It’s another gray one, and as many of you probably already know, I spent a chunk of my morning cleaning the cupless coffee off the counter and floor. That was fun.
And you may or may not know that I had one of those famous “awkward conversations” I’m always talking about. I’ve asked Acey, and she’s fine with me sharing the spouts so if you want to read the whole exchange, here you go. There are a lot of subbranches you will need to open but it’s worth the deep dive.
That’s not exactly what this post is about, though it inspired it.
Many a morning, I’ve gone on about how special a place Spoutible is, and I want to underscore that once again. That we were able to have such a difficult conversation so free from outside influence or meddling is incredible at a time when social media is anger fuel.
We’ve gotten to a point where disagreement has become synonymous with disrespect, where things start hot and only get hotter, and then everyone has their own take on it, one bit at a time, until the original point and thread is submerged under a high tide of noise, drowning out anything meaningful.
Some of that is orchestrated. On other social media sites, people (or “people”) who wait to pounce, wait to attack, wait to exacerbate, wait to find the fault line and apply a hammer and chisel.
Maybe the people Acey and I follow and who follow us are exceptional (which, let’s be honest, you all are) but not once in the whole set of exchanges did someone step in and try to steer the course of the conversation. Not once did someone try to make things worse, or deliberately misconstrue.
We all know how these things go on other sites, and in any similar conversation, the nugget in the middle, the true exchange of perspectives, all of it would be reduced to rubble.
The goal of the people this serves (and let’s be clear, it’s none of us) is to shut down the marketplace of ideas, to board up the stalls, to leave one single information booth in the center plastered in propaganda pamphlets.
They want everyone angry, everyone suspicious, they want us to believe what they tell us we believe about one another. They want to make these conversations impossible.
Instead we both met each other with honesty and with openness to be moved. There is no other place on the planet this can happen.
I hope this embedding works (!) but if it doesn’t here’s the link. Acey summed it up so perfectly:
https://static.spoutible.com/spout/embed.jsAbove text:
“And the best part about this is that a healthy, open conversation has both parties walking away learning perspective from other marginalized people. We can learn how to say things better to minimize hurt while still being able to express thought.”
Acey Deecey (@mcgarrygirl78)
There was no policing. There was a desire to find a place for both of us to stand firmly, comfortably.
This can be the future. We genuinely, genuinely can change the world one conversation at time, as long as we’re willing to have them.
And as long as people are willing to stand back and wait. Clearly we don’t put up with abuse or bigotry on Spoutible, that’s baseline.
But giving people the space to find their own common ground is almost radical in these days where you can say anything to anyone at any time. Working to find your own common ground is empowering.
Let’s do more of that. Let’s keep doing that. And let’s keep Spoutible a place where we can do that.
I’ll let Acey have the last word (I know who even AM I?)
https://static.spoutible.com/spout/embed.js“There is absolutely a divide and conquer mentality going on as we fight for democracy and all our together and individual rights within it. Some fall right into the traps. I won’t do it.
“You can absolutely link to any of my spouts in this conversation. Let’s keep important conversations going.”
Acey Deecey (@mcgarrygirl78)
Have a great Monday and let’s keep important conversations going!
A Bit to Read 
Leave a comment