I was talking with someone yesterday about how quickly the mind makes leaps to the worst. The scenario mentioned was a phone call that said, "He has been rushed to hospital..." and before the sentence is even complete, the head starts spinning all the horrors imaginable and the sick feeling rises from the pit of the stomach. The speed the brain can process such things is testament to its true capabilities.
But, the rest of the sentence arrives and it may be that ... "but he is fine." The brain went through all of that work and created a massive amount of physical and emotional reaction based on only a part of the information and in rapid fire form, didn't ask questions first. That is the way it generally reacts to data shock, information it isn't expecting.
It is the acorn falling on Chicken Little's head causing him to proclaim, "The sky is falling!"
I find that society is becoming much more trigger happy when it comes to reacting to unexpected news and before asking questions, people fly off the handle. There seems to be a do now and apologize later attitude but instead of being based on curiosity and creativity of action, it is with verbal attacks on those who are in the immediate firing line. It seems that tempers flare more easily than spoilt toddlers who finally heard the word No.
I think that this is the natural reaction based on how we as a global community have increasingly been constructing safe zones to protect from conflicting ideas and pushing for the always feel good state of the individual. Anytime we don't feel good, it is because we are the victims of oppression.
This issue has been further exacerbated by the internet and the protected positions of the keyboard warriors who are able to spew forth their verbal assaults without any need to leave the safety of their desk. It means that the result of any emotion felt is able to be broadcast and all the displeasure voiced without actually needing to investigate further.
This is multiplied by the situation that because it isn't face to face, there is not the softener of humanity and instead it is screaming into the void and waiting for a response. But, due to the nature of polarization, tempered behavior doesn't get response, extreme does, So, in order for people to get an echo from the world back, they need to release enough strength in their words to evoke/incite response.
This in time of course means that over time, responders get desensitized to the energy levels and topics and a ramping up of reaction takes place in order to get more responses. Pretty soon, people are pushed into corners of extremism that are very hard to back away from and since no one likes to say "I was wrong", they are much more likely to double-down and take it to the next level of extreme.
What it all leads to is pockets of extreme thinkers who are so isolated from each other in their echo chambers padded by slightly less extreme views that they can no longer ever hold a discussion to get a more even view of the world. Every time they hear something conflicting with their views, it is another acorn that triggers the falling of their sky.
Conflict is not something to be avoided, it is something to be discussed but a discussion is very hard to have when those involved are unable to speak without getting emotional and triggered by varying views. It isn't a discussion then, it is a fight that is looking for a winner, not a win/win where understanding is developed more deeply.
There are very few times in the course of a modern lifetime where emotional instability improves a situation let alone, the relationships between people. Yet, we are continually taught to go with how we feel rather than investigate the root causes of our feelings. Perhaps if we were curious enough to look a little deeper we would find that what we thought we were reacting to were nothing more than acorns falling from a tree.
The easiest people to control are those who are unable to control themselves and as I see it, the current situation has been engineered to make us feel that we are right while the very behaviors we believe in benefit others while harming ourselves.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Btw: Steem went down for some reason. It happens.
I have to agree fully. People seem to instantly jump to the worst case potential outcome to every situation. I wonder how many people came on last night and assumed all their investment was gone and steem was just a scam. Bet there were more then a few.
Those who can be triggered at the drop of the hat are very easily manipulated. They are the puppets that the puppet masters control. Worst part of it is they truly believe they are thinking for themselves...just mindless sheep.
Many I am sure. As it happened I was in chat with @meno. There wasn't much panic :D
Yes it is incredibly easy to push and pull someone who has no personal anchor.
"Anytime we don't feel good, it is because we are the victims of oppression."
That is so funny, because sadly, it's true that some people actually think that.
"a discussion is very hard to have when those involved are unable to speak without getting emotional and triggered by varying views."
In the past, I suffered from this condition. For me, the cure was constant exposure to all views. On any issue, I figure out what I think, and then I go seek out what the other person thinks.
