Pilgrim Road Blog Photo

Pilgrim Road Blog Photo

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Why Social Media is the Drive-By Killer of Reasoned Discourse

True: Social Media is an excellent forum for expressing your opinion in 30 second sound bites.

False: Social media provides a sound platform for intelligent, thoughtful discourse to impact the hearts and minds of those who engage there.

I wasted a significant amount of time during my brief sojourn here on planet earth last night.  Unfocused and tired, I made the mistake of scrolling through my Facebook account.  The onslaught of what I saw later disturbed my already rocky middle aged sleep.  

Most people would consider me a social media amateur.  (I’m still trying to figure out my iPhone for crying out loud).  It is rare that I post anything at all on Facebook, and even more rare that I would post my opinion on politics.  So my insights here, for what they are worth, are coming from a place of observation of a world to which I confess l have limited understanding.

Last week, another terrible, heart shattering tragedy pummeled the American soul.  The darkness of a fragile, fallen world once again came out from under the thin veneer of civilization and tore and brutalized the flesh and bone of our corporate body as people sharing a nation.

Instead of inspiring words of comfort and shared sorrow and even thoughtful disagreement on causes and cures, this reckless evil has spread its tentacles to foster some really hateful and barbaric speech by way of social media.  My poor choice to scroll through the projection of our cultural climate left me drained and discouraged.  And not one bit more enlightened in one way or another on gun control, mental illness or political solutions.  

I am blessed to have friends of many political persuasions, people I know, like and even hold dear.  Reading the vitriolic language of some of their Facebook posts (from both conservative and liberal bents) got me to consider.  I know these folks.  It would be impossible to paint them with a single brush.  While perhaps disagreeing with them on some important issues, these are people who would buy me a sandwich, or who I would share a laugh with about some stupid thing my cat did, or whose loved one’s funeral I would attend.  These are real, multifaceted, made-in-the-image-God folks…My life is better for knowing them.

But here, in the techno created bubble of social media, if these folks didn’t know me personally, they would be expressing words of hatred toward me.  I would be lumped into a category (into which I don’t fit for either side).  

I am unashamedly Pro Life.  But does anyone who knows me really think that I “care more about children in the womb than those already born?”  

I am also Pro Gun-Control.  But does anyone who knows me think I want to take away all of their constitutional rights?  

At the same time when I read the vitriolic words from some, I find myself saying, “They can’t possibly mean to say it like that…I know these people.”

God Lord, it’s a mess out there.  The single brush stroke is wrecking civility, kindness, and any hope of understanding one another and actually listening to what other people have to say.  Martin Luther King Jr. put it well:

“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” 

The last thing I’m trying to say here is that people should not have and communicate the force of their convictions.  I’d go to the mat for the things I think really matter.  But my point breaks out into two parts:

  • Social media is hardly ever the appropriate place, at least not as it is today, for thoughtful dialogue on important matters where a change of heart is sought.  (There are rare exceptions, like the case of Megan Phelps-Roper.  Her engagement with caring, thoughtful people through Twitter eventually resulted in her brave departure from the Westboro Baptist Church.)
  • No one will ever change their mind about anything unless they feel heard and respected by those with whom they debate.  Assuming a person is your enemy, and that they are a bad person because they don’t share your opinion will not bring about what we are all hoping for: A culture of civility and tolerance, understanding and reasoned disagreement.

What I learned last night was to quit phone scrolling on Facebook for 2 reasons: It’s a waste of time, and I’m not up to the assault.

Social media is the drive-by killer of reasoned social discourse.

I do, however, love the posts with kittens, puppies and babies.

Your friend on the pilgrim road.


LS