'Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance'. A quote I heard oddly enough from Russell Brand who was quoting a film maker Albert Maysles. Sort of summed up my fear of the way the world is moving, especially our Internet discourse. Seems for so many people either are all good or evil. Either your 100% with everything we stand for or against us. No consideration for context, intent or nuance. There's little room for middle ground. No acceptance for grey areas. Little acceptance of error or for those going against the grain. No questioning of the orthodoxy of the faction we subscribe to. It worries me that we are starting live in a prison of our own creation. Making a world it becomes increasingly hard to ask questions, challenge authority (am I'm not just talking about governmental authority) or to express or exist in the grey areas. Which seems mental to me because I think we are far more grey than black and white. I think our world is full of nuances that should always understand and factor before we pass judgment. We seem to be all shouting more and listening less. We seem to choose instant judgment over trying to understand the fuller picture.
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I think a lot of this stems from the medium we use to communicate with.
On forums, one comma out of place and it gets siezed on and a plain 'yes' or 'no' is easier than an explanation.
I say things in real life that people don't take offence at, but internet as we use it always has, and always will be, nuance free.
I rarely see things in 'black or white' I'm more of a 'shades of grey' sort of man (no pun intended  ) |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I very much agree OP, in particular your last sentence.
It does seem to be born from the internet age. Or maybe soap operas. People always ahouting and arguing but rarely listening.
What's the point in trying to explain the nuance or misunderstanding.
I rarely bother any more. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I’ve felt this for a while now, that if you question something, then somehow you’re opposed to what they’re saying, things are never clear cut, otherwise politics would be easy, it seems to me if you belong to the certain political way of thinking, you have to think a certain way on every topic, otherwise you’ll be Ostracised therefore they end up saying the same thing on everything, it gets to the point where you can know what someone’s going to say, it’s so predictable and tedious. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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If it's any consolation Op, the anxiety that you describe is as old as time itself. History is full of thoughtfull people decrying polarisation and the debasement of common discourse. Triggers in the past have included everything from the invention of the printing press to the development of the alphabet!
One can only conclude that this is a perpetual malaise which will always afflict the human nature of sensitive souls such as yourself.
And the idiots will always shout louder than the poets.   |
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Maybe I belong on the 'what's for dinner' thread 
