I think these phrases are among those referred to as “thought terminating cliches” that are designed to terminate thought and follow up. They are common and useful in cults.
All about acceptance...we are afraid we will offend, as you said, so we "dumb" down our answers, thoughts, etc to maintain our "community". My new motto is, " I have alot more life behind me than I have left ahead.. don't have time for nonsense and BS"! Sometimes hard, but it's working...lot less negativity.
Do you feel we have lost the "art" of communication due to the anonymity of the Internet? Even in face to face conversations, things are watered down or softened for the sake of "likes" or acceptance. Listening has also seemed to evaporate in the heat of discussion.
Well, I think that a lot of the people who bring us the news are performing more than they are analyzing the answers they get to their questions. They have scripts they follow. One question after another and the goal may be the gotcha moment, or the useful soundbite. Do we also perform in conversations with each other? Sometimes. It's natural, I guess. But I think the bigger problem may be that we don't talk about important ideas at all. Most people talk about themselves and the rest about each other. We talk about the story line, the narratives we are following and the personalities. What the sport's shows. Who will win what, who will do what, who has done what.... and so it goes. We are narrative driven. It's what we learn in school. All the way from "see Bob's dog chase the ...." to what's Trumps popularity rating." History is mostly political campaigns and war stories. And different editions of Trivial Pursuit. But the gist of what I was writing is the fear of offending others. It goes back to the fear we all have that people will take us for being different. The "other," black, Irish, stamp collector, gay, Michigan fan, is not an enemy. But it seems that when you take apart how we talk with each other, there are more reassurances that I'm like you than there are reasons why I see the world differently from you.
I think these phrases are among those referred to as “thought terminating cliches” that are designed to terminate thought and follow up. They are common and useful in cults.
All about acceptance...we are afraid we will offend, as you said, so we "dumb" down our answers, thoughts, etc to maintain our "community". My new motto is, " I have alot more life behind me than I have left ahead.. don't have time for nonsense and BS"! Sometimes hard, but it's working...lot less negativity.
Show quoted text
Do you feel we have lost the "art" of communication due to the anonymity of the Internet? Even in face to face conversations, things are watered down or softened for the sake of "likes" or acceptance. Listening has also seemed to evaporate in the heat of discussion.
Well, I think that a lot of the people who bring us the news are performing more than they are analyzing the answers they get to their questions. They have scripts they follow. One question after another and the goal may be the gotcha moment, or the useful soundbite. Do we also perform in conversations with each other? Sometimes. It's natural, I guess. But I think the bigger problem may be that we don't talk about important ideas at all. Most people talk about themselves and the rest about each other. We talk about the story line, the narratives we are following and the personalities. What the sport's shows. Who will win what, who will do what, who has done what.... and so it goes. We are narrative driven. It's what we learn in school. All the way from "see Bob's dog chase the ...." to what's Trumps popularity rating." History is mostly political campaigns and war stories. And different editions of Trivial Pursuit. But the gist of what I was writing is the fear of offending others. It goes back to the fear we all have that people will take us for being different. The "other," black, Irish, stamp collector, gay, Michigan fan, is not an enemy. But it seems that when you take apart how we talk with each other, there are more reassurances that I'm like you than there are reasons why I see the world differently from you.