Same ol' song
Loren Bawn · 11/19/97 at 7:55 PM ET
I guess I'm not sure flaming is any more prevalent in cyber-space. Perhaps it is simply that the development of the internet coincided with a general breakdown of civility in society at large. You only have to look at what used to be our "role models" for rational discourse (congress, debating societies, etc) to see how the marketplace of ideas has been perverted by narrow self-interest, and that if you don't like a person's ideas, you merely have to assassinate his/her character. It used to be that debaters saw through such ad hominem attacks and countered them easily. Yet in an age where we want information in tiny bits, very few are willing to take the time to really understand others. It's so much easier to make a snide remark and dismiss another's thoughts as valueless, than it is to take the time to listen and either come to convergence or "agree to disagree." I think many people develop a number of "boxes" into which they sort everyone with whom they come into contact. Once enough information has been gathered to put a new person into a box, listening and attempts to understand cease, or at minimum are filtered through that cognitive construct.
Replies:
|
| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |
Copyright ©1996-1999 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.
