Part 2 in a Series on Civility
Graham Plaster
Director, Nautilus | Growing the National Security Technology Ecosystem | Bestselling Author
Free speech is great until it drowns out wisdom and virtue.
The information age is great if you need information. It makes no guarantees on the quality of that information.
Anonymity is great if you need to escape the thumb of an oppressive regime, but anonymity can also be used to take down a stable, free state.
Transparency and accountability are great until they create lawsuit-juggernauts that bring bureaucracies to a grinding halt.
Rants should be tolerated, but not celebrated.
Satire can be helpful to shed light on societal problems, but it is the first salvo in a fight, not the opening word of peace talks.
Love of fellow human beings is in short supply. Whatever goodwill there is between strangers is quickly sapped by careless posts to social media.
Civil people censor themselves inside the chest because so much has become public. They wait for the proper time to speak their perspective with respect and love.
We have all become public personas and should learn from the best. Who is one public figure from history that you respect?
Director, Nautilus | Growing the National Security Technology Ecosystem | Bestselling Author
10 年Terrific comments, all. Mike Q, I agree that we must defend the principle of free speech and certainly the freedom itself, but as moderators of large groups online, we must also recognize the responsibility of setting tone for discourse. People are always free in out country to create virtual tribes with specific rules for inclusion. This is not a limit on free speech writ large, but rather an example to proponents of free speech on how it would necessarily be sustained. The concept of civility as I have put forward is the healthy respect in society that allows free speech to continue without unraveling our social fabric.
Professor Emeritus and Blogger: Scaling science and technology to achieve sustainability.
10 年Social Media is still in its infancy and there is much to be learned to get the best out of it in a global context. Http://sustain-earth.com
Graham, It's critical to vigorously defend vile speech. Civil adults don't like doing it, because inevitably some will confuse their defending speech with defending what's been spoken. Defending free speech is extremely uncomfortable, which makes it all the more important.
A decisive leader focused on cultivating a performance-driven culture, recognizing achievements, providing employee development, empowerment, and building a strong financial awareness team.
10 年Graham great post sir! You made some very important points regarding civility in today's media age.