P.S. on Internet Communications

Just read this article about a phenomena I had never heard of before: Trolling.  Very interesting! Brings up important ethical questions about freedom of speech.   Here are some excerpts from the end of the article.

"Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”? Is the effort to control what’s said always a form of censorship, or might certain rules be compatible with our notions of free speech?

One promising answer comes from the computer scientist Jon Postel, now known as “god of the Internet” for the influence he exercised over the emerging network. In 1981, he formulated what’s known as Postel’s Law: “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.” Originally intended to foster “interoperability,” the ability of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel’s Law is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to write code that could “speak” as clearly as possible yet “listen” to the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance — the spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle. They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can to confound you."

(Wow! This is exactly the attitude of some Christian leaders I know!!  In fact, a Christian pastor recently expressed in estonishingly similar language the very same intentions!)

"Of course, none of these methods will be fail-safe as long as individuals like Fortuny construe human welfare the way they do. As we discussed the epilepsy hack, I asked Fortuny whether a person is obliged to give food to a starving stranger. No, Fortuny argued; no one is entitled to our sympathy or empathy. We can choose to give or withhold them as we see fit. “I can’t push you into the fire,” he explained, “but I can look at you while you’re burning in the fire and not be required to help.” Weeks later, after talking to his friend Zach, Fortuny began considering the deeper emotional forces that drove him to troll. The theory of the green hair, he said, “allows me to find people who do stupid things and turn them around. Zach asked if I thought I could turn my parents around. I almost broke down. The idea of them learning from their mistakes and becoming people that I could actually be proud of . . . it was overwhelming.” He continued: “It’s not that I do this because I hate them. I do this because I’m trying to save them.”

(Talking about the ends justifying the means!  It is scary to think that exactly the same intention, "to save people," motivates not only these destructive and dangerous internet hackers (you can read in the article of their malicious methods), but also the punitive and bullying voice of the Christian right!")

Anyway, this is just a "p.s." to my post "I take it back", so I am not going to comment further.  If you are at all interested in this topic, do read the whole article, which is linked up above.  I'd really be interested in your comments to the subject.   

I Take It Back!

I don’t love it so much. 

I feel like someone who has been shut up in a bomb shelter throughout the war, and on finally coming out, is glad to see so many of her friends alive on the one hand, but stricken to see the toll taken and how much has been destroyed on the other.  Google, You Tube, the Internet...my new discovery is also shocking:  rampant slander!  And Christians often leading the way through the mud!  

It strikes many people we come in contact with as odd that we don’t have cable t.v. or any t.v. at all.  I‘ve been living outside the states since ’92 and beside the occasional sitcom I’ve seen on airplanes, the movies I hand pick to watch, and the Oscar Awards (which are a must), I have been pretty much shut off from American media, and thus American culture.  Until recently that is.  With my new Macbook, the possibilities have soared, and I feel that America is just a finger tip away: the America I’ve missed, and the America I haven’t missed.  A part of the States that I have not missed, with which I am now again confronted, is the culture’s keen ability in using sarcasm to ridicule others; especially if those others, don’t line up with ones own views on a matter.  

Now, just recently, a Christian tried to get me to believe, that as a pastor he had Biblical permission to use sarcasm and put downs and whatever else he might need in order to expose heresy.  And as noble an agenda as this might be, I simply cannot find the Biblical support for the kind of things I’ve been seeing in blogs, especially his blog, and on You tube of late.  If anything at all, sarcasm and this critical irony, is an American thing.  Americans have perfected it, bathe in it night and day, and wield it to great effect and detriment at their enemies.  Not even in England do they come anywhere close to the Americans in using sarcasm and irony (satire maybe, but not sarcasm).  And in the parts of the world where I have lived, it is virtually absent altogether.

But just to be safe, I looked it up (sweet and easy on my little computer dictionary) to double check if I even knew what I was talking about.  And this is what I found:  “Sarcasm[A] is stating the opposite of an intended meaning especially in order to sneeringly, slyly, jest or mock a person, situation or thing.   For example, ridicule is an important aspect of sarcasm, but not verbal irony in general. By this account, sarcasm is a particular kind of personal criticism leveled against a person or group of persons that incorporates verbal irony.” 

