People Are Strange

[Fairgo]

24. That was fun

Enjoyed your psychological interpretation of the weirdness that tends to infiltrate conversations on the 'tubes. Its unavoidable I think on any site that attracts diverse populations to speak openly about emotionally charged issues. Its a self organising system. We are social creatures that seek group affiliation. Shared values and threat create a need for the group. The DU name reflects the unifying nature of these two forces...democratic values sheltered underground from a countervailing political storm. Democratic values include diversity...diversity leads to debate, debate without training leads to conflict... Internal Conflict creates boundaries that start to create sub-identities, and a habit of conflict become reinforcing rituals. The anonymity behind the glass and the smell of conflict actually attracts the more diagnosable personalities. Heighten the underlying pressure with an impending election and viola! Here we are.

I think it is wise to accept that we are all more prone to weirdness than we like to admit, especially in groups. Once the group takes on a life of its own, it can become completely unmoored from the values that ostensibly brought it together. The Milford studies and Human history will attest to just how extreme we humans can get and still make it home for tea.

I'll never be a prolific poster, but i will not be driven out by the poo throwing on the otherside of the glass. Because i refuse to defend myself past the argument i endorse. I won't be drawn into "i know you are but what am I?" beyond the second round. Because it is no longer amusing. I will however lose interest in the site if it floats afar from the values that attracts me...the Democratic part of the Underground... I had one accolyte inform me that values were not important because...the red shirts would win if arglebargle. No response was necessary because his argument imploded at the rejection of values. No need for a full blown personality disorder here, just an untrained mind in the mob. But if that mob ever grows to command the site, or I sense the administrators agree that values do not matter more than team identity, i will simply lose interest. Democratic Underground, without its values is just a hole created by shoveling dirt, to push the metaphor.

As long as people like you can speak their minds, the DU light shines on.