Not quite the era of Sturm und Drang, is it? Or maybe it is the epitome of Sturm und Drang. Have we become the culmination of Germanic Romanticism and individual expression? Seems the slightest opinionated drizzle or dust devil is enough to cause stress.
Probably, there’s really been no change. When storms of any nature arise, they drive people to react and often overreact. And no doubt we’ve been overreacting since Cain found a suitable “storm” to justify fratricide. Overreacting is part of what we are, especially in social contexts that now spread across nations and continents via the Web.
Just read the conversations on any website. The slightest drizzle or swirling breeze can be a storm in someone’s mind. Little drizzles and swirling dust, seemingly insignificant, produce Drang. Think Mars. Those planet-wide dust storms that can last for weeks seem to begin as individual dust devils. Tiny swirls merge and develop into larger and larger movements of atmosphere and dust.
Maybe we need some website umbrellas or dust masks, some protection against the little drizzle or dust that can build into a major clash with major stresses.
Here’s an idea.
Don’t add a dust devil to the little devils that are out there in cyberspace. Don’t add more drizzle. Too much drizzle amounts to a downpour just as too much dust amounts to a sandstorm.
“But someone has to respond,” you say.
“Has to? Maybe sometimes. But not every time and not on every subject, and not when the response will engender only a wider storm. If you feel compelled to respond, make the response as small as you can. No overreacting respondent is interested in a lengthy rational rebuttal. And remember the lesson of Mars: Little storms merge to become big ones.
Our species has always had too many Cains, too many people who become stressed by the slightest raindrop or sand grain. No one is going to stop the drizzle or dust storms. They are inevitable, but exacerbating them isn’t.
Probably, there’s really been no change. When storms of any nature arise, they drive people to react and often overreact. And no doubt we’ve been overreacting since Cain found a suitable “storm” to justify fratricide. Overreacting is part of what we are, especially in social contexts that now spread across nations and continents via the Web.
Just read the conversations on any website. The slightest drizzle or swirling breeze can be a storm in someone’s mind. Little drizzles and swirling dust, seemingly insignificant, produce Drang. Think Mars. Those planet-wide dust storms that can last for weeks seem to begin as individual dust devils. Tiny swirls merge and develop into larger and larger movements of atmosphere and dust.
Maybe we need some website umbrellas or dust masks, some protection against the little drizzle or dust that can build into a major clash with major stresses.
Here’s an idea.
Don’t add a dust devil to the little devils that are out there in cyberspace. Don’t add more drizzle. Too much drizzle amounts to a downpour just as too much dust amounts to a sandstorm.
“But someone has to respond,” you say.
“Has to? Maybe sometimes. But not every time and not on every subject, and not when the response will engender only a wider storm. If you feel compelled to respond, make the response as small as you can. No overreacting respondent is interested in a lengthy rational rebuttal. And remember the lesson of Mars: Little storms merge to become big ones.
Our species has always had too many Cains, too many people who become stressed by the slightest raindrop or sand grain. No one is going to stop the drizzle or dust storms. They are inevitable, but exacerbating them isn’t.
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