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I don’t really watch Fox News. I don’t really watch any news for that matter.
But I am interested in Roseanne for whatever reason and I caught this interview this morning. I guess I try to really not take things at face value any longer. Instead of jumping to conclusions, I’d rather have people explain themselves. And don’t get me wrong, Roseanne is really pretty terrible at explaining herself. Like really bad.
And then I just thought about Twitter. The only social media network I spend too much time with and the culture of outrage that’s been fostered. I see how quickly things get taken out of context and how few people are really giving anyone the benefit of the doubt nowadays.
When did we stop talking to people? When did we assume our opinions are the only right one? Why do I really want a tequila shot at 10am?
nu·ance
ˈn(y)o͞oˌäns/noun
1.a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound.
I don’t like at all what Roseanne Barr said, but if I didn’t tune into that interview I would’ve had no idea of how fucked up she is. Words are not just words. They have context. They come from complex people.
It feels like we’ve begun to accept outrage over conversation. Fine lines over nuance. Tribes over communities. Spouting off like we’re morally and intellectually superior to everyone who thinks differently than us.
And this isn’t even just political or cultural or any of it. It’s just a behavioral thing. It’s frustrating to me because I spend way too much damn time trying to see people as whole people. That’s pretty important, isn’t it?
None of us want to be seen completely through the lens of one action. One mistake. One identity. Blah blah blah, you get it. Yet we do this to people on a crazy regular basis nowadays. And maybe we’ve always done it, I don’t know. In the history of America I’ve been around for like 2.5 seconds max.
I wish we’d start listening to understand. Not to respond or accuse or generalize. You’d think we would’ve figured that out by now. Maybe we did and unlearned it. That’s even scarier. Because if we don’t see each other’s humanity, we’ll never get anywhere.
Well, possibly somewhere. Just nowhere good.
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This post was previously published on www.medium.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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