The Perils of Moderation

It is a perilous time to be a moderate. Less than a week ago the above comic was published. It well expresses the dilemma of the moderate, but it expresses it even better than I thought when I first read the comic.

You see, to my surprise, many of those who read the comic read it as a deliberate attack on one side or the other. I had expected various commentaries on being a moderate. But, what I saw was people accusing Mr. Stantis of misrepresenting the two sides. Thus, there were arguments saying that the Democrats had never been totally against a wall, or that Republicans were not for expensive expenditures per sé, but saw a need for an increased security stance, etc.

What all of them missed was the element of satire that Mr. Stantis put into his comic. Both of the viewpoints represented above were as much caricatures of the positions as the comic itself is a caricature. Amazingly enough, though both viewpoints pictured in the comic are stereotypes, most of the commentators lined up in full agreement that the other side’s viewpoint was not a stereotype but that Stantis had stereotyped their viewpoint.

I should not have been surprised as I have seen the same thing happen to my Facebook posts. There are several times when I have dared to discuss a subject in a moderate way. Inevitably, both sides have piled on to tell me why I am wrong. Frankly, I consider those some of my best posts as, obviously, I have been fully successful in puncturing the extremes.

Which brings me to my final point, the existence of extremes that have managed to silence any moderation of thought in the social media. The extremes on both sides of almost any issue in the USA have taken over the social media in such a way that now it is often considered acceptable to reply with an insult without reading, and re-reading as necessary, the original post. Often if an article is posted to Facebook, the respondents have not fully read the article and go only by the headline.

Almost inevitably, moderates eventually give up posting. Blogs are no longer written. Communication is reduced to a stultifying montage of insults, most of which have little helpful or analytical thought put into them. The most deadly-to-communication replies are those that have no words, but only post a meme, as though that meme had any worth in a discussion. In case you are not aware, most memes are partially-to-fully-false. Memes are helpful when used as discussion starters, but useless when used as a purported proof for almost anything. Memes started out as humorous commentaries, but many-if-not-most currently posted are little more than pure propaganda.

I have been trying to watch myself on social media, as the pull of the quick and dirty reply is like the famous giant sucking sound of yore. I do not always succeed. But, I urge all of us to begin watching ourselves more. Our social conversation has disappeared outside our own carefully circumscribed group.

I am convinced that Congress cannot reach compromises because we have been circumscribed by our groups who will punish us if we dare to communicate with those outside the group. We, and our behavior on social media, bear a large part of the responsibility for the inability of Congress to work together. We cannot expect our Congresspeople to work together if we also inundate them with hateful tweets and posts every time they speak outside the approved extremist party line. Throw in the Russian trolls egging on the conversation, and it is no wonder that so many in Congress are afraid to meet the other party halfway.

So, we have a choice. It begins with each one of us.

Do please continue debating on social media. A debate can be very healthy for democracy. But, consider the following:

• Make sure you are debating and not trolling.
• Make sure you are arguing the facts and not the stereotypes. If the other side says that they do not believe something, do not respond with a meme prepared by your side that purportedly shows how their side really believes what you said they believe. Chances are your meme is inaccurate and incorrect. I would recommend that you ask what they really believe.
• Make sure you present your facts in an understandable way. May I repeat? DO NOT present your facts with a meme. Memes are for humor, not for communication.
• If someone posts an article, take time to read and understand the article before you respond. There is little worse than posting based on a headline written by the editor and not by the writer. Chances are that the headline was written to be deliberately attention-grabbing while the article may be a well articulated and balanced piece that deserves discussion.
• DO NOT respond with emotion words. Often I could care less if you say you are disgusted or ask me how I could possibly believe what I have written. Those are manipulative words whose intent is to cloud the discussion and to protect you from having to answer in a logical and rational manner.
• Quit with the boycott talk. Chances are you will forget about it by next week and not really follow through on what you said you would do. Remember that many boycott threats are often based on insufficient evidence presented in a social media post. For example, you may read about a restaurant that mistreated a minority or a policeperson or a child or a dog or a whatever. The boycott talk and the Yelp negative comments start flowing. Independent of all your talk, the national/local management may already be in the process of taking action. The people involved may be disciplined or fired. Meanwhile, whom are you punishing if you do boycott or Yelp? The owners and/or managers who may actually be totally innocent and may have taken the fully appropriate action. So, you may put a local restaurant out of business, but it will be the innocent owner who is impoverished by your fully inappropriate actions.
• Finally, behave as both a good civil society citizen and a good netizen. Yes, do hold robust discussions, but hold them in a way that Miss Manners would approve.