In "general interest" magazines, (and even in editorially/ideologically specialized publications like the Nation or National Review,) the field you're confronted with contains argument, different viewpoints. The identity sites, or cult sites, on the net, are like bouillion cubes containing the pure stuff and only the pure stuff.
You yourself do surf and skim, seeking alternate interpretations of events. You sample; and you aren't personally, or emotionally, disposed to fall into a new absolute identity. You're a person of a certain background and disposition.
I agree completely about the churches. (But churches recruited via families, usually, and that's a mediating factor. What you have with the net is identity-seeking individuals hunched alone in front of their monitors.) (Still, I do agree with your point about churches.)
About your too much shouting, not enough dialog position, I think you are talking about chat rooms, here, which differ greatly from the sealed-off venues like those of Heaven's Gate or KKK or the Christian Identity Movement-- black holes waiting for lone identity seekers to tumble into.
Just a thought: In terms of general knowledge, each generation seems to be testing lower than those that preceded it. (Although IQs are testing higher; go figure.) |
