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Thankfully there are reasonable viewpoints about the rioting afflicting the UK and US.
The answer is not to limit access to social media or even to sacrifice what little privacy we may have left using them, but rather to educate ourselves and our children about the underlying biases of these technologies: how they influence the way we think and act. [Douglas Rushkoff]
Reference: Cutting social media no answer to flash mobs.
Social media is now very much a part of our reality. So like it or not, we must acknowledge both its uses and misuses. We don’t have to be active on Facebook, Twitter, or BlackBerry Messenger. We don’t even have to be members of any of these. But I believe we have a responsibility to understand how these things work. The recent spate of violence makes this responsibility even more of an imperative, for those of us who are authorities, teachers and parents. Educate ourselves, and we can educate, guide and support others.
In the heat of anything that heightens emotion, like fear, anger or sadness, we as human beings are prone to think in black-or-white terms and to react or speak in ways we might otherwise regret. Calls by some people to shut down social media is an example of this, and is frankly foolish to try to do. The Constitution protects freedom of speech, so the US is unlikely to devolve into a communications censor-happy country like China. What’s more, we human beings are adaptable and resourceful. Shut our typical means of communicating or connecting, and we will find alternative ways of doing so.
Along these same lines, some comments by readers on CNN.com are just as reactionary:
Social media is now very much a part of our reality. So like it or not, we must acknowledge both its uses and misuses. We don’t have to be active on Facebook, Twitter, or BlackBerry Messenger. We don’t even have to be members of any of these. But I believe we have a responsibility to understand how these things work. The recent spate of violence makes this responsibility even more of an imperative, for those of us who are authorities, teachers and parents. Educate ourselves, and we can educate, guide and support others.
"Social networking is not the issue,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said last week during a Philly.com online chat. “It’s how people are misusing it in order to gather and then commit a crime.”
In the heat of anything that heightens emotion, like fear, anger or sadness, we as human beings are prone to think in black-or-white terms and to react or speak in ways we might otherwise regret. Calls by some people to shut down social media is an example of this, and is frankly foolish to try to do. The Constitution protects freedom of speech, so the US is unlikely to devolve into a communications censor-happy country like China. What’s more, we human beings are adaptable and resourceful. Shut our typical means of communicating or connecting, and we will find alternative ways of doing so.
Along these same lines, some comments by readers on CNN.com are just as reactionary:
The police should just open fire on them. They are stupid, so they will either learn quickly, or exit the gene pool.
One deterent would be for the store owner or cashier to shoot as many of them as possible.
Pity the owner didn’t have a weapon with a large clip, and a short look on life because of a fatal illness.
All of this is terrible!
Authorities and citizens alike must do whatever proper thing they can to stop criminal activity. No question about this. At the same time, we need to pause and step back, and check our emotions, perceptions and reactions. It is more critical at times like these to think reasonably, speak thoughtfully, and act responsibly. In truth, stopping this rioting is a difficult, complicated effort. But with greater calm and reason, we are not only in a better position to stop it but also to grasp its root causes.
The less access we have to these tools, however, the less about them we understand. And the less about them we understand, the more easily our behavior can be programmed by them, instead of the other way around. [Douglas Rushkoff]
Most folks (white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) are just looking for level-headed folks that will be fair and report the facts and do what they can do to better society. [CNN reader]Without resorting to the extreme, what do you think is the best way to grasp and deal with this rioting?
Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!
Ron Villejo, PhD
