Battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong …
--Buffalo Springfield
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, Hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
--Buffalo Springfield
That which hath been is now; and
that which is to be hath already been
--Ecclesiastes 3:15
I will fight no more forever.
--Chief Joseph, Nez Perce tribe
I cannot help but note in these days--and in this perhaps I will seem painfully slow--that meaningful debate, discussion, dialogue, is dead. What I see throughout online platforms and communities is mere cheering sections for one fixed viewpoint or another. The point seems to be for members of each herd to mutually fortify the preferred position--and woe to he who intrudes with a question or an opposing viewpoint, the operative principle being that he who poses a challenge is simply in the wrong group and should immediately withdraw to join his own kind. In short, discourse is unwelcome. "You are free to express your views," I was told in one group, "but don't question others about their views." The group, by the way, calls itself a "forum", and the admonishment was given in all seriousness, blissfully unaware, I must assume, that "forum" is defined as "a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged."
Singing songs and carrying signs, mostly say Hooray for our side.
Debate, discussion, exchange--these are all inconveniences, irritants, calling for thoughtfulness when indoctrination is so much easier. Can't be bothered? Bring on the slogans, the standard insults, the magic talismans of preferred intransigence.
So here we are, exactly where we have been before. It is more a matter of memorization than intelligent interrogation. In the future, when we have somehow bumbled through, for better or worse, we will look back with sober appraisal upon our colossal foolishness, and then at the first opportunity do it all over again.
So it goes.
And so, what's the point. I do believe that I will withdraw from the field, let the battle be fought to its inevitable conclusion, whatever that may be. It does not need me. It does not need anyone, really. The battle lines are drawn.
I will fight no more forever.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong …
--Buffalo Springfield
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, Hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
--Buffalo Springfield
That which hath been is now; and
that which is to be hath already been
--Ecclesiastes 3:15
I will fight no more forever.
--Chief Joseph, Nez Perce tribe
I cannot help but note in these days--and in this perhaps I will seem painfully slow--that meaningful debate, discussion, dialogue, is dead. What I see throughout online platforms and communities is mere cheering sections for one fixed viewpoint or another. The point seems to be for members of each herd to mutually fortify the preferred position--and woe to he who intrudes with a question or an opposing viewpoint, the operative principle being that he who poses a challenge is simply in the wrong group and should immediately withdraw to join his own kind. In short, discourse is unwelcome. "You are free to express your views," I was told in one group, "but don't question others about their views." The group, by the way, calls itself a "forum", and the admonishment was given in all seriousness, blissfully unaware, I must assume, that "forum" is defined as "a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged."
Singing songs and carrying signs, mostly say Hooray for our side.
Debate, discussion, exchange--these are all inconveniences, irritants, calling for thoughtfulness when indoctrination is so much easier. Can't be bothered? Bring on the slogans, the standard insults, the magic talismans of preferred intransigence.
So here we are, exactly where we have been before. It is more a matter of memorization than intelligent interrogation. In the future, when we have somehow bumbled through, for better or worse, we will look back with sober appraisal upon our colossal foolishness, and then at the first opportunity do it all over again.
So it goes.
And so, what's the point. I do believe that I will withdraw from the field, let the battle be fought to its inevitable conclusion, whatever that may be. It does not need me. It does not need anyone, really. The battle lines are drawn.
I will fight no more forever.
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