Internet Ragebrain and the Burning of Virtual Bridges

I've been seeing an alarming trend amongst adults.  It's not a new trend.  It's actually quite an old one.  That being that whenever I go to a party, or to someone's house, or meet up around dinner, or any wide variety of scenarios with people over 25; booze is always the focus. 

Now, as I said, this is not new.  I do enjoy beer, wine, & whiskey.  I have, however, been experiencing an exponential move away from being drunk.  When you first start drinking, undergrad most likely, you binge drink. Duh. You get as wasted as possible, and the next day you suffer for it, but not enough to keep you from doing it again that night. This trend continues through college, but you do learn what you like, what treats you bad, and how quickly one thing will affect you versus another.

Post college you probably slow down, but you are also now legal so the novelty is not quite as bright.  You enjoy drinking in public, especially bars in the summer with outdoor spaces.  But for me over time I've grown farther and farther from it.  Sure I like to have a beer.  I like trying different beers.  I'm fairly proud of my palette when it comes to beer.  My wine knowledge is decent, but my palette has probably lessened since I don't drink it that often.  Mostly for me though, drinking is done at parties and after a long days work.  Getting drunk, however, is rarely in the picture for me.  Not that I don't enjoy it, but that it just isn't worth the hangover.   It's odd to me though, because the opposite seems to be happening amongst my peers and older people that I know.  It's more than ritual, it almost seems to be an over whelming need. 

What does this have to do with the title?  I'm getting there.

The internet has changed the game of communication and information.  In an argument we used to just speculate, hope someone around us knew the information, or we could be luckily and be in the house of an Encyclopedia owner.  Now we just whip out our phones, or hop on a laptop. Google.  Answer found. 

This ability has made us lazy, or possibly more gullible.

Facebook in particular has been the website of choice for the posting of hopefully funny quips, cat videos, and (much to everyone's ire) political rhetoric.  In an age where anything is corroborable why are half-truths and straight up falsehoods still incredibly prevalent in our political discussions?  I think it is because we want to believe them, or that they are presented in such a fashion (memes, pics, ect) that we immediately have an emotional reaction and repost or reply. 

My own FB Timeline definitely lit up during the election, mainly pointing out half-truths and misdirection from the Conservatives because I find that detestable.  The  political thing that I posted the most information about was North Carolina's (disgusting, hateful, ignorant, and most stupid fucking thing ever for that backward ass state that is my home) Constitutional ban on Same Sex Marriage.  Needless to say NC broke my heart and went the opposite of what my posts were about.  NC is a beautiful state, full of amazing people, but just over half the state really let me down.

 This issue is very important to me in terms of equal rights for all citizens.   Gay people wanting to get married only affects gay people. 

Gun legislation, however, affects everyone.  So I can understand this being an issue that people are going to post about. A lot.        

Should you have the right to have a gun?  Yes, I think so.

That's all I'm going to say about that.  I'm purposefully avoiding posting on FB  anything directly about it. I worked a gig in the Mayor's office with family members of gun violence victims, and it was heart breaking.  I posted that.  It was an amazing experience.  Did it change my beliefs?  Just a little bit.  But were those beliefs all that radical?  Not really.  

(addendum: I will post things about Video Game Violence, but only because it is close to my heart. These things will be straight up facts, or my attempts at humor/satire)

So when an acquaintance that I met at a party posts a meme comparing Obama's suggested gun legislation to Hitler, my hackles really went up, and my emotions partially take over my brain.  I point out to him that the information in the meme comparing Obama to Hitler was historically/factually incorrect, and that in a world where all you have to do is Google something to check, he should know better.  He then tries to use other false data to undo my claim. 

I now have two options.

Me from election period would have Raged up and continued my assault; even though  my opponent has already displayed, TWICE, that he has no interest in using facts and data. Then the FB argument would have continued, I would have been left unsatisfied and angry, and nothing constructive would have been done.

OR

I could, as we say in gaming, 'ragequit' the conversation and also unfriend this individual.

I went with option 2.

A third option would probably have been best; which is to unsubscribe from pictures this person posts, and keep them in my friend list.

So this not getting into a pointless facebook argument left my brain stewing; of which I will dump here:

You can't simply compare current gun regulation and legislation to Hitler, Stalin, or the American Revolution.  It's not that simple.  It's not clear cut.

I'm a student of history, and so it was my job for four years of undergrad to solely devote my brain to learning a lot of it. Another part of this was to think critically about it.

Thank the Universe that my public schooling highly encouraged critical thinking.

Germany when Hitler came to power, was not the Germany we have now.  Before WWI  it wasn't even much of a country, but loosely bound principalities and city states. They had a much different National Identity.

Global Politics was a much different place.  Many new types of government were coming into existence, being tried and tested. So the political unrest was great.

Germany after WWI was punished by the Allies.  It was economically destroyed.  They had a full on economic collapse.  Are we in a recession? Yes.  But full on collapse? Not even close.

So saying that Obama's gun motives are like Hitler's isn't even possible. The World is extremely different. The Nation is extremely different. And the current gun laws are extremely different.  The way we govern is different.

There are so many things that separate the two, that making a simple comparisons in an ill crafted FB meme is absolutely ludicrous.

Do you hate it, hate Obama, hate gun control? Fine post that you hate it, but don't post simple, stupid, ignorant memes based on lie, half-truths, and misdirections.

Okay good, brain dump over, I feel better.

So this dude who I met at a party, liked well enough to friend on FB, posted something stupid.  I ragebrain and burn that virtual bridge.  Will I ever see this individual again? Probably not. So do my online actions have much of a consequence? No. But could I just have ignored it and kept a contact that could be useful for whatever reason in the future? You bet.

Now you are asking, what does this have to do with all that drinking talk at the beginning?

Here it is.

When I met this person we were drinking.  Before internet communications people came together, drank, got in arguments, but eventually came to consensus over beers.  Not always, and sure there were lots of fights.  But people could agree to disagree.

 No one agrees to disagree on the internet. You stick to your guns, and you insult that person on levels you would never do in person.

Booze brought us this peace. 

These days we invite people to parties over facebook.  We keep likeminded people on our facebook. So when the party takes place, deep discussions may happen, but rarely are their strongly opposed viewpoints to drive an argument.  That argument can't be mellowed by booze.  So booze just becomes the center of the conversation, booze itself is the event. Or at least a seemingly necessary one.

We argue on Facebook, get angry, and hate each other virtually.  Then rarely encounter that individual again. So now all our gatherings involve drinking to escape the world, but without the intellectual stimulation of opposing view points.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is affecting us culturally.  More diverse areas of the world see greater harmony than monocultures.  I should be exposing myself to different views, which I do with different news sources, a variety of academic journals, and TED.

But shouldn't I be doing this on a personal level? Shouldn't I keep people who disagree with me on my facebook feed? To see their earnest beliefs?

I probably should, but since it just frustrates me, I'm not going to.

Willful ignorance? Maybe. 

But I'll happily argue with these people in real life. Where body language and tone of voice can be understood along with language.  Where we are less likely to straight up insult one another, or at least can apologize and buy the next round.