Opinion Overload
Has our self-importance become incompatible with democracy?
I’ve never been a social media person. Medium is really the first place I’ve spent any significant time. I tried Facebook and MySpace for a moment in college when they were first coming out, but I found them overwhelming and I didn’t like being … so connected to everyone. I don’t like to advertise my opinions in my real (i.e. non-writing) life, and I don’t like seeing everyone else’s opinions all the time either. I don’t have bumper stickers on my car because I don’t want whatever random person is driving near me to see my thoughts about tailgaters, all my political endorsements, or whether or not there’s a baby on board. In fact, I prefer it if they don’t know anything about me, and vice versa. It’s too personal.
I suffer from social anxiety, so the constant fear that I might upset someone or that I’m being judged makes me a pretty private person by nature. I’ve been that way as long as I can remember. I also grew up in western Montana around a lot of libertarians and sort of absorbed the “I’ll stay out of your business and you stay out of mine” philosophy, as well as a general suspicion of the U.S. government. No surprise there. But the biggest reason I value my privacy is that I don’t need new ways to be manipulated, by the government or otherwise. Some people might think that’s paranoid. But when the government is serving Facebook with warrants, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable concern.
So when people are constantly flapping their metaphorical gums on social media about what seems to be every single teeny tiny detail of their lives, it’s a little hard for me to relate, although I think I’m starting to understand. It’s validating, right? It feels great! When I post here and people respond positively, it’s an instant dopamine hit.
But I also have to be careful. If I spend too much time on Medium, I get a little self-obsessed, a little too attached to my writing and my own opinions. I want to follow other writers who think like I do and build me up, and avoid those that disagree with me. Because it feels good there, in that little space that I’ve carved out for myself. It’s warm and safe and soft; no one pushes me or challenges me or tries to change my mind. I am the center of my own little universe, in a sea of other little universes.
And that’s just where we are as a society, isn’t it? Stuck in our information silos, so inflated with ego and misinformation that we’re unable to talk to or hear anyone else. We are no longer satisfied with simply having opinions; we are too important for that! Our opinions must now dictate the lives of other people, and if other people won’t do as we say, then we must use the government like a hammer to make it so.
But the government isn’t really a tool. It’s sentient; it has goals. That’s because it’s made up of people, just like the rest of us, susceptible to the same needs and desires to feel important and powerful. If we turn the government into a hammer, it may become impossible to wield any other way. And because that hammer is so powerful, so alluring, people will fight over it and those who control it will change, and before we know it, we’re no longer wielding the hammer. We’re the nail.
My goal is not to change anyone’s opinions. I learned a long time ago that I can’t change anyone except myself, and even that’s rare if I’m being honest. What I am hoping for instead is a return to democracy. Please, let’s not allow our egos as individuals to come before this fundamental common good. Let’s not sacrifice our country at the feet of our self-importance.
Let’s just try not to be tools.
