Just proving the point of today's posting - get a friend on Facebook - and get an arms dealer as well!! Facebook had wide open arms markets on its site. Great!!! Users beware!
In today's world we often take one side of an issue or the other, forgetting that there are always two and maybe even three sides to be heard, to be valued. Perhaps if we would remember that, life would be a whole lot smoother. In any case, I read an article yesterday about a conference where cyber bullying was discussed and by a most interesting leader of the Forum.
The speaker or leader was Monica Lewinsky. Remember her? Remember that poor kid who was crucified in the media, a kid overwhelmed by the charisma and authority of the president - The President! - one who could not keep his hands to himself nor his zipper closed. I remember thinking how her life was ruined and how would she ever get back from this whole thing and sure enough she became a joke that has continued to be used by many comedians while Clinton has become somehow a "statesman", a man who has managed to shift the blame and the dirt off of himself on to Lewinsky and even on to his wife. Go figure that one !! As usual the woman is blamed.
Anyway, here she is conducting a forum, bright, intelligent, beautiful and looking great. Life can have its reverses in both directions, can it not! But what totally fascinated me was her topic.
I can remember reading in My Weekly Reader about the new computers, huge things in mammoth set ups and how they were going to change the world. Now we can strap on computers with more power right onto our wrists. Good? Bad? Both.
As a teacher and educator I loved the computers for the worlds opened up to the kids, to the possibilities and quite frankly, to the end of illegible hand written papers or typed on leaky, blurred typewriters. The research that was available was amazing but then I noticed something else. The skills of doing research, the actual act of thinking of how to research a topic, how to create tie ins, how to dig thru books, how to synthesize one's own conclusions from this research and how to digest it - gone, gone, gone. Worse, the kids took whatever they found online as gospel truth, not realizing that garbage put into print on a computer link does not change or morph into truth or valuable information or even correct information It then became a new part of the curriculum - how to distinguish that which is relevant and truthful from that which is not - on the computer. They had no trouble with discerning that in printed matter. Go figure.
But the worst aspect of the whole computer issue is the misuse of it by bullies. Years ago we had a kid in school who was enmeshed in this whole thing, taking place outside of school hours and technically having nothing to do with school responsibility and yet it was the school which had to unravel it. The police were just coming to terms with this new aspect of bullying and its horrific consequences in the worst cases. And what was worse was the permanence of this bullying and hatred for once out there, always out there.
"The question is, Lewinsky said, “how can good people who have different views engage in civil dialogue."
That is indeed a question. The civility seems to have gone missing and what we have is "all of the harassing and shaming and trolling that is done on line.”
It appears as if people think that hidden behind the screen there is anonymity and nastiness allowed, even valued for the vicarious thrill it provides others. The trolling on line, the habit forming act of surfing and looking for things to do G-d knows what, the ability to indulge one's nastiest and lowest inclinations - all this led to cyber bullying so bad that it even led to suicide by the victim. There was no way out, no way to escape, no place to run to. Rosy glasses or cracked ones? We need to decide which we will allow and how to guard against the bad side of the coin, the cracked lens of the glasses.
People who are damaged, who have a piece missing in their moral makeup, in their souls, in their hearts, people who are minimized in real life with little or no ability to make contact with people, find a new world in the computer and find themselves emboldened as they surf, as they dig up dirt, as they spew forth nasty epithets and spread hatred and indulge nasty prejudices. The spread of viciousness on the Web is a known fact and one of the biggest issues the world must tackle as so much of a certain demographic is radicalized on the Web, much to the detriment of life and limb of all of us.
WE need to be alert to this whole issue and we need to weigh very carefully all efforts to further enmesh us in a world that is fraught with danger. The bigger the network the harder the fall and the juicier target to crack. We need to be aware that the changes in this world are coming so quickly, at such a pace that to engage in investing unnecessary millions now, when people are already wired, when one, for example, can walk from one end of the Village to the other and around the other way, all the while nose buried in a computer screen if one is so inclined, we need to be watchful and wary and conservative in our spending. We need to know that we cannot force this on people who have no interest and who are content in their lives as is even as the rest of us are just fine with what level we choose to have. I, personally, have the fastest speed and the best connection that one can get here in the Village. Yes, I pay for it, but that is MY choice and my decision and I can choose the provider, as is and should be my right.
Before we jump into anything we need to remember the two sides of the coin and the need for education of those less aware of the pitfalls of a huge linked network. Telling people to be aware is not really helping them. There need to be classes, lessons, examples, workshops and it needs to be approved by the Village rather than sneaking it behind a screen, the screen of secrecy, of lack of transparency, the screen of awarding contracts without DA approval, without the bullying and threats of trolling thru someone's life to find something or to hurt them.
There are two sides of the coin, two lenses - a rosy one and a more realistic one that knows the pitfalls and knows that we have to take them into account - both here and in the world at large. Like it or not, resent it or not - that is life, the facts on the ground and ignoring them or poo pooing them ain't gonna change the facts one whit. And by the way, I can almost guarantee that this posting will get me some nasty cyber bullying for the cowardly bullies have not yet learned that they are very ignorable fleas and I take all from whence it comes.
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