Saved by Brian Sholis
The Right to Listen
"Twitter’s basic structure is about speaking, not listening — the platform’s formal innovation was that it made replies first-class citizens, equal to posts. Social gave everyone a voice, but it blocked our ear canals. The more complex or painful or shocking an event, the more it behooves us to “listen first, speak last.” But we don’t. There’s like... See more
There seem to be two distinct concerns for Illich. The first is that we lose the commons of which silence is an integral part and thus a measure of freedom and agency. The second, concurrent with the first, is that you and I may find it increasingly hard to be heard even as we are given more and more tools with which to speak. Alternatively, we mig... See more
L. M. Sacasas • Impossible Silences - The Convivial Society
In a democracy, we the people are supposed to be guiding the ship of state together. To do that, we need to be able to talk to one another, which suggests that engagement, rather than confrontation, can be a civic act. It can also be an act of friendship, because one thing we want to do is to save our friends from making serious mistakes. Just bear
... See morenytimes.com • Should I Stop Speaking to My Trump-Supporting Friends?
To extend McLuhan’s already stretched bodily metaphors, now that all may speak, we have moved from the age of the ear (orality) to the eye (text) and now to the mouth (networked discourse). Our challenge is to bring our abilities together in coherent conversation, informed by what we hear and ask together. For if all speak and none listen, there is
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