• Home
  • RELIGION IS NOT. . .PART I
  • THE SEARCHER-SEEKER

Searcher-Seeker

Musings of a lifelong searcher-seeker

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« I LOVE THIS IDEA. . .
WE ARE TIED TO THINGS THAT DON’T EXIST. . . »

FREEDOM OR LICENSE. . .

July 4, 2020 by Searcher Seeker

We convince by our presence. –Walt Whitman

Good morning Gentle Reader.  As a tap root that supports our exploration this morning I offer us four definitions.  These, of course, are not the only definitions available to us – and that, as they say, ‘is the rub.’  This morning, Gentle Reader, I invite you to hold the four I offer today. 

Freedom = the condition of being able to do, say or think whatever you want to

License = excessive freedom; freedom without responsibility

Responsibility = moral accountability

Empathy = the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation; caring about people and acting responsibly on that care, not just for yourself, but for others.

Consider this: We tend to judge the value of the information provided us by the quality of the source.  This guiding principle is negated today by social media and our ability to employ social media anonymously.  We have the license to slander, to dehumanize, to attack, to bully, to lie, to misrepresent (the list could go on and on).  We defend this by invoking the concepts of ‘freedom’ and ‘freedom of speech.’ 

Traditionally, the value of information was enhanced or debased not so much by its content, as by the authority we vested in the author/messenger.  We still vest authors and messengers with authority – that is, we ‘trust them.’  And at the same time there continues to be a dramatic increase in the number of folks who ‘trust’ the author or messenger that choose to remain anonymous. 

Anonymous communication is distorted communication.  On the other hand, consider that almost all communication in our society is distorted communication (freedom from distortion requires equality of participation – a participation rooted in the moral commitment to ‘seek first to understand’ and then second ‘to seek to be understood’ – as imperfect beings this ‘ideal’ is not attainable).

Consider, Gentle Reader, that what really matters today – in the age of social media anonymity – is not freedom of speech but personal moral responsibility rooted in empathy.  This is the alternative.  Currently we embrace what Bauman calls a license for irresponsibility.  This, it seems to me, is an enormously large and venomously deadly ant-social, anti-empathic, pro-destructive dis-ease that is allowed to run amok among us. 

Social-Media has become a weapon of mass destruction fed by a tap root of anonymity and license.  Generally, in cultured societies, the more potentially deadly the weapon, the more difficult it should be to obtain a permission to possess it. 

Social-Media (along with the bygone ‘Wild-Wild West’) is, today, a stark exemption to the ‘weapon rule’ that is widely assumed to be indispensable for the sustaining of a civilized life.  Slander, invective, calumny, slur, smear, casting aspersion, defaming, marginalizing, demeaning and bullying belong in the arsenal of social-media rooted in the ‘anonymous.’  This is not only deadly to the person; it is deadly to our society. 

It is a paradox (or is it ironic) that the aforementioned dis-eases are crimes in the ‘off-line’ life (think: ‘real life’) and yet they are not crimes in the ‘on-line’ life. 

Which ‘life’ – the on-line or the off-line – will assimilate the other?  The dominant one will assimilate the other and the rules of the one being assimilated will be adjusted, if not negated.  We already experience that the ‘on-line’ is increasing its dominance over the ‘off-line’ – license is trumping moral responsibility and freedom and our ability to be empathic (especially with the ‘other’ – the ‘stranger’).  With license, everyone can become a killer – and remain anonymous. 

As Hannah Arendt noted many years ago: license without moral responsibility means ‘responsibility of nobody.’  

“The logic is simple: Empathy is why we have the values of freedom, fairness, and equality — for everyone, not just for certain individuals. If we put ourselves in the shoes of others, we will want them to be free and treated fairly. Empathy with all leads to equality: no one should be treated worse than anyone else. Empathy leads us to democracy.” –George Lakoff

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized |

  • Recent Posts

    • SURGERY
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART VI
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART V
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART IV
    • CONSIDER – ‘CRITICAL THINKING,’ PART III 
  • Archives

    • November 2022 (8)
    • October 2022 (12)
    • September 2022 (8)
    • August 2022 (12)
    • July 2022 (8)
    • June 2022 (15)
    • May 2022 (15)
    • April 2022 (15)
    • March 2022 (15)
    • February 2022 (13)
    • January 2022 (13)
    • December 2021 (15)
    • November 2021 (10)
    • October 2021 (13)
    • September 2021 (10)
    • August 2021 (14)
    • July 2021 (13)
    • June 2021 (15)
    • May 2021 (15)
    • April 2021 (14)
    • March 2021 (15)
    • February 2021 (14)
    • January 2021 (14)
    • December 2020 (14)
    • November 2020 (16)
    • October 2020 (14)
    • September 2020 (15)
    • August 2020 (12)
    • July 2020 (14)
    • June 2020 (13)
    • May 2020 (12)
    • April 2020 (12)
    • March 2020 (11)
    • February 2020 (12)
    • January 2020 (13)
    • December 2019 (11)
    • November 2019 (12)
    • October 2019 (14)
    • September 2019 (11)
    • August 2019 (12)
    • July 2019 (10)
    • June 2019 (11)
    • May 2019 (12)
    • April 2019 (15)
    • March 2019 (13)
    • February 2019 (14)
    • January 2019 (10)
    • December 2018 (12)
    • November 2018 (10)
    • October 2018 (10)
    • September 2018 (7)
    • August 2018 (9)
    • July 2018 (12)
    • June 2018 (10)
    • May 2018 (8)
    • April 2018 (11)
    • March 2018 (12)
    • February 2018 (13)
    • January 2018 (12)
    • December 2017 (10)
    • November 2017 (11)
    • October 2017 (13)
    • September 2017 (14)
    • August 2017 (12)
    • July 2017 (12)
    • June 2017 (14)
    • May 2017 (14)
    • April 2017 (14)
    • March 2017 (14)
    • February 2017 (12)
    • January 2017 (13)
    • December 2016 (15)
    • November 2016 (15)
    • October 2016 (12)
    • September 2016 (12)
    • August 2016 (13)
    • July 2016 (9)
    • June 2016 (14)
    • May 2016 (14)
    • April 2016 (14)
    • March 2016 (15)
    • February 2016 (14)
    • January 2016 (15)
    • December 2015 (15)
    • November 2015 (15)
    • October 2015 (15)
    • September 2015 (15)
    • August 2015 (13)
    • July 2015 (11)
    • June 2015 (13)
    • May 2015 (11)
    • April 2015 (15)
    • March 2015 (15)
    • February 2015 (13)
    • January 2015 (16)
    • December 2014 (14)
    • November 2014 (15)
    • October 2014 (14)
    • September 2014 (12)
    • August 2014 (10)
    • July 2014 (13)
    • June 2014 (11)
    • May 2014 (14)
    • April 2014 (14)
    • March 2014 (16)
    • February 2014 (13)
    • January 2014 (14)
    • December 2013 (14)
    • November 2013 (14)
    • October 2013 (14)
    • September 2013 (13)
    • August 2013 (14)
    • July 2013 (16)
    • June 2013 (13)
    • May 2013 (23)
    • April 2013 (29)
    • March 2013 (31)
    • February 2013 (28)
    • January 2013 (31)
    • December 2012 (29)
    • November 2012 (30)
    • October 2012 (31)
    • September 2012 (30)
    • August 2012 (31)
    • July 2012 (31)
    • June 2012 (30)
    • May 2012 (31)
    • April 2012 (30)
    • March 2012 (31)
    • February 2012 (16)
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 45 other subscribers

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Searcher-Seeker
    • Join 45 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Searcher-Seeker
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: