Examples or Warnings?

From the Internet comes this anonymous bon mot: “If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.”

Love the Internet! Lots of good material there. Lots of bad stuff, too. The intemperate rants. Shouts of frustration complete with expletives. Nasty attacks illogically formed and hideously hurled. Unthinking excess. Because the authors can. They have the freedom to express themselves. Only they come off badly. They are bad examples in one sense; but they also form a warning of what we can become; if we lose control.

Like me when driving and meeting poor drivers or bad road design. Just ask the family! They’ll tell you stories of my rants. Not a good example; I know and blush; hang my head.

But we are not speaking of banging the steering wheel here. We are referring to people who are frustrated with current events and opinions. They vent publically on the Internet. Their cannons are fired into the air with hope someone will read, hear, react. And others do, of course. And feed the vitriol of thousands (millions?) more. Horrible Warning!

Alert! This is not a healthy development. Venting is OK, but unending rants attract more rants. Soon the ripple is a torrent. Sort of like shouting ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater. The stampede, of people or opinion, damages others. We need better self control. Don’t shout ‘Fire!’ in the first place. Keep calm. Think it through.

Discipline in public. Needed. Smart. Hard to be disciplined here, but necessary.

Examine what you like about the Internet, the information available there; the tone of discourse. The sharing of ideas. Some are wacky but most are thoughtful and evocative. These are the ideas that help us understand complicated matters. These help us think things through and arrive at new conclusions or at least new, alluring questions needing research and more thinking. Fun in many cases. Intriguing, too. Calming yet motivating to new, unexplored avenues.

Think about the wheel; at least thousands of years old, perhaps much older. Hmmm. Round objects roll easily. But oval keeps from rolling away, uncontrolled. Oval; good for keeping in place, parked. But ride is wobbly. Uncomfortable. Needs more energy to move oval wheels. Not good. Round better.

OK, so this is too elemental for you? Maybe we need that reminder? Simple wonderment. Logical pondering. Coming up with ideas, solutions, clearer understanding. These are the fruit of calm and collected thinking methods. Rants accomplish little. Attract attention; not always good attention. Certainly not clear thinking or solutions.

I’d rather a good example rather than a horrible warning.

So we go on. George Carlin said: “I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.”

Good example, or horrible warning? My feeling is not a warning but a good example of an invitation to think collectively. The statement identifies two institutions; each is a necessary of public life; each is a force for good; and each is an instrument of unspeakable chaos if used improperly. Getting the best from each while avoiding the worst would be valuable objectives. But how? That’s where the fun comes in!

Creative opportunities abound on the Internet. So, too, destructive ones. One is good example, the other horrible warning. Which to pursue? Right! We know; it’s obvious, but our emotions dictate different outcomes too often. Calm. Collected. Logic. Discipline. 

Now we might get somewhere.

April 14, 2012