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| Don't be a knee-jerk. Pause for nuance | Don't be a knee-jerk. Pause for nuance |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| News travels fast, especially with a "tweet", a "like" or an "upvote". But speed is not a component of accuracy, particularly when we share not only a story but also our outrage. We are being taught through social media responses to react as fast and as loud as possible – much to everyone's detriment. | News travels fast, especially with a "tweet", a "like" or an "upvote". But speed is not a component of accuracy, particularly when we share not only a story but also our outrage. We are being taught through social media responses to react as fast and as loud as possible – much to everyone's detriment. |
| With the speed at which information is delivered on Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media, many seem already prepped to pounce on anything vaguely incongruent with their morality: anything sexist or feminist, anything glorifying violence or ignoring it, anything religious or anti-religious. | With the speed at which information is delivered on Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media, many seem already prepped to pounce on anything vaguely incongruent with their morality: anything sexist or feminist, anything glorifying violence or ignoring it, anything religious or anti-religious. |
| Consider how rapidly people responded to the Rolling Stone cover, George Zimmerman's verdict, Nigella Lawson's horrible abuse, or any other story beaten by tweets and battered by capital letters in a comment section. | Consider how rapidly people responded to the Rolling Stone cover, George Zimmerman's verdict, Nigella Lawson's horrible abuse, or any other story beaten by tweets and battered by capital letters in a comment section. |
| The haste of acquiring information is detrimental to proper responses, let alone proper reporting. We become distributors not of informed news but what veteran journalists Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman call "McNews": stories cobbled together to allow for easy digestion, without considering other healthy properties such as veracity or accuracy. | The haste of acquiring information is detrimental to proper responses, let alone proper reporting. We become distributors not of informed news but what veteran journalists Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman call "McNews": stories cobbled together to allow for easy digestion, without considering other healthy properties such as veracity or accuracy. |
| As they write in "No Time to Think", with the combination of rolling, 24-hours news and social media: | As they write in "No Time to Think", with the combination of rolling, 24-hours news and social media: |
| The public's right to know has been supplanted by the public's right to know everything, however fanciful and even erroneous, as fast as technology allows. | The public's right to know has been supplanted by the public's right to know everything, however fanciful and even erroneous, as fast as technology allows. |
| Add to that character limits in, say, tweets and comments, and reactions are almost guaranteed to come across more extreme and more caricaturing. Ideas' spines must be broken to fit into a tweet or Facebook reply, and it is to these contorted responses we react. A cycle is started: contorted messages responding to other contorted messages, with neither side recognising nuance. | |
| Research indicates that vitriolic interaction often leads to further entrenchment of already-established views, rather than self-reflection: if you want to change someone's mind, name-calling and expletives will do the opposite. | Research indicates that vitriolic interaction often leads to further entrenchment of already-established views, rather than self-reflection: if you want to change someone's mind, name-calling and expletives will do the opposite. |
| Nuance matters in a complicated world: things aren't nearly as obvious as they first appear. By recognising that the other side isn't as obviously wrong as we'd like to think, we could have better, more fruitful discussions. You might not change your position, but you'd be better justified for having it. | Nuance matters in a complicated world: things aren't nearly as obvious as they first appear. By recognising that the other side isn't as obviously wrong as we'd like to think, we could have better, more fruitful discussions. You might not change your position, but you'd be better justified for having it. |
| Rolling Stone's decision to put the alleged Boston bomber on their upcoming cover may appear insensitive, but perhaps they're rightfully undermining what we like to think "bad guys" look like. Or perhaps they're wrong, because there's evidence to suggest media portrayals encourage copycat attacks. | Rolling Stone's decision to put the alleged Boston bomber on their upcoming cover may appear insensitive, but perhaps they're rightfully undermining what we like to think "bad guys" look like. Or perhaps they're wrong, because there's evidence to suggest media portrayals encourage copycat attacks. |
| George Zimmerman's verdict appears unfortunate, but perhaps the prosecution's case was poor. Perhaps, this means the US needs to change many of its laws, not that the jury was wrong. | George Zimmerman's verdict appears unfortunate, but perhaps the prosecution's case was poor. Perhaps, this means the US needs to change many of its laws, not that the jury was wrong. |
| We're not always wrong to be outraged, of course. But outrage should be tempered by facts, directing it in the right direction. Knee-jerk reactions and quick caricature stemming from online outrage not only undermines facts and poisons discussions, but can also actually harm. | We're not always wrong to be outraged, of course. But outrage should be tempered by facts, directing it in the right direction. Knee-jerk reactions and quick caricature stemming from online outrage not only undermines facts and poisons discussions, but can also actually harm. |
| Consider in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, how social media sharing of photographs allowed armchair Sherlocks to nearly ruin the lives of two innocent individuals. Emotions were high, lives were literally destroyed and shattered. Knee-jerk reactions were inevitable. But with social media, our outrage can actually undermine people's safety, like the falsely accused boys the "detectives" decided were guilty. We wanted someone to blame; we wanted someone to hate. | Consider in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, how social media sharing of photographs allowed armchair Sherlocks to nearly ruin the lives of two innocent individuals. Emotions were high, lives were literally destroyed and shattered. Knee-jerk reactions were inevitable. But with social media, our outrage can actually undermine people's safety, like the falsely accused boys the "detectives" decided were guilty. We wanted someone to blame; we wanted someone to hate. |
| Wanting someone to blame isn't wrong – but the need to find a target fast meant finding the wrong one. | Wanting someone to blame isn't wrong – but the need to find a target fast meant finding the wrong one. |
| Recognising things aren't black and white means recognising nuance. Nuance leads to accuracy. Accuracy isn't merely about being right, it's about reality. It's only when we know how the world is that we change it; otherwise, we're only working to change a fiction we've created in tweeted outrage: whether it's that Rolling Stone is insensitive or two bystanders were the bombers. | Recognising things aren't black and white means recognising nuance. Nuance leads to accuracy. Accuracy isn't merely about being right, it's about reality. It's only when we know how the world is that we change it; otherwise, we're only working to change a fiction we've created in tweeted outrage: whether it's that Rolling Stone is insensitive or two bystanders were the bombers. |
| Of course, nuance requires time, which goes against the social media outrage machine. | Of course, nuance requires time, which goes against the social media outrage machine. |
| Social media has made us each a pundit in our corner of the internet – with followers and whatnot – but that doesn't mean we have to act as such. We're allowed to learn more before responding. If we truly care about the situation, we would sift through the rush of fast-traveling information to come to a more justified perspective. | Social media has made us each a pundit in our corner of the internet – with followers and whatnot – but that doesn't mean we have to act as such. We're allowed to learn more before responding. If we truly care about the situation, we would sift through the rush of fast-traveling information to come to a more justified perspective. |
| Although knee-jerks appear to be the only thing keeping us afloat in the flood of information, accuracy is still the desired lifeboat we should seek. | Although knee-jerks appear to be the only thing keeping us afloat in the flood of information, accuracy is still the desired lifeboat we should seek. |