It's much easier to hate a group of people when they only exist as abstractions. And to that extent various things we do that define us pull us bit by bit from one another, and at some point those who worship a different god or adhere to a different political ideology are alien, or despicable, or a threat to humanity- conveniently your definition of it.
But what if those who are different from you are your childhood friends? What if the group of people whom you vehemently disagree with nonetheless are some of your friends on Facebook? For me, having friends who end up becoming very religious or politically conservative, forces me to examine the magnitude of my disagreement. Is this world big enough for all of us? Is my world big enough for them?
The fact that I choose to have them as my friends on Facebook obviously means that the answer is yes in my case. And that, regardless of our disagreements, I will celebrate they happiness, as them mine. I got a nice congratulation note from one of my friends for getting the position at Fannie Mae even though he does not believe GSEs should exist in the first place.
This leads me to believe that the converse is true to a greater or lesser extent. That a conservative Christian can have a gay friend on facebook, even as the chance of their interaction in real life is about zero. It might not be enough to stop one from voting for Prop 8, but it might be enough for him to think about it.
This leads me to another hypothesis- that the powers that be have no idea what is going on. The 70 year-old preacher who rail against the "others", who assiduously manage his flock so that they go to Christian schools and Christian camps and Christian colleges and Bible Studies lest they be tainted by "the others" have these millions of tiny little facebook strands forming their connections right under his very nose. All it takes is one happy apostate for this silo to break. If he only knew!
I like to think that this is happening, as I find it wonderfully subversive. And that the information age breaks down the bunkers we put ourselves in. Peace breaks out.
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How are these friendships going to start out in the first place on facebook?
you were already friends with the person who doesn't want GSEs. Or were you already friends with people whose political or religious beliefs have evolved in a different direction than perhaps when you first met. you just happened to be friends first.
when have you changed one your positions on something because you had a friend on facebook? or even reconsidered it? -- which is different than thinking of more evidence, and arguments against their position, and to support your own.
Would you be facebook friends with Michelle Malkin? Sarah Palin? or someone else less famous, but you you knew ahead of time with political beliefs so distant and personally disdainful from your own that it made you cringe? would you join the RNC facebook group? Americans for Tax Reform? Focus on the Family? just to hear them out?
And how do you know the counter argument isn't also at work, and perhaps in a more powerful fashion.
Where hate groups could recruit friends who might have been on the fence or never had that philosophy, but thanks to facebook, they now become part of a growing hate group, or extremist group?
that facebook isn't an even more powerful tool for emphasizing tensions, inciting hate?
Also, there are lots of conservative Christians who interact and work with gay friends every day
Look what happened to the manager at El Coyote. her $100 donation to Yes on 8 became public, and people she previously thought of as friends spurned her restaurant, protested it, asked her to renounce her personal religious beliefs, even though that very restaurant served many gay patrons, has many gay employees?
how would facebook helped that situation? She knew some of these patrons for more than a decade?
how is facebook different and better than the Army, college or sports teams or other already existing organizations that bring people of many different beliefs together?
Simple. People change. You can set your kids at an all-christian school. Some of his friends will leave Christianity altogether.
Whether I have Michelle Malkin or Sarah Palin on my FB is irrelevant. What is more importrant is whether or not I have someone who is a Republican or a Fundamentalist Christian. People are not as pigeonholed as we think.
It is entirely possible that the facebook can also work in the opposite way. And it is true I cannot tell you which force is greater. But a hategroup does not need FB to recruit- the internet already does that. I simply do not see how FB adds any more additional recuiting power.
I think FB adds more because even if you interact with people differenty from you at work, you are still interacting in a professional manner. Your work persona is simlpy not the same as your off-work persona.
Nice post, Yang. Too deep for me! Pass the bong!
~Scott
I have friends all over the spectrum, super conservative to super liberal, pro-life to pro-choice, deeply religious to not. Although, I'd say more rather than less are left leaning.
I have no problem with anyone's views so long as they don't force it down my throat. And just because they have different beliefs than me does not mean they can't be nice people or friendly or whatnot. When I look at my conservative friends, I don't look at them as such. To me, they are just my friend who happens to believe in things that I don't.
And I add pretty much anybody who requests to be my friend on FB, so that's not really relevant to me.
I think that's the whole point. Having facebook contacts humanizes people whom you disagree with.
This might seem like a small point, but imagine how history might have turned out differently if the Euopreans had facebook account with Jewish friends during the past 1000 years....
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