Not sure where this goes, or why I’m posting it at all.
I have a “friend”. On facebook and at work, and we share some interests out in the real world. I commented on one of his stupid memes the other day, something about Irish not being offended if you say something about leprechauns, proving that Irish people are not “wussies”. I tried to find out if they knew anything about Ireland before oh, 1997, like the parts where people shot their neighbors if they were the wrong religion. The st storm that ensued was predictable, but that’s not the important part of the story.
We talked the next day, in person, with others around, so it had to be civil. He said, oh yeah, “that’s how my friends are, we get together and it’s nothing but sarcasm and insulting each all night.” Okay, fine, whatever works FOR YOU. Then he said, “you could tell they were just joking right?” No, if someone never indicates that they actually have certain feelings or have knowledge beyond the short interactions we have, or doesn’t just say, “I’m kidding”, there’s no way to tell. Even if you ask, "You’re just fing with me right", you can’t know if they will answer that honestly. Maybe they are f***ing with you by telling you they are just kidding.
IOW, if you don’t know that people can’t see inside your head, that we only know you by your words and actions, then you are stupid. If can’t manage your mouth and have some memory of what you’ve said to whom, you aren’t worth my time.
There is a huge difference between person-to-person interactions and online communication. When we are face-to-face we can read each other’s facial expressions and body language and here voice inflections that give subtle but important meaning to our words. Online we have only the words and a few emoticons when used. Not knowing this isn’t a matter of stupidity but one of ignorance. You can fix ignorance if the ignorant is willing to be fixed.
I guess that’s why I see this story as a little different. I was able to walk across the hall and ask this guy who his friends were and what he thought. Important note; the guy I talked to face to face has ADHD and probably has some trouble with those facial clues. I agree, online or any written word can make you look stupid if you are not good at written communication. BUT, written or oral, you have to recognize that it takes time to develop a relationship. A meme is like a handshake, or the clothes you wear, they say something about you, but they are just clues. Easily misread clues.
Good point about the meme. I see a lot of friends sharing ridiculous memes on FB, such as the fake NASA photos of the earth with clouds hanging thousands of miles above the surface. When called out almost all of them tell me I should just appreciate the artistic beauty of the photo and ignore the lie. I’ve gotten to the point I usually ignore the egregiously offensive memes and sometimes unfriend people who post them. Arguing will not change their minds and I have learned FB is not the place to try teaching critical thinking skills.
Good point about the meme. I see a lot of friends sharing ridiculous memes on FB, such as the fake NASA photos of the earth with clouds hanging thousands of miles above the surface. When called out almost all of them tell me I should just appreciate the artistic beauty of the photo and ignore the lie. I’ve gotten to the point I usually ignore the egregiously offensive memes and sometimes unfriend people who post them. Arguing will not change their minds and I have learned FB is not the place to try teaching critical thinking skills.If there's one thing I have learned about FB over the last few months it's that, for the most part posters don't want to learn critical thinking skills. Lately I can't read a post without fact checking it for it's origin and authenticity. And if you don't want your blood to boil then stay away from the political posts. My God! Cap't Jack
Yup. I've had a few cousins unfriend me when I challenged their beliefs. Instead of discussing differences rationally they go into full attack mode. I figure I'm better off without them in my life.Good point about the meme. I see a lot of friends sharing ridiculous memes on FB, such as the fake NASA photos of the earth with clouds hanging thousands of miles above the surface. When called out almost all of them tell me I should just appreciate the artistic beauty of the photo and ignore the lie. I’ve gotten to the point I usually ignore the egregiously offensive memes and sometimes unfriend people who post them. Arguing will not change their minds and I have learned FB is not the place to try teaching critical thinking skills.If there's one thing I have learned about FB over the last few months it's that, for the most part posters don't want to learn critical thinking skills. Lately I can't read a post without fact checking it for it's origin and authenticity. And if you don't want your blood to boil then stay away from the political posts. My God! Cap't Jack
Yup. I’ve had a few cousins unfriend me when I challenged their beliefs. Instead of discussing differences rationally they go into full attack mode. I figure I’m better off without them in my life.This hasn't happened to me as yet but it's highly likely due to the supercharged political atmosphere surrounding the upcoming Trump/Clinton debates. I've never seen such an outpouring of vitriol from both sides and it's effecting my friends and family members, most of whom are conservatives. A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't Jack
A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't JackOne of my cousins unfriended me last year over the gay marriage issue. Maybe because I implied she's a bigot for opposing equal rights for gays.
