I am painfully aware that much social media is informed by dimwittedness.
That said, entire societies are "closer to ground" than the high-falutin' aspirations of top-heavy "progressivism" or traditional conservatism for that matter.
Consciousness evolves slowly.
Against this backdrop of "developing awareness," the popularization of "beneficial ideals" is a good thing no matter how shallowly-rooted those ideals in a given individual.
Consider "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
When this moral standard first dawned on human consciousness it represented an epochal advance over the extant moral code which had justified (and even obliged "for the sake of restoring honor") unbridled retribution and totally-destructive retaliation.
Did a young buck deflower your daughter?
Kill the sonofabitch!
And while you're at it, kill your daughter!
"Worst Bible Passages?"
Like you, I am appalled by the epistemological catastrophe embedded in Rule #1: "If someone says so on the Internet it must be true."
BTW...
Rule #3 is two-fold: "Previously thoughtless people have begun to ponder ideas set forth by a spectrum of folk they would not otherwise have encountered."
It is true that social media is highly self-selecting and creates the horror of "mutual admiration societies."
But social media "bubbles" are sufficiently permeable that millions of Americans who - in the past - could not have conjured the "idea" of police brutality (or systematic injustice to dark-hued people) are slowly "becoming conscious" despite their innate political inclinations.
Clearly, there is much to be done.
But in the glacial meantime, it is wise - indispensable even - to revere "proportion" and "imperfection," two oddly inter-related phenomena.
"Shark Attacks Rise Worldwide: Risk Assessment and Aquinas' Criteria For Sin"
Things are rarely as bad as they seem. (My Dad used to say: "90% of what the wisest men think will happen never happen.")
Whereas imperfection is often a prelude to progress, uncompromising perfectionism is a curse on the land.
"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
http://davincidilemma.com/2012/06/how-your-perfectionism-affects-others/
Pax tecum
Alan
PS How much rain did SoCal get? And does it "feel" like the drought might end?
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 10:05 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
3. there might be a third rule, what is it?2. if someone did not shoot a video with their cell phone, then it did not happen1. if someone says so on the Internet it must be true.here are the two rules of social mediabut social media is the problem, not the answer.email has its place, like this onePhone trees were an old method... they were genuine and personal... a good way to spread the message......Regarding the Garner homicide....... this is revolution by twitter and by text, obviously a joke ...... people are talking about this on FACEBOK and they expect to be taken seriously..if you want to be truly subversive, make a phone call and talk to somebody, make a dozen phone calls, go to the coffee shop and talk to people.... otherwise you're just making money for mark zuckerburg and who ever owns google.--
My writing blog is Frog Hospital
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
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