Google no longer knows what to recommend to me anymore, so my Youtube recommends are equally balanced between MSNBC and Fox News, the BBC and Jordan Peterson.
I feel a little bit proud that Google can no longer push me sideways.
Result: I usually get where other people are coming from, and I feel calm about stuff that used to trigger me. It's like the Matrix opened, I got a look inside, and realized that essentially, everybody is just the same.
If more people spent time doing what you are doing there would be a lot less violent conflict and a lot more cooperation.
Echo chamber and confirmation bias, which are connected, are a real problem for interpersonal communication.
Once you lock yourself into a position, you tend to fight to keep it, and most of the time you won't even budge under a rain of reasonable arguments. And the drive for a quick, definite answer is very strong in human beings and very hard to control. It's called cognitive closure.
It seems to happen due to your views being strongly tied to your identity, so every time someone tries to disprove your POV, people feel like someone's attacking them personally and tries to undercut their whole life.
And action usually brings counter reaction, which in the heat of the moment leads to the escalation and often becomes an all out verbal war. People put the armor on, shield themselves and start returning fire until the adversary's dead.
Let's not forget, that at the end of the day we're violent, emotional animals, that view reality mainly as a fight over turf. Be it geographical, be it psychological, be it spiritual.
And we're easily stirred by partisan propaganda, cause that's what mobilises our aggression, our blood lust and leads to events, that everybody knows from the history!
Indeed. Identity, ego and a sense that these things are real enough to protect or die for. Quite strange considering that they are psychological constructs that change heavily over time.
The problem is that people treat illusion as real. All it takes is that assumption. And it has very dangerous consequences!
I recently saw a meme that made me chuckle and contemplate at the same time, it went something like"There would be a lot less offended people if dueling came back in fashion!"
Another thing that I have noticed that builds upon your observations about keyboard warriors and no one challenging each other's thoughts or declarations is that there are a whole multitude of young people barely out of high school attempting to espouse wisdom and expertise that life hasn't even had the chance to teach them yet. They are regurgitating emotions and feelings they have read or seen and trying to pass that off as gospel fact.
It is so very important to own one's mistakes and misspoken words. To embrace and acknowledge when you have spoken wrongly or taken the wrong action. For me, this has always were the true healing and education has transpired.
I think it is part of the personal branding idea. A lot of people telling the world they are made of stardust to try and get into their pants.
It is about responsibility and personal ethics, two thing missing a lot in a world of strangers and pleasure seekers.
This lesson i take many years to learn - Conflict is not something to be avoided and my emotional side still sometimes try to avoid it while the rational tries to fight it because i know most of the times it can make me grow as a person.
On an unrelated subject, i think this might be interesting and has potential:
https://steemit.com/actifit/@actifit/announcing-actifit-innovative-smt-for-rewarding-fitness-activity
Will have a look thanks :)
Yup, the overreaction syndrome. I have had to teach my wife to take deep breaths, assess and gather info before applying the correct course of action. Things I was taught in the military and they emphasised that panic gets you killed along with running in unprpared and uninformed.
The same will happen on these platforms, but as the markets are going, what goes down will come up.
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t is very true what you say @ tarazkp, for many people it is difficult to control their emotions when they are facing a conflictive situation. The solution to the conflict can have it in front and they do not see it.
Very interesting your article. I think I have learnt something new by reading it. For example, I like this truth: "The easiest people to control are those who are unable to control themselves" Thanks and congratulations for this text.
now a days peoples are their in ego's no one want to made his first step. It is very annoying situation of today society.
What do you think about that??
I am not sure I understand the question.
@tarazkp yes due to maintenance steemit is down for sometime now it's fine .
Hi Taraz. The keyboard warriors have lost their manners. Why treat someone differently to how you speak to someone in real life. I know how most people are and they tend to avoid confrontation face to face bit behind a keyboard they grow a set of balls and lose their manners. Which one is the real person? I think an apology from time to time would mean far more on a keyboard as maybe it would be genuine.
good emotional
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