Antisocial Media

Do not believe every spirit . . . 

 - From 1 John 4

I can't believe the intensity of passionate disagreement in social media. It should be called "anti-Social" media (yeah, I'm sure no one's come up with that yet!).

When I was young, I dreamed about the world in my old age. I was immersed in the telecommunications field, using what later became called "email," when it was the bailiwick of only the most leading-edge scientists.

Futurists looked at what was happening in the labs, and predicted a wonderful world in the 21st Century. In the 1990s, experts like Stephen Covey, whose system involved treating others with respect; and the research of men like Noel Tichy, whose work proved that good teams out-perform bad teams, heralded an ethic that was good news for creative people, visionaries, scribes, team-builders, etc. I relaxed in my middle years, knowing that the best years of my career would be the final ones - - - where my passions, and skills as a networker and innovator would finally become highly valued. The Internet would lead the way - - - people would be exposed to lots of new ideas, and powerful synergies would be unleashed as people learned to collaborate across time zones.

Look at the Internet of 2018. What happened?

In many ways, it saddens me deeply. The hate that people feel for others that they have never met . . .

My vision and passions go further back than the 1990s and my background in technology. I was reared in an attitude from Scripture, that there was a lot of noise in the world, that obscured the simple message of Christ. The paradox is that . . . we actually should NOT trust anybody. Every viewpoint is suspect. We have to have that view, in order to get to the Truth of God. Think about it. It is something that anybody from any philosophy should agree to. We all want the truth. Therefore, we all have to hold in suspicion, anybody that tries to sell it to us.

We are very gullible. All of us. And I have learned that even the most educated among us, seem like the most gullible of all. They put too much trust in their diplomas. They deceive themselves by believing their minds are inquisitive. But how can one be a true seeker, while making a career of lecturing? I would rather hear the wisdom of a farmer, or blue collar worker, or police officer, or teacher, than that of an entire faculty of an Ivy League school.

The truth comes when we stop talking and start listening. We can't all be right, otherwise we'd all be in agreement. And "having your own truth" is a cop-out. A person that hangs on to such is a person that has given up. Yes it makes you uncomfortable. If it didn't, then there would be no disagreement at all.

My philosophy came from Scripture, and the diligence of people in my youth, to drill such verses into my thinking:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

There are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. - Galatians 1:7

But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 11:4

Why would John, and Paul, be so concerned about error, unless they believed it was a real threat to us? We have to be careful. And the proof that we are not careful enough, is that everybody reading this has some point of major disagreement with somebody, about something.

The truth is in listening, and giving everybody a chance to express and ask. And to treat all with dignity and respect.

This is what will soften the edges of Social Media. It is what will destroy the divisions within Christianity.

And if we can be unified . . . imagine . . .