One of the persistent myths of modern civic life is that well-meaning people can always work out disagreements if they’ll just sit down and talk about things. There’s this odd notion that as long as we have free speech, there’s a “marketplace of ideas” and the best ideas will win through high-minded discussion among intelligent people.
That’s sheer fantasy. It’s not how the real world works and it never will be.
The idea seems to be that intelligent, rational, well-meaning people are naturally going to gravitate to the same answers, because … well … there’s obviously one right way, if we’ll just be smart enough to find it. That’s an idiotic idea, and it leads people to be angry with one another and think other people are stupid. We all think our ideas are obviously right, so if other people don’t agree with us, they’re clearly stupid or dishonest. Right?
I’m reminded of this again because of a flood of people here on the site from the Christian Left who ran across an article I wrote recently about them. Starting Friday night, thousands of people were suddenly reading that article from a couple of weeks ago and it was suddenly hit by dozens of comments, some polite, some angry, some disparaging, but all vehemently disagreeing. A few people with views more similar to mine responded, but there wasn’t any real dialogue. I was writing at the time and didn’t have time to try to engage, so I mostly observed. It was interesting. (You might want to take a look at the article and especially the comments as context for the rest of what I have to say.)
FRIDAY FUNNIES
Goodbye, Mother
Going through old relics tells me I’m still same person I used to be
Unconscious programming makes us eager to believe our own lies
If politics sends you into a rage, is it really a good use of your time?
Love & Hope — Episode 4:
I’ve lost all interest in begging anyone to fix the political system
Life is like flying a plane as you assemble it from a box of parts
Despite intentions, ‘net neutrality’ gives online control to politicians