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crossing the bubbles
Apr. 25th, 2018 06:19 amSo there's this relatively new social-media platform called Quora. It purports to be a Q&A platform, where people can ask factual or "please explain" questions, largely on programming, the tech industry, and math, but in practice a lot of the questions are trolls or, at best, intentional provocations on hot-button political issues, e.g. "Why do liberals believe ... [some caricature that almost no actual liberals actually believe]" or "Why do Trump supporters think ... [some caricature that, I fervently hope, almost no actual Trump supporters actually think]". And there's a remarkable number of "questions" about whether the Earth is flat or round (which I thought we had cleared up 2500 years ago).
Anyway, against my better judgment I got into one of these discussion threads about gun control. There were several rounds of back-and-forth, in which I'd like to think none of the ad-hominem attacks were from me, and eventually a post by one of the pro-gun guys saying a bunch of things we actually agreed on (e.g. we should enforce much more strictly the background checks and existing laws against convicted felons acquiring guns), and ending with "It was a pleasure talking with you, and thanks for your courteous writing style."
Now, in part this is just a way of shutting off further discussion, but in today's polarized society, I'll take any olive branch, any hint of respect for the "other side", that I can find.
I was keenly aware throughout the discussion that I, too, live in a bubble: guns are an everyday part of life for these guys, whereas I haven't seen someone visibly carrying a gun who wasn't wearing a police or military uniform in years, perhaps decades. (I see people in military fatigues every day in Penn Station carrying large, semiautomatic or automatic rifles -- which I assume is just more "security theater", as that seems like a terribly impractical weapon to actually use in a crowd of 99.9% innocent civilians. And I assume there are also plainclothes officers in business suits with small, concealed pistols providing the actual anti-terrorism security.)
Anyway, against my better judgment I got into one of these discussion threads about gun control. There were several rounds of back-and-forth, in which I'd like to think none of the ad-hominem attacks were from me, and eventually a post by one of the pro-gun guys saying a bunch of things we actually agreed on (e.g. we should enforce much more strictly the background checks and existing laws against convicted felons acquiring guns), and ending with "It was a pleasure talking with you, and thanks for your courteous writing style."
Now, in part this is just a way of shutting off further discussion, but in today's polarized society, I'll take any olive branch, any hint of respect for the "other side", that I can find.
I was keenly aware throughout the discussion that I, too, live in a bubble: guns are an everyday part of life for these guys, whereas I haven't seen someone visibly carrying a gun who wasn't wearing a police or military uniform in years, perhaps decades. (I see people in military fatigues every day in Penn Station carrying large, semiautomatic or automatic rifles -- which I assume is just more "security theater", as that seems like a terribly impractical weapon to actually use in a crowd of 99.9% innocent civilians. And I assume there are also plainclothes officers in business suits with small, concealed pistols providing the actual anti-terrorism security.)