A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't JackOne of my cousins unfriended me last year over the gay marriage issue. Maybe because I implied she's a bigot for opposing equal rights for gays. Sounds as if you're better off without her. Do you need bigots in your life, even if you share some genes? Lois
It all boils down to what comedian Ron White said," You can’t fix stupid."
A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't JackOne of my cousins unfriended me last year over the gay marriage issue. Maybe because I implied she's a bigot for opposing equal rights for gays. Sounds as if you're better off without her. Do you need bigots in your life, even if you share some genes? Lois Did I mention she's a Bible Thumper?
A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't JackOne of my cousins unfriended me last year over the gay marriage issue. Maybe because I implied she's a bigot for opposing equal rights for gays. Sounds as if you're better off without her. Do you need bigots in your life, even if you share some genes? Lois Did I mention she's a Bible Thumper? Am I surprised!
This hasn't happened to me as yet but it's highly likely due to the supercharged political atmosphere surrounding the upcoming Trump/Clinton debates. I've never seen such an outpouring of vitriol from both sides and it's effecting my friends and family members, most of whom are conservatives. Cap't JackCan't understand why the Trump/Clinton camps are so set against each other. Soon they'll have someone whose going to put the who country down regardless of who wins. The FBI must be wondering who Hillary is really working for and Trump has already become the ugly American for most Europeans and Hispanics which isn't likely to be made up for just because Kim Jong-un went out of his way to praise him.
I lost a couple facebook friends over the Romney campaign. I dumped a cousin, who I would still sit down for dinner with, but he just can't write a coherent argument, so I got tired of correcting his use and definitions of fallacies. Anyway, everyone has their things that trigger them, that they hold firm on. Mine are racism and feeding starving children. But I would never tell someone not to talk about those things. I would rather we did, so I can have a chance to make my statements about why those things are important, so I can talk and at least inform, even if I don't convince. I have an anti-vaxxer friend who said, "we will never agree", but we've never talked about the topic, we've just seen each other's facebook posts and we know some of each other's thoughts via what mutual friends have told us. How can she possibly know that we will never agree? (that's rhetorical)Yup. I’ve had a few cousins unfriend me when I challenged their beliefs. Instead of discussing differences rationally they go into full attack mode. I figure I’m better off without them in my life.This hasn't happened to me as yet but it's highly likely due to the supercharged political atmosphere surrounding the upcoming Trump/Clinton debates. I've never seen such an outpouring of vitriol from both sides and it's effecting my friends and family members, most of whom are conservatives. A few of my more liberal friends have already been unfriended over ridiculous issues like defending the transgender community's use of bathrooms. And the list goes on... . Cap't Jack
Can’t understand why the Trump/Clinton camps are so set against each other. Soon they’ll have someone whose going to put the who country down regardless of who wins. The FBI must be wondering who Hillary is really working for and Trump has already become the ugly American for most Europeans and Hispanics which isn’t likely to be made up for just because Kim Jong-un went out of his way to praise him.I think that most Hillary haters look at her as being "too establishment" while Bernie appears to be an outsider who hammers away at socio-economic issues aimed at benefitting the blue collar worker. Most of the cons I know don't like him because: 1. He's a Jew and 2 he's a socialist, both no-nos in my neck of the woods. Personally I support most of his platform planks but he's viewed by the mainstream Dems. As being too left of center whereas Hillary is a bit more moderate. It remains to be seen how this is going to play out in July but my prediction is that Hillary will be left to face The entertainer-real estate tycoon pseudo politician. Cap't Jack
I lost a couple facebook friends over the Romney campaign. I dumped a cousin, who I would still sit down for dinner with, but he just can’t write a coherent argument, so I got tired of correcting his use and definitions of fallacies. Anyway, everyone has their things that trigger them, that they hold firm on. Mine are racism and feeding starving children. But I would never tell someone not to talk about those things. I would rather we did, so I can have a chance to make my statements about why those things are important, so I can talk and at least inform, even if I don’t convince. I have an anti-vaxxer friend who said, “we will never agree", but we’ve never talked about the topic, we’ve just seen each other’s facebook posts and we know some of each other’s thoughts via what mutual friends have told us. How can she possibly know that we will never agree? (that’s rhetorical)I'm coming very close myself, losing friends that is. My extremely conservative relatives have very little to do with me. We haven't been close for years and that's fine with me anyway. Those closer to me and my immediate family generally stay away from discussing both religion and politics, e.g. My brother and me. He has lived in N.C. For the last 30 years and was a former news commentator for FOX. He and I had a knock down, drag out conversation at his last visit to my parent's home over Bengahzi and how he would like to see Franklin Graham as President. We agreed to disagree for our parent's sake and don't discuss issues any more. This is way off topic but how could two people, born and raised in the same family with the same parents be so diametrically opposed on practically every issue? Nature, nurture or a combination of both? Its always been a dilemma to me. Cap't Jack
Bold added by me.
