The question..”Who Are We”? … in the previous post is relevant to each of us. Of course, I want to believe I am the person who would write the second comment. The reality is that all of us are both. Each of us is capable of either response. Each of us has the inclination to protect our rightness. Because we are “right” we give ourselves permission to use any and all tools available to protect the “truth”.
We believe we would do so in a civil manner, however, sheltered in our echo chamber, we are released from the constraints of civility. When we are certain of our rightness we justify ourselves and condemn dissenters.
To answer the question “Who Am I?”, requires self-assessment and introspection. Those qualities are counterintuitive when we are over-confident of our rightness. We are not only unable to see and hear dissenters, we are blind and deaf to ourselves.
That dilemma illustrates the depth of the challenge echo chambers present when we seek to answer the question, “Who Am I?”
Perhaps there is a a better question… “Who do I want to be?”
I believe in the basic goodness of humanity. Each of us have an innate desire to love and be loved.
Man’s nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature. Mahatma Gandhi
I believe each of us wants to be a good person. ‘Good’ means a lack of self-centeredness. It means the ability to empathize with other people, to feel compassion for them, and to put their needs before your own. *
Conversely, we do not want to be evil people. ‘Evil’ people are those who are unable to empathize with others. As a result, their own needs and desires are of paramount importance. *
I want to be a good person and I trust that you do also. Because we reside in an echo chamber does not mean we are evil people.
However, the nature and character of echo chambers is such that if we choose to reside in an unmitigated echo chamber the trajectory of our lives will bend toward evil not good.
How can the negative power of echo chambers be mitigated?
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