Heh

[richardf8]

So. I read an article the other day that talked about social media and the ways in which people are often chilled in what they are willing to say because of the degree to which trolls, thought police, and other bad actors can leave one feeling like saying anything real or strong is just not worth the BS. 

It rang true.

My reticence about posting here has been, in the main, about some issues I had on LiveJournal with users that engaged in that sort of behavior.  It was not the fault of the platform, but of those individuals.

But I have come to realize that ceding that space served no one. It just left it to be filled by all kinds of broken voices that are tearing the world apart, while anything I might have said that anyone else might have thought worth amplifying has languished instead in my own mind. I don't flatter myself that my words can change the world, but I have come to understand that being silent is tantamount to standing idly over my neighbor's blood. 

I have also realized that letting these things languish in my own head has not been good for me. Writing is a necessary kind of catharsis, though, if I'm honest, it's really more of a necessary mental emesis.  In the event of swallowing too many toxic ideas, induce vomiting  

One final note.  JK Rowling has become a hero to me. Her writings, from Harry Potter to her Richard Galbraith books to the Fantastic Beasts screenplays betray an understanding of the nature of evil and the dangers it currently poses that has convinced me that she is one of the few remaining people in public life with her head on straight. I do not say that for any other reason than to let the reader know that if they are not comfortable with her, they can expect not to be comfortable with me.

Comments

[qilora]

"It rang true."

social media has evolved exponentially over the years.. LJ might have gotten a bit harsh at times, but it was nowhere as acidic as FB is, nowadays...

i left FB about 2 months ago because they restricted me *twice* (me? restricted?? twice?!?) and both of these times happened in only one month... i was absolutely convinced that it was time to tell them: "– and thanks for all the fish"

i can relate about the pathos that one can feel posting here at DW (i swear i can hear the crickets).... but i have found 1 or 2 people who read my posts every few days; that is all i have but it is keeping my heart and mind balanced "enough"... and (i know this sounds strange) but my in-house family has made it very clear to me that i am not at ALL alone in my need to abandon FB...

FB is going to lose a *lot* of souls, and we are the souls of writers, artists, philosophers, etc.... we are going into exile but (like always) we create new colonies where we will find each other and connect again, and create beautiful new oases of which the "drones" will AGAIN infiltrate and devalue – until we get sent into exile again! haha ;)

[richardf8]

I never did Facebook, not even for a minute. Nor anything that came after. Too many people shooting from the hip was more than I could stand. DW is a good platform run by good people, and I appreciate the space.

[qilora]

ugh. i don't blame you for avoiding that space.. i feel so guilty that i yielded to being there for my immediate family and physical friends, a BIG mistake.

[thewayne]

Haven't read the Galbraith books. Wasn't a huge fan of the Potter books, I enjoyed reading them once, they don't really hold any repeat value for me. Big fan of the Fantastic Beasts movies.

I started posting the Ukraine war info because the accumulation and not writing about it was, like you say, not good for me and a needed catharsis. I think the synthesis of letting it stew a bit and then writing and getting it out, like you say, is kind of cleansing.

[richardf8]

Rowling has a greater need for an editor than she cares to admit, but you have to admire someone who can make code injection a major plot point in a novel about small town politics (Casual Vacancy) or describe the use of a VPN to compromise a firewall in completely allegorical terms (Half Blood Prince).

[thewayne]

It isn't just Rowling.  Quite a number of authors, when they reach a certain sales size, seem to grow beyond editors.  I remember the last Tom Clancy book that I read, who also had that problem.  In describing an assassin, he used the phrase "he found killing people as easy as zipping up his fly" AT LEAST THREE TIMES!  No editor would have let him repeat that phrase!  It was great once, but after he repeated it at least two more times, that was it.  Last book by him that I read.  Also, admittedly, I had grown tired of his type of thriller.

[cellio]

This rings true for me, too. I didn't have much trouble on LJ or DW -- I got (and get) occasional trolls and also occasional passionate disagreement expressed constructively, and I know how to tell the difference. But sometimes even the constructively-expressed disagreement can be wearing, or attract its own responses that are not so constructive, and it can be tiring. Often I've felt it'd be easier to just not comment on that thing that people feel strongly about on multiple sides.

But I also feel like I'm losing part of my own voice that way, and that doesn't feel right either. Twitter is, well, Twitter, and I was never on Facebook because it exuded too much slime for too long, but my personal space here on DW can be different. I should try harder.

Falling into a habit of not posting as much has allowed new patterns to set in, and that's going to take some attention to fix, too.

(I never really thought of DW, or any other long-form space, as social media. When I hear "social media" I think of short bits with no room for nuance -- there's no character-count on Twitter to dive into the gray when people want pro or con, yes or no, no qualifications. It might be social, but it's not real in the way that more thinky posts here, of any length, are.

[richardf8]

First, if you get messages saying that this thread was frozen, or your comment was screened, it's because I used your comment to make sure I understood the relationship between the icons and their functions (I'm very rusty at this).

But yes, the article I alluded to, which I wish I could find to link to, described the experience I had back in 2009, when I was shouted down in my own Journal for having the temerity to suggest that the Inauguration ball was Obama's party and he could invite whom he wanted, even if it was Joel Osteen.

I'd been on mute ever since, but it's time to move on.

I do, however, plan on regulating comments to ensure that sort of thing doesn't happen.

[cellio]

Regulating comments is a good idea. I screen anonymous comments and, for a time, had to screen non-friend comments because of some unfortunate personal attacks. These tools exist for a reason. Your journal is your space.