Good point about the meme. I see a lot of friends sharing ridiculous memes on FB, such as the fake NASA photos of the earth with clouds hanging thousands of miles above the surface. When called out almost all of them tell me I should just appreciate the artistic beauty of the photo and ignore the lie. I've gotten to the point I usually ignore the egregiously offensive memes and sometimes unfriend people who post them. Arguing will not change their minds and I have learned FB is not the place to try teaching critical thinking skills.Where's the "Like" button for this post? ;-) I occasionally forget this bit of wisdom and attempt to tilt with the windmills. Derek
I heard that, I keep fooling myself that everybody is open to reason on at least some level.
Some people seem to take great pleasure in communicating how much contempt they have for evidence, critical thinking and rational thought.
Present them with clear cogent responses and they begin the circular shuffle that leads you right back to where you started…100 or more posts later. I think that is the whole point for some people, to see how much effort they can other people to go to to present the best case as we currently understand it on a whole range of issues in a futile attempt to find some sort of consensus.
I heard that, I keep fooling myself that everybody is open to reason on at least some level. Some people seem to take great pleasure in communicating how much contempt they have for evidence, critical thinking and rational thought.When discussing global warming with two cousins a month or so ago one of them said climate scientists are all socialists conspiring to bring on a one-world government to control our lives, then he said he knows more about climate change than me because he is an engineer. That apparently trumps studying climate science in college.
I heard that, I keep fooling myself that everybody is open to reason on at least some level. Some people seem to take great pleasure in communicating how much contempt they have for evidence, critical thinking and rational thought.When discussing global warming with two cousins a month or so ago one of them said climate scientists are all socialists conspiring to bring on a one-world government to control our lives, then he said he knows more about climate change than me because he is an engineer. That apparently trumps studying climate science in college. He obviously has a poor grasp of Quantum Dynamics, if you add a molecule such as carbon dioxide to an atmosphere like ours around a body that emitted electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength quantized to be absorbed by CO2 then the globe will warm. It's basic physics, all that outgoing radiation that would have simply traveled into space now has to transit to a thickening blanket that will redirect more and more of it back towards the planets surface. You just have to look at Venus to understand how effective this is. The two planets are virtually twins with Venus slightly closer to the Sun. Venus has an albedo of 0.75 and Earth has an albedo of 0.30. This means the atmosphere of Venus reflects about 75% of incoming sunlight and Earth about 1/3. Venus has an atmosphere composed of 96% carbon dioxide, Earth has an atmosphere with about 400 ppm of CO2. Venus has an average surface temperature of 864 F and Earth of 59 F. The tiny amount of sunlight that is able to penetrate the Venusian atmosphere is so efficiently trapped by the CO2 that it creates the hottest planetary surface in the Solar System. The tiny amount of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere is enough to make the difference between a frozen ball in space and a world with water in all three states teeming with life. Change that concentration of CO2 in either direction and you change the global average temperature and climate. It's physics, it has nothing to do with politics. Unfortunately the political motivation to distort this is so huge that we're still debating it decades after action needed to be taken.