Yup, that’s just what I thought it was.  I cringe every time I hear/read Christians, or others who are important to me, using this kind of language to bully or mock in any way another person, no matter how "right" they might be on content!  In addition, I highly doubt it’s effectiveness in winning the hearts and minds of those who disagree with us.  Let me illustrate:

It was a long and trying road to finally find the right sports club for Jonathan.  He of course wanted to play soccer like everybody else here in Germany, so we sent him to the nearest soccer club.  This was a good few years ago now.  Anyway, the coach was over the top.  He had suffered from Polio as a child, so never played himself (maybe that explains his behavior, i don't know). The kids would win by huge margins, but this guy was never happy. He would yell and scream (and i don't mean the way all coaches just yell and get hyper) and berate and belittle the players.  He would even let his tirades out on the parents, if they asked the wrong question or somehow did something "stupid" in his eyes.  He shamed people, and of course he was always “right”.  Jonathan was terrified of him, so much so, that he wouldn't really go after the ball for fear he would be shamed and belittled for loosing it again.  Here is the catch: the coach never once yelled at Jonathan the entire time he was on the team (which wasn't long i assure you)!  It was enough that he saw the others being publicly shamed.  The thing is, it didn't lead to obedience!! It led to personal shame and retreat.  Jonathan froze inwardly, did not develop love or respect for his coach and did not long to please him.  He certainly didn't have any fun playing soccer.  He acted only out of fear of doing the wrong thing.  When people resort to character assassination, stinging sarcasm, malicious mocking and caustic ridicule, it scares me, even if I am not the target.   I know how easily I could make just such a false "play," so I freeze inwardly.  I unconsciously feel shame and retreat away from the person wielding the hatchet.   Instead of concentrating on the "ball" and giving myself up to playing as well as I can to win "the game", I find I am too concerned with where that hatchet might come down next.  

Let’s be honest, is anyone really ever won over by these tactics?  Of course I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. It might be possible to slice and dice the Bible and piece together a permission slip for this style of communication, but I would wager to bet we Christian bloggers and You Tubers are just swimming with our American culture on this one.  I know what has won me over in the past and what still gets my attention today is the respectful, intelligent and personal witness of humble and authentic people.  People who are not threatened by my honest questions, sincere doubts or even my differing perspective on a particular issue.  The chances that I might be won over to a given idea are far greater, when I feel safe with someone, knowing that that person will preserve my dignity and can value my individual human worth, despite the fact that I might not yet be completely on board with them about even subjects of the utmost significance.  This leaves a back door open for me to go through at some other time, when perhaps through different circumstances, life experience, or the Holy Spirit’s leading, I am able to see things in a new light.   Wouldn’t it just be heavenly, if our internet conversations were laced with this kind of love?     I hope you hold me to this on my blog and in my conversations with you. Thanx.

Exposure

I love the internet!  I love google! and facebook, myspace too!  It has been a blast getting back in touch with people from my past.  I'm talkin' waaaaay back!  I've reconnected with my best friend from high school; we hadn't seen each other for about 25 years! we still only have virtual contact, but it's a start.  She is doing what she always dreamed of doing: acting and teaching others the art, whether at University or at their non-profit community children's theater.  Then Eric was a guy i worked with in my waitressing days.  My girlfriends and I were big fans of B-Time, his band back then.  Thanks to google, I found Eric now as a full time musician in Nashville, gone totally country and cranking out albums with the band Last Train Home.  Our contact is also still just digital, but I'm hoping to be back dancing in front of his stage like in the good old days, when they return to Germany (maybe next year?).  Cara Luft already had a guitar growing out of her belly when she was a student at Holsby in Sweden, where i was on staff, so it is not too big of a surprise to find out that she is making her mark on the Canadian Folk scene.  I love her new album, and am nuts over the trio The Wailin' Jennys, which she started, but left recently to pursue her solo career.  And it IS a small world!  She is dating a guy who is in the Celtic rock band, Spirit of the West.  One of their guys is also in my favorite band the Paperboys!!  So, I'm told, my chances of getting to meet them are pretty good next time they role around!!   Another student from Holsby days has blossomed into a vibrant and radiant artist.  Kelly is painting, doing art installations, photography and hopefully will get around to illustrating an awesome new kids book for me.  She has also started her own company, Messy Monkeys, which does team building for corporations through very out of the box, artsy play.   Lothar Schöneck is a graphic artist, who also does installation art.  He is a long time friend of Jan's and is also one of my favorite people.

So why am I telling you all of this?  Because I want you to check out their links on my blog under "Check it Out."  The artists, the musicians, the "out-of-the-box" thinkers are just so valuable for our societies, for culture AND YES for our faith communities!  Unfortunately I have witnessed and experienced that it is just these forward, out-of-the box thinkers who get run out of institutional religion.  And perhaps nowhere more so than here in Germany.  (as an aside, I believe that WW2 left a gaping deficit of creative and intuitive people, which is eerily tangible in many aspects of the culture even today).  This is a tragedy!  It is as if we are deliberately plugging up the holes where the light and fresh air come in.  Isn't that what they call suicide?  

Of course i know that not everyone shares my taste, but that is not the point.  Expose yourself to something new!!