Thanks! (Plus, some thoughts about lying)

[lostboy_lj]

I know I've been missing of late, but I just wanted to pop in to say thanks to whoever nominated my essay, Rules of Engagement, at the No Rest For the Wicked Awards, in the category "Not Fade Away".  I suppose I was in an essay-writing mood all last year, and while I didn't get around to writing everything I'd planned, I was fairly proud of the

Comments

[readerjane]

It's so gratifying to read essays from someone who both sees this sort of thing happening, and cares about it, and understands the harm it can do.

I agree with what you've said above.

If we lie strategically, or accuse each other falsely of lying strategically, we're chopping the ground out from underneath our own feet. We're damaging the very basis of our discourse. We're like those characters in Lewis' That Hideous Strength, who insisted that language meant whatever they wanted it to mean, and wound up with no ability to communicate at all.

(apart from the fact that it's almost consequence-free)

I don't think we can discount that as a cause for internet rudeness. The lack of consequence, coupled with an underlying resentment that the speaker doesn't feel free to speak his rude mind in public, may be sufficient to explain the internet phenomena by itself. It's a disquieting idea: do many of the people I speak with on a daily basis wish they could be rude to my face, but since they can't, they take it out on faceless folk online? I hope not, but I suspect it may be true.

[lostboy_lj]

Thanks Jane.

We're damaging the very basis of our discourse. We're like those characters in Lewis' That Hideous Strength, who insisted that language meant whatever they wanted it to mean, and wound up with no ability to communicate at all.

Yes, exactly. Eventually, the words even cease to become useful as weapons, and discourse becomes babble. Orwell summed up the former quite well in his "Politics and the English Language", and then (in my opinion) Derrida perfectly illustrated the latter in action. :)

I do agree that the consequence-free nature is the main cause here, and that's pretty frightening given I can't quite think of a proper analog for it in history. Adjusted for population, have we ever had this many people hollering at each other with little to no fear of consequence and, in many cases, even a degree of social reward for the behavior? Could get ugly (and some would argue it already is).

[lostboy_lj]

The other really scary thing is, I've heard people agree with this sentiment we are discussing, then moments later proceed to make the accusations anyway. The dissonance was startling to me the first time I watched it happen, but not the 5th, 18th or 993rd time. It's the most commonplace irony I can name these days: "Let's all engage in an open, civil dialogue with each other, just as soon as we've gotten rid of all those rotter, dirty, lying Democrats/Republicans/Turks/Venetians etc."

Depending on the topic, it can be almost impossible to avoid an accusatory crossfire of strategic lies, whereupon no one belives the other is arguing honestly, and ulterior motives are ascribed to all. For example, to date, I have had exactly one rational, civilized and illuminating argument with someone about abortion. The result? I married her.