Here are a few things that occurred to me from the discussions I have been part of on various fora. Each forum seems to be a fortress for a particular core set of ideas, which is a mix and match of various ideas generally in circulation. And the members of each forum defend these ideas tooth and nail against those that oppose them. Many who are friends turn into veritable enemies when they happen to find themselves on opposing sides of an idea. And it seems to happen in spite of the best intentions on the part of many of them. Though people contend that certain groups are Nazis about the ideas they uphold, the behaviour of the majority members of every single forum follows almost an identical pattern. That of upholding their core ideas to the death, to the point where opposition is alternately ridiculed, shamed, insulted, ignored, scoffed at etc etc etc. Which brings me to this question. Are each of us separate from our ideas or are we our ideas themselves. If the former, we ought to be able to stay friends even if we oppose each others ideas. But if the latter, then those with an opposing set of ideas would truly be our enemies. Are we then the vessels (vassals?) of our ideas and simply tools of propagation? And do we have any real freedom to make friends the way we want. Or do the ideas we uphold dictate to us who our friends can be. And what of the idea of freedom of expression. Is it doomed to wander fortress less without any real defenders. Because after all freedom of expression demands the celebration of all ideas, which in a sense is the negation of them too. And hence when we say we celebrate diversity, are we only paying lip service to this idea, or do we truly believe what we say.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 04:18:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015