What America means to people now is particularly important for where America will go in the future. Today I read a well written piece by Andrew Sullivan in regards to freedom. Warning: it is a long article and 2 others are added after everything.
As a kid I had a skewed perspective of America. The patriotism I had was huge. We were one big melting pot and I lived in a poor communities, so I saw this. I went to a church that did a lot of missions to other countries, and many members were people from countries like Ethiopia. While I experienced a lot of shit in my life, I had an idealism that in this country I could make more of myself. My overall place was low income, but that did not mean opportunity was necessarily denied to me. ((Reality is debatable but not the point of the overall post I'm making.))
That kind of perspective of my country help keep my fire ignited. Out of my family (mom, dad, sister, grandparents), I am the first to obtain my AA and then BS. Both of those with cum laude. I do not care if people know, but it is relevant to this topic. My belief that in this country I had the opportunity to pursue these degrees if I worked hard enough was a fundamental training that I had from childhood. Yes, I was "poor" but working hard would open doors.
Lately, I have lost that idealism it seems. Part of it is still there, and I sometimes find myself looking up master degree programs. At the same time, I have never been more disappointed in what I see as current American culture. The article I read today wonderfully highlighted what bothers me the most. "Us" versus "them" constantly being peddled to extremes. If I don't like Trump, obviously I am leftists. I remember seeing this strongly in Obama's first run for presidency.
The memory is vivid. I stood with fellow college students watching him make yet another vague speech. Baffled, it went to commercial and I know someone objected. That's when concerns with his platform was literally thrown out as "well you're racist if you don't like him". Staring at that person, I was horrified that the person standing before me did not even know my name, but decided I'm obviously racist. We've stood there 5 minutes in silence, she takes one look at my skin color to tell me I'm the racist one for having a political opinion that did not jive with her own? It unsettled me first then and extended bad experiences I had in high school. Where race card was used to limit me in some way.
Since then I can successfully say both political extremes are horrible to deal with. Ignorance and intolerance at both ends. Worse than that, they control the conversation. Social media seems to only accentuate their control of the conversation. If I could do one thing with the snap of my fingers, it would be to entirely remove social media capability. Go back to the time where expressing opinion to someone required being connected to them in some way. Same forum? More than likely you had mutual friends. Party? Most individuals are not interested in ruining the party for others. Where political and religious debates were made with individuals.
((My oldest decorating her wall.))
To be clear, we did not debate better before social media, but it was much less impersonal. Conversations on the topic were influenced by printed media, but social media gives platforms to people media would not have given light of day. There is something to be said about vetting. I know this is not the ultimate solution, and blogs are not part of social media (Facebook, Myspace, Reddit perhaps, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat). So there are still ways to connect to non-conventional printed media YAY. The tribalism of the "we" online, found many places outside of race, is only made worse by these platforms.
Is it wrong of me to hope that social media is dying? I saw the start and end of Myspace. I have seen younger generations move away from Facebook. So I watch, waiting to see what direction internet bodies migrate to and hope the next platform is less tribalistic. Where people do not simply surround themselves with people who will only agree with them. Even if it's optimistic, I do truly hope to see that and more respectful exchanges of ideas.
Social media is mostly just a reflection of culture. We live in a time where everyone wants their trophy. I finished school I expect to be successful, but it doesn't stop there. One has to go out and make the success.
We don't just disagree we judge.
In some cases we are so focused on winning we quit valuing right and wrong.
Many are pleasure seeking instead of trying to find joy.
Personal responsibility and tolerance we discussed a lot in my childhood, but I don't hear much about it now.
It is reflected in those who come to SteemIt and want Steem to magically rain down on them.
Social media isn't the problem, we could do better with our Culture though.
I agree! Personal responsibility used to be a HUGE topic as I grew up. You did not dump trash out the window because it was YOUR trash to take care of. If you did messed up, own it and fix it. I still try to do this at work. If I know my procrastination or action lead to something negative, I apologize and try to fix it. Yep, I did it and now I will fix it. There are consequences but it is better to own that mistake.
I do not want to force people to behave like me, but I do wonder, did we lose the sense of "us" in our culture? When I go out and talk with people, I find diversity but I do not see behavior like I do online. Does online impersonalize it so drastically that we lose the restraint we would show in person?
andrew sullivan huh?
well I guess that explains a lot.
That is the author of the article. First I believe I've read his material, but I could be wrong. Do you like Andrew? Or is it more of a critique of that writer? :)
I don't like Andrew much..no.
I know for me, this article is one I really liked. He hit the nail on the head, in my opinion, about tribalism and losing freedom to the collective "we". Like people trying to say Kanye was no longer black. Even going as far as removing the pigment in a picture to make their point. His race should NEVER been determined or limited by people just because they do not like his opinions. Is the man brilliant? Not as far as I'm concerned, but the backlash was guttural.
With that being said, I have no idea about the rest of Andrew's material. Perhaps I'll come across many other things I do not agree with. ^_^ It happens a lot to me as I read. This was a pleasant surprise. Thank you so much for reading my take on his piece :)
I don't think the Kenyan was american.
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