Here’s one that came to mind: creating an echo chamber around yourself by excluding everyone who disagrees with you.
I don’t know if this often happens in real life but it definitely does online.
And I see this behavior on both sides of multiple issues; it does not seem like a left/right or conservative/liberal thing.
Sometimes this comes in a form as blatant as an announcement on someone’s social media page, like, “If you don’t think X, Y, or Z, you can just see yourself out.”
Or sometimes it comes in the form of someone blocking you on social media because they don’t like your stance on something.
Basically, it’s a zero-tolerance attitude toward someone who thinks differently than you.
I totally get blocking or ignoring someone who is being a pest about your differences; that makes sense. Trying to speak sensibly to a pest is a waste of time.
But issuing a blanket statement that people who disagree aren’t welcome?
That makes zero sense to me because if this thing is super important to you, I presume you’d want to influence other people to see it as you do. And how in the world could you hope to influence/educate anyone if you surround yourself with people who already agree with you?
It would be like me saying, “Only frugal people are welcome here.” on my main blog. If I did that, then I’d just be preaching to the choir!
If I show up online with an antagonistic, “You have to agree with me!” attitude, I am going to remove an opportunity to expose people to things that are important to me.
For instance, if I kick people out who are prejudiced against homeschoolers, how would I ever get to share a peek into how homeschooling can work?
Or if I kick people out who are pretty opposed to Christianity, how would they ever have a chance to see how my faith plays out in my life?
I just do not understand this. It seems like people are routinely shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to issues they really, really care about, and it makes me scratch my head.
The only explanation I can come up with is that it feels comfortable, safe, and reassuring to create an echo chamber for yourself. But I still think it’s extremely short-sighted and counter-productive.
This has been incredibly frustrating for me in the last few years and one reason why I’ve had to pull away from social media. I’ve seen many “If you vote for X, unfriend me now!” or “If you don’t support [big movement] unfriend me now.” The thing is, people like that aren’t just creating echo chambers but hurting their own pet causes.
It’s yet another reason social media was a mistake.
That’s why I love your blog! You are open to opinions. It’s fun to read about other perspectives. I follow a few others blog. One was, Design Mom. She has very different political beliefs than I do but I find it interesting to read about other thoughts and she has interesting articles. One time I mentioned my other viewpoint and that I liked hearing different perspectives and that I respect all beliefs. Well she responded to me that because I voted for someone else I’m no longer welcome to read her blog or to ever comment again. Wow.
My goodness. Like I said in my post, I really do not get why people react this way to people who have different beliefs. You do not have to agree with someone about everything in order to spend time together or have a relationship!
Well said.