America is a fighting nation. Candidates promise to fight for constituents. Lawyers promise to fight for clients. Whole organizations have been created to fight for or against whatever. We fight for some things, and we fight against other things. Why? We fight to win!
In politics and culture wars one side always fights against labels. People fight against racism, hate, and violence. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us to fight for unity, harmony, and peace? Common sense tells us fighting will never end racism, hate, or violence. Fighting is the fire that keeps racism, hate, and violence burning.
Teaching public speaking, I love our lesson on “mindedness” every semester in which I ask students how many are open minded. Normally nearly every student will raise his or her hand. Then I ask how many are close minded. Normally none or one or two will raise their hands while their classmates look on with curiosity.
Probing deeper, I ask whether students are absolutely convinced about something they believe that they would never stop believing. Then the students begin to think, the very thing I was trying to get them to do. As they dig into their beliefs, they begin to see a number of things they are 100% sure about. As they name their beliefs, they realize everyone is close minded about some things.
Each of us has the power to change some things. We also have opportunities to influence some things for better or worse, but sometimes we have no power or influence over things we would like to change.
Way out here in the real world most of us have learned to flock together with birds of the same feathers. We still face disagreements and confrontations, but with enough practice we can learn to manage our reactions and build realistic expectations. Few if any politicians or culture warriors project such a lifestyle. Fear or hate has closed their minds to the extent they continually fight a mirror image of themselves.
Social media have hardened people’s positions. Social media are driven by algorithms that censor some voices while amplifying others. This year’s midterm elections will not likely have the impact on American lives that Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter will have. Twitter’s algorithms have amplified woke voices from the LEFT, and smothered or even censored voices from the right.
Musk bought Twitter last week setting off a firestorm of protests from major news outlets including: Los Angeles Times, NBC News, The Hill, HuffPost, Fortune, CNN, MSN News, USA Today, and TheStreet.com. These are the first nine items in a Google search for “Musk Twitter.” These news sources lean dramatically to the LEFT, and evidently believe Twitter under Musk will have adverse consequences for their “news” businesses.
Many hope Musk will tilt the platform back toward the political and cultural center, which would be a radical change. After being a major driving force for the LEFT since its inception, Twitter could level the playing field and offer users a more balanced field of opinions.
We have been overwhelmed with information for decades. That’s not nearly as frightening as being overwhelmed with information from only one point of view. Freedom of speech is foundational for moderating discourse in a multicultural nation. No one loses when everyone is free to speak.
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
12 comments:
So true!
This is a country of absolute free speech: You are absolutely free to say anything with which the Left agrees.
It’s hilarious this is the guy teaching about open mindedness.
Even though Musk is losing $4 million a day, I look for him to bounce back.
The Republican companies, and newspapers and universities need to step up to the plate and help him out!
Daniel is the most close-minded writers I've ever read. Pot, meet kettle.
I stay in Facebook Jail. Like the meme showing the face of its owner, Zuckerberg, says...."You are free to say whatever I want".
Free speech didn’t last long on Twitter. Kathy Griffin had her account suspended for mocking Elon. The right wing version of free speech is really just selective banning of left wing speech to keep the safe space the right wing snowflakes need for their egos. The author of this piece needs to take a look in the mirror. The lack of self awareness is troubling and it’s a common theme among alt right hacks.
Tell the truth. She got in trouble for impersonating Musk. Twitter has had that rule for quite awhile.
@10:37 - what happened to free speech?
Truth Social is even more heavily moderated than any mainstream social media platform. Although Trump promised it as a beacon of free speech where posts wouldn’t be censored for political ideology, that turned out to be complete BS as most would expect from a Trump promise. Elon is finding himself in a similar position. Claiming to be a free speech absolutist didn’t even last a week.
I’d love if Kingfish would make a post showing all the unapproved comments from this site. You don’t realize how screwed up so many people are until you delve into the depths of the internet. For people who think racism is dead, a quick look through the unapproved comments could be a gut punch of reality for many. Elon is quickly learning that an anything goes platform is just not possible. A place where the sickest minds on the earth share their ideas openly and plot towards their sickening goals without pushback just isn’t going to be beneficial to society.
Things have been going dowhill fast online ever since the weirdos realized the boards were just like scribbling on the walls of bathrooom stalls without fear of arrest or stepping in something you don't want to take home on your shoes!
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