Last night, when I turned on the television to watch our local news broadcast, I was greeted with the good and uplifting (insert sarcasm) story that the Taliban was on the brink of entering Kabul, and that it might only be week a week or so, (likely, even, days) before they take over the capital.
Thanks, Channel 7, so uplifting!
I switched to social media (Twitter - that's likely my mistake!), and could only find threads full of numpties arguing over the COVID vaccine. In some places, it was getting pretty heated and it was more common than not that the bickering had turned to basic mud-slinging matches, and the victor was was going to be the person who could conjure up the greatest (or most vulgar) insult.
This morning, I awoke to the news that, while I slept, the Taliban had pretty much captured Kabul, that the President had fled the country (and, really, who could blame him), and that after 20 years, Afghanistan will pretty much go back to being an oppressed nation (if it actually ever had a time of not being one).
These three, tiny examples, got me to thinking that humans seem to thrive on conflict. It doesn't matter the scale or nature, we just seem to need to have conflict in our lives. From a war involving dozens of nations shedding blood over land, to a small scrap between neighbours over who owns the lemon on the branch hanging over the fence, and everything in between, I can't escape the idea that we need to be at loggerheads with someone.
Take this whole vaccination rollout. Whether you consider it from a global perspective, or from a very local perspective, there are clearly two sides. Vaxxers and anti-vaxxers. Now, at the risk of creating conflict right here, right now, I'd propose that the term anti-vaxxer is probably a little steep when referring to the COVID shot. In my understanding, the term anti-vaxxer is making reference to someone who is opposed to all vaccines. However, I digress. Regardless of the correct term, this vaccination initiative has caused massive conflict. Pretty much any news outlet has something, on a daily basis, that shows the rising tension between the various viewpoints, and I just get the feeling that some people out there really thrive on all of this - it's like they live their lives, searching for moments where they can voice an opinion and take sides one way or the other.
Is anyone else tired of it all?
Does anyone else find it all just a little too cumbersome? Who else pauses before they post something on social media that could be perceived as even just the slightest bit controversial? Who writes a reply and then stops to reread it, editing it where they feel that they may be treading on toes, or voicing offence that is likely to elicit a tirade of abuse from the oh so easily offended users of pretty much every social media platform? Who feels that their opinion is being suppressed by everyone who doesn't agree with them?
I think that you'd be quite right to have these feelings because I would argue that humans haven't really got past their basic desire to crush and oppress anything that they don't agree with, and that regardless of how much progress we feel society has made, we aren't really all that different to how we were thousands of years ago, it's just that the tools we use to do it are different. They are more advanced. We've traded the ox goad for the mobile phone. The spear for the laptop.
It's a shame, because it's important to have our own opinions and understandings, especially when they have been bred by research or, quite simply, wide reading. There are many out there who have taken the time to read on a topic of interest and to voice their ideas in articulated and creative ways, only to have their ideas smashed by ignorant people who are merely in it for a giggle. So why then, would they hang around for the next round of abuse?
Sadly, social media has given a platform to many who don't deserve a platform (perhaps I'm included in that many, I don't know!), and they are using it to create conflict at every opportunity, and in some cases, in fact, in a great many cases, the innocent are being attacked on a personal level. I remember, at a staff meeting once, the chairperson was trying to cultivate hearty conversation in order to find the best possible outcomes, and in this instance, they stipulated that it was okay to attack ideas, but not to attack the person who was raising the idea. Unfortunately, when an idea falls under scrutiny, it often feels as though the person who raised that idea is also being scrutinised, especially if that person is a little insecure.
So what's the solution?
Do we run and hide from the overbearing nature of some of the more outspoken nitwits that have pervaded every social platform? I guess that is a possibility, and I know of many who have left some of the more toxic platforms. In some cases, they've sought calmer waters, in other cases, they've given up social media all together. And who can really blame them? No one likes to be attacked, and some of the attacks can get pretty personal. But does that, then, open the whole, 'all it takes for evil to thrive is for good people to do nothing' can of worms?
While I don't necessarily think that people who reside on one side or the other of the COVID vaccination fence are going to begin to enact plans for world domination if the other side suddenly falls silent, I do think that without the other side, there is cause for alarm. All too often, when left unchecked or unchallenged, people will find their ego beginning to write checks that they cannot honour.
Becoming violently aggressive, albeit verbal, isn't the solution to opposition. Shouldn't we, as the so-called advanced civilisation we proclaim to be, want to be challenged? Shouldn't we welcome feedback and vigorous good-natured debate? I would've thought so, but yet here we are! As I said earlier, we seem to crave conflict, and what should be an invitation for a hearty discussion is quickly, either rightly or wrongly, misconstrued as an invitation to commence World War III.
And, so now, this is the bit where I say that I think the Hive community is getting it right. For the most part, and I say 'most part' because you cannot always get rid of all the drongos, however, the good-natured and robust discussions and 'brotherhood' shown amongst members of this community is something that we can all be proud of. I hope that the conflict-loving jerks who strive to turn every little thread and post into something to be contested don't find the welcome mat out here for too long. Invariably, they'll find their was here at some point in time - we can't stop that. But we can stop their detritus from having a lasting impact on the rest who are just wanting a safe place to express their opinion.