Some Thoughts About the Internet and Blog Debates

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 6:00 am by Esther O’Reilly

Some Thoughts About the Internet and Blog Debates 2012-05-08T06:00:44-04:00 Esther O’Reilly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s my personal conviction that the Internet divides as much as it unites. Sadly, it divides even those who agree on many or even most things. Why? Because the Internet fosters debate. No matter how much you share in common with a person, you quickly come to find the one, two or three things you can’t agree on. Then those few things quickly grow out of proportion, and before you know it you’ve forgotten that you had anything important in common.

I’ve spent a couple years wandering around the ‘net looking for conversation and kindred spirits. It’s not for lack of like-minded family and friends. It’s just that your personal friends aren’t always available to chat about this, that or the other thing. (In fact, my personal closest friends have such hectic schedules that we only connect about once every month or so.) So in a weird way, Internet “friends” can come to feel more accessible than your real friends. But because of the phenomenon I’ve just described, you learn by experience to hold these new-found “kindred spirits” lightly. Because you feel compelled to talk about everything, and sooner or later you disagree, and those disagreements magnify until you can’t stand each other and part ways.
I’ve encountered this with all kinds of people in all kinds of contexts. I’ve tried to “fit in” around various web communities, only to discover I don’t really belong, for one reason or another. Every time I think “Finally, somebody like me!” I come to discover, “Oh snap… not really, and in fact, they don’t like me.”
But listen, here’s a little tip I’ve discovered, and once it finally dawned on me it was a very freeing thought: Let it go. Here’s how that manifests itself concretely for me: When I’ve opened my big mouth and gotten entangled in something somewhere on the ‘net, and gotten someone or a few someones annoyed or impatient or mad at me… I simply leave the thread behind me. I make a final comment, and then I DON’T GO BACK. Because I know that if I sneak a peek to see how people are responding, I won’t be able to resist the temptation to jump right back into the mess and keep wasting my time with people who’ll never be convinced by me anyway.
So instead… I let it go. The other day, I was trying to analyze the feeling of freedom that it gives me to take this approach, because it seemed familiar to me. Then I thought of an analogy. Occasionally when I’m driving, I’ll do something that makes another driver mad at me. I’ll turn in front of somebody when I thought I’d checked and it was clear. I’ll make my move when someone else technically had right of way. Or maybe it’s not my fault. Maybe it’s the other guy’s fault, and he honks his horn at me just because he’s a jerk.
But then (at least assuming I haven’t broken the law or anything), I keep driving. I move on. I leave the angry dude or dudette behind me and continue going about my life. Because I know it doesn’t matter, nobody can do anything to me, and there aren’t any consequences.
I thought of another analogy. Sometimes I do stupid things in my dreams. And of course when you’re dreaming, you often don’t realize you’re dreaming. But when you wake up, you think, “Wait a minute… that was just a dream! It didn’t matter! I don’t have anything to worry about after all!”
Blog debates are like that. Unless you already know somebody very well, and a precious relationship is being thrown away, there’s really not much at stake. You don’t really know these people, and they don’t really know you. So give up trying to argue with them. If they decide they don’t want to be your “friend” anymore, that’s their choice. In the meantime… you still have real friends, and a life to live. A real life.

Culture

Previous Post

May 7, 2012

Live-Stream Concert Review: The Ball Brothers in Reedsburg, WI

Next Post

May 9, 2012 The Kingsmen Hire Chris Jenkins On Tenor

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 3 star 3.5 star 4 star 4.5 star Anatomy of a Song Behind the Songs Blog Stuff Book Reviews CCM CCM vs. SG CD Reviews Christians in Entertainment Christmas Essential 12 Christmas Favorites Christmas Top Fives Concert Reviews Concerts Culture Devotional Thoughts Faith and Culture From the Vault Fun Gospel Singers Gospel Songs Great Music Guest Posts Harmony Master Classes History Holidays Humor Hymns Interviews Marriage in the Movies Monday Morning Humor Movie Reviews Movies Music NQC Odds and Ends Old Movies, New Eyes Old Southern Gospel News Old Stuff Open Threads Other Genres Perfect Tenor Performances Polls Questions and Answers Recently Added SG vs. The Rest of the World Sing It Again Songs Songwriting Southern Gospel Surprise Sunday The Definitive Hymns Theology Toe-to-Toe Top 10 Lists Top 5 Top 5 Lists Two Sisters Review Uncategorized Video Posts Youtube Finds

Select a Month August 2026 February 2025 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 October 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Jesus drove the merchants and money-changers out of the temple with this.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Stool Stick Sword Scourge