The Danger of Instant News and Extemporaneous Public Thought

I read with some interest an article by Mark Kriedler which decried the elimination of any sort of filter, boundaries and order around sports teams in our new era of Twitter and Facebook. He cited some examples where team conflicts spiraled quickly out of control because instead of there being a blowup and a cooling down period followed by some introspection and well thought-out action, sports players and coaches often spoke first and thought later, leaving terrible messes in their wake. In a recent example, the implosion of the French World Cup soccer team was largely tied to a locker room confrontation between star player Nicolas Anelka and coach Raymond Domenech. Instead of cooler heads prevailing, the exchange was made public almost immediately, leaving a reconciliation where all sides could save face impossible.

My bigger concern is how prevalent this is in broader society amongst networks of friends, neighbors, coworkers, and colleagues. I use Twitter and Facebook, but I try to be really careful about what I say realizing that not only can things be taken out of context, but it's never a safe to assume that things that you write (privacy settings be damned) won't get shared publicly with those outside of your friendly sphere - either through "Retweet", "Forward" or by simple word of mouth.

I had written in an earlier post about how humans by nature are easily inclined towards ripping other people as opposed to building people up. It feels better for our insecure egos, and the bully mentality embraces tearing people to shreds for a few laughs. The third chapter of James nails it:

5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Take our inclination to demean, belittle, complain and heckle (and I'm big-time guilty of this) and combine it with technology which gives us the means to share those snarky thoughts within seconds after they materialize in the mind.

That's dangerous stuff.