I’m Down with Your POV

I’m a fairly well travelled person. I’ve been all over the country and to certain points outside of it. A great deal of my travelling has been done alone or with a group of people, but I have always been very attentive to my surroundings – essentially, I turn the “noise” up. I filter, yes, because there would be no way to process all the information I am receiving at once, but I take in everything. Because of these experiences, I feel that I am a well rounded person. Opinionated, yes, but that is because I have seen and done a lot, but I choose to observe the things that bother me or place me outside of my comfort zone. It’s life, so it’s going to have its little dark, secret places. But on the Internet, this “noise” is being filtered for me, it’s being turned down. I read what I want and I search for topics that I am interested in, but those little dark, secret places in life remain hidden. Unless someone includes opposing opinions and arguments in their work, everything is all bright and sunny.

I think Cass Sunstein had a very important point about the “Daily We” ( or Daily Me) and how people are increasingly limiting their exposure to new topics and ideas. People participate in the forums that interest them, they contribute information on topics that they are familiar with, and they seek to educate themselves in areas that they already have some knowledge of. How often do they step out of their comfort zones and travel down unmarked paths for new information? How heavily is their education being dictated by the “communities” that they are established in? When are their filters ever turned off?

I count myself lucky in that I place myself in situations where there is always someone with a different view or opinion. I appreciate the new sense of community of like minded people that the Internet provides, it makes me feel secure that I’m not all that crazy – or at least not alone, but often times it’s the adversary that truly builds my confidence in what I believe in or forces me to see things differently. We would all have potbellied superheroes if they didn’t have evil villains to kick around and show a different POV.

~ by Cait on October 10, 2007.