Talking about the emergence of so many social networks on the internet, a 35 year old said to me that he was ‘ a creature of a previous age …’ Do we admire his maturity? I do. But I am his father.
But the internet is good for enthusiasms, surely (though my beekeeper brother was for a time in danger of getting into an unproductive dialogue with U.S. creationists). On the eve of the OPUS annual conference, I have been noting how many people describe themselves – with greater or lesser accuracy – as ‘members of OPUS’.
Identity and community are linked: where I belong helps to determine who I am – including how I think, which religion I relate to, accepting or rejecting it, what science I believe, what career I follow in accordance with a certain set of values, etc.
It is getting complicated, when community is experienced as virtual, as made up by me as part of my presentation of self.
A website itself is a kind of manifestation of community.
But the community I make up is a projection of my own desires. It does not have to suffer any of the irritating controls of a reality check. It is easy then to be at home with my own delusions without having to pay any respect to what others make of that. This is serious. It may be the issue about those who behave in violent and terrible ways acting out the futures they have rehearsed in their virtual communities, which bring into the light the dark thoughts in their heads.
In what sense is this different from a child’s play – which Melanie Klein famously observed to gain access into a child’s community in the mind.
I used to try and distinguish an OPUS listening post from a pub discussion – I knew they were different, though both were opinionated, but how, exactly? One answer would be that a different version of community is presented, and therefore also of role – social companion or fellow citizen.
So I am saying that my identity has to do with the community to which I belong: and therefore also that my struggle for identity is to do with my struggle to belong - and shame is what I feel when I feel a failure in that community.
I add that comment about shame, because I sometimes think that shame has become a redundant concept in public life. And of course if people live in virtual communities of their own making they don’t have to feel shame? To ensure a moral sense community has to be more than a construct of my own.
But the internet is good for enthusiasms, surely (though my beekeeper brother was for a time in danger of getting into an unproductive dialogue with U.S. creationists). On the eve of the OPUS annual conference, I have been noting how many people describe themselves – with greater or lesser accuracy – as ‘members of OPUS’.
Identity and community are linked: where I belong helps to determine who I am – including how I think, which religion I relate to, accepting or rejecting it, what science I believe, what career I follow in accordance with a certain set of values, etc.
It is getting complicated, when community is experienced as virtual, as made up by me as part of my presentation of self.
A website itself is a kind of manifestation of community.
But the community I make up is a projection of my own desires. It does not have to suffer any of the irritating controls of a reality check. It is easy then to be at home with my own delusions without having to pay any respect to what others make of that. This is serious. It may be the issue about those who behave in violent and terrible ways acting out the futures they have rehearsed in their virtual communities, which bring into the light the dark thoughts in their heads.
In what sense is this different from a child’s play – which Melanie Klein famously observed to gain access into a child’s community in the mind.
I used to try and distinguish an OPUS listening post from a pub discussion – I knew they were different, though both were opinionated, but how, exactly? One answer would be that a different version of community is presented, and therefore also of role – social companion or fellow citizen.
So I am saying that my identity has to do with the community to which I belong: and therefore also that my struggle for identity is to do with my struggle to belong - and shame is what I feel when I feel a failure in that community.
I add that comment about shame, because I sometimes think that shame has become a redundant concept in public life. And of course if people live in virtual communities of their own making they don’t have to feel shame? To ensure a moral sense community has to be more than a construct of my own.
posted by Tim at 5:35 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home