of Anglicanism whose groupspeak I contradicted. My favorites were the woman from Louisiana who called me "Baghdad Bob" and another woman from Louisiana who said there were enough towels to wipe up all the water behind my ears. This last also said that I obviously had no kids, had never worked in the real world, had never had gained the experience of tough board room battles, and had a lot to learn when I first get out of academe.
I attribute to something I read in one of Viktor Frankl's books. He writes about his observations in concentration camps. He notes that there is safety in a mob because you don't have to have an identity. You can remain anonymous and melt into the mob and take on its identity and therefore never risk the moral demands of life as an individual.
I think that mob mentality is what we see so often on the web. For me, it was a lynch mob. I was the Don Knotts sheriff's deputy who accidently halted their lynching of Rowan Williams. And so they lynched me, only that too, as is always true with Don Knotts, proved to be a comedy.
I think we can have lots of outstanding dialogues on blogs, but that when humans have something at risk we are not checked by the boundaries that face-to-face life make visible.
The
Craig,
your comment stopped with "the". What was that about?
Also, what's the link to your Baghdad Bob post? I'd like to read what you say, especially since you don't have any children and no real-world experience! :)
The "The" at the end of my comment was an orphan that I accidently left. Could not edit it afterwards.
It will be difficult for you to see the full impact of this, but I wrote an article that was posted all over the world this weekend. It made a lot of people mad, but it turns out that events proved me right. But the hatred was palpable.
http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=17822
Have you noticed how I pretty much stick to asking questions on blogs? :)
Tom
Tom,
Did you make that last post as a question on purpose?
Tom,
What do you think?
Tom
How do I know what I think?
I love how I can see the king grinning to himself even through the internet
Do you like my grin?
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