Do you sometimes feel like you’re spending a ton of time and energy providing incredibly well argued and sourced explanations to people who are in no way shape or form interested in good faith discussions?
I mean, such people do seem to find my blog often and their responses often let me improve my blocklist or provide great writing prompts, but I don't write with that audience in mind.
I write mostly because it helps me work out my own thoughts.
(Those of you who are neurodivergent may relate to some of this.)
When thoughts exist only in my mind, they can be vague, circular, or incomplete. Writing requires me to commit to specific words in a linear sequence, which forces me to make implicit ideas explicit and organize fuzzy notions into coherent statements.
I can't write "that thing about the situation" and expect to be understood, right? If I'm writing, I'm forced to name the thing and define the situation - and that sharpens up a lot of sloppy thinking.
My working memory kind of sucks (AuDHD), and writing lets me offload thoughts into what I'm writing...which frees up mental space/cycles for examining those thoughts, in context, without leaving things out.
Written words become objects you can observe rather than processes you're caught inside. Writing gives me a little distance and perspective I'm not otherwise able to access/generate.
Y'know how meditation enthusiasts say that meditating lets them observe their own thoughts dispassionately? That's what writing does for me. It lets me evaluate my own thinking more objectively, which helps me spot contradictions, gaps, or assumptions.
Speaking and internal thought move quickly, often skipping steps. Writing is slower, and forces me through the intermediate steps of reasoning. This helps reveal where my reasoning breaks down or where I'm making leaps without support.
When I'm writing, though, the audience I imagine reading is made of people like these.
I've only posted a few, but I get messages and Asks like this regularly.
I got this one just yesterday:
So it turns out that the readers I imagine writing for...actually exist.
And really, that shouldn't be surprising.
It would be easy to believe from the behavior on Tumblr that most of the world is made of hateful people who differ mostly in which rationalizations they use as poor replacement for thinking...but I don't think that's reality.
I've been telling my kids since they were very young that about 30% of every population is just awful.
That means ~30% of Americans, ~30% of Ukrainians, ~30% of Presbyterians, 30% of high-masking autistics, 30% of one-legged, left-handed bisexual redheads.
~30% of every population can't be moved by facts or reason, and there's not a lot we can do about that.
You might think from online behaviors that the ratio has gone from ~30% to ~70% in recent years, but I don't think that's true.
I think the ratio has stayed at about 30%, but that the algorithm makes that proportion exponentially louder than they've ever been. That creates the illusion that they're a greater proportion than they are.
Here's the thing, Anon: You and I are not alone in wanting more supported, reasoned perspectives- It just feels that way.
There are a lot more of us than I think we realize, because the algorithm doesn't amplify support and reason - it amplifies emotion, confirmation bias, and echo chambers.
The business model of social media, focused as it is on engagement, isn't likely to be reformed any time soon.
So in the meanwhile, I want to produce more thoughtful content, support more thoughtful content, and share more thoughtful content...because I think a lot of us are starving for it.
And that doesn't feel like a waste of effort either.
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