Showcase-Sunday - All bark, no bite
This is a post for the @nonameslefttouse initiative, #showcase-sunday, and while I am not sure if this is among my best posts ever, I could repost one a day for over 8 years without repetition so finding my best is not always an easy task and with my memory, remembering them is even more difficult.
I am hoping that more people create posts that last, posts that can be found at some point in the future and spark a new thought in the reader to change an action, a life, the world.
Freedom has always appeared heavily in my thoughts and freedom of speech has become increasingly important through my time on Steem, but I take the approach of for every action there is a cost and that means that the act of freedom comes with consequences of action.
I am reposting this, with a few edits for readability improvement, as it is a facet of what I posted last night on changing conditions. It also ties into the recent post by @justineh as she wrote about what happens when what you believe is important, changes.
If one spends time on Steem reading across the network, patterns can be found, shifting thoughts across points that are not directly connected, but are affected by each other as thoughts, ideas and emotions ripple through the community. It is the value of decentralized governance as ideas on one side are not constrained by the imaginary borders created for control and instead can activate groundswell movements that change conditions for all.
All bark, no bite
(3/5/2018)
The internet is a funny place when it comes to threats.
People threaten all kinds of things and some of them are really quite aggressive and sick but, how many would actually act on these things in real life if given the opportunity? I think that for the most part, people are living in a fantasy world.
I find internet trolls quite amusing when it comes to this considering how many there seem to be. Where are they in the real world? Going on the frequency, where are the racists, the extremists, the cruel sadists willing to inflict pain at the slightest misstep or flaw?
What if in the real world people did actually act the same, argue the same, treat people the same as they do online, would it make the world a better place? If this is the way they actually feel about things, should we encourage people to show their true selves? Would you show the real you, do you now?
This is the problem I have been writing a bit about lately as online there is very little social cost for bad behavior, behaviors that in the real world would cause the actor real issues. Some people will argue that it is this anonymity that allows people to be themselves, allows them to speak freely but I don't think this is the case. People talk about being free but the problem is they do not want to take the responsibility of their actions. That is not free.
Freedom comes with costs of freedom. Always. The freedom to move is always bound by the rules of cause and effect yet, people do not want to deal with the effects of what they have caused. There is an unnatural asymmetry, an imbalance, not true freedom.
Troll me in the real world, call me this and that, you are free to. I am also free to respond as I see fit. Inject the internet filter however, and I am left with no avenue of appropriate response, no way to balance the scales. There is a problem here, is there not?
And then, let the conspiracy in, let the authorities play their hands and what happens? They too can act without consequence and responsibility of action and they are much, much more qualified than ourselves. The governments, the social medias, the advertisers with teams upon teams of social scientists working out the best ways to grab our attention and push us to act toward the directions they indicate, the directions they want us to find.
You think you are free? You think that you are not influenced by the actors in the darkness nudging your mind and your group's mind one way or another?
If you think you are immune to manipulation, you are already manipulated.
Everything important in this world is discoverable through observation and thought that leads to discussion and action. And the cycle continues until it stops.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
This post aged well in that the topic is just as important, if not more so, as we are experiencing many harsh episodes of interpersonal conflict, where the use of words can escalate or deescalate these conflicts. Now more then ever we need to choose our words carefully on the one hand and on the other hand be willing to assume the best or at least neutrality, about possibly tersely worded replies we read.
✍️ By @shortsegments
I think on the Internet there is very little charity when it comes to what others say and instead the worst possible view is taken, often knowingly that it was not meant in that way at all. I find it interesting how common it is and consider it quite immature and cheap when it comes to a discussion and those that play those games are often the ones who don't hold up under scrutiny themselves.
Always enjoying your good reads man! Keep up the great work.
You sure do bring value to this network.
Cheers, thanks for dropping by and commenting too :)