#97 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday July 23)
Good morning!
Many of you no doubt are familiar with the book Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have not read the book but have read some of her writings. Jake turned me on to a fascinating essay of hers entitled “It is Obscene: A True Reflection in Three Parts.” In it, she addresses two ideas that I have been trying hard to crystalize. They are:
Social media is a pernicious, destructive and uncontrollable force that is dehumanizing, inhumane and compassion-free, providing an open field for lying.
Demanding a “safe space” and hyper-sensitivity to ideas different from one’s own stifles the free exchange of ideas and, in fact, makes the place dangerous for others.
Adichie’s goes on to observe that, when one becomes too visible, one must be prepared to accept that people will lie. While she suggests that ignoring falsehoods is the clearest way to get past the lie, “in this age of social media, where a story travels the world in minutes, silence sometimes means that other people can hijack your story and soon, their false version becomes the defining story about you.”
Adichie tells the story of a woman in one of her classes, whom she identified as a “Bright Young Nigerian Feminist” [capitalizations are her own]
After befriending the woman, the woman reacted to an interview given by Adichie not by calling her directly but by going on social media to attack her. As Adichie says, the woman “went on social media to put on a public performance.” The story devolves from there, with the woman continuing attacks and innuendo in a public forum.
The point here is that a statement on social media—any statement—can take on a life of its own, particularly when made regarding someone in the public sphere. And it is impossible to erase, modify, or respond to. What Adichie laments is that, under the guise of principled feminism, the woman attacked her in a “self-regarding, compassion-free behavior.”
She has hit upon something wrong in society today. It is that so much seems so self-regarding, high-principled and compassion-free. The people about whom others freely speak, throwing around invective and innuendo are, in fact, fellow-human beings. They are worthy of compassion and kindness. But the immediacy and often anonymity of social media takes away the one-on-one communication with those with whom we disagree. We are left to speak not to each other, but to an audience of “followers” and voyeurs. It is corrupting, distant, and inhumane.
I do not suggest a cure for this malady that has infected not only our political discourse but, sadly, our inter-personal discourse. But in the coming years I suspect there will legislation, self-regulation, and perhaps some type of standards of engagement adopted as a result of the demands people place upon those allowing this sort of behavior to be encouraged or continued. Perhaps, just maybe, we will learn to greet any such attacks for what they are and shun the speaker, rather than the person in whose direction the offensive speech is directed.
Have a great day,
Glenn
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