Ok, I get it. We are all outraged. But where does it end? I guess a better question is where did it begin?
#hatesmithing is the act of inciting an internet riot. The act of turning something harmless into something harmful. The opposite of understanding.
Why do we spend so much of our time and energy blaming other tragically flawed humans in a vain effort to prove our superiority over our fellow man? I get the feeling that the way people react has changed. It is more about the technology enabled #hatesmithing versus having a solutions based dialogue.
Fox News is one of the best examples I can think of… intentionally inflammatory with a slanted style designed to hatesmith. Fox is preaching to the choir. If folks need a reason to be scared, angry, hurt or outraged, that fodder is only a few keystrokes away. There is no dialogue or attempt for understanding only fuel to the fire.
What would it be like to live in an America where we fostered a culture of solutions-based, technology-enabled collaboration. What if the smartest folks in the United States were working together to find the best solutions for our most significant societal problems (and not working to get your mom to spend another 10 minutes on Facebook)? That’s what politics used to be, right? Or am I just being overly idealistic?