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Topic: Peace be with you |
Susan Alcorn
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 8:40 am |
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I’m going to write briefly about politics though, more accurately, about politics regarding steel guitarists in social media, particularly facebook, and the rising of animosities. One of the reasons that the Steel Guitar Forum has been successful is that b0b has stressed and been pretty successful at curbing the subjects of politics and religion on this forum. We all have different outlooks, and some of us are passionate about them. In social media, especially with the polarization of even what passes as facts, it’s very unlikely that a few angry posts here and there can change the outlook of those with opposite opinions, so what often follows are nasty exchanges, anger, and a new distance to people, steel guitarists, who share a love for our common instrument and whom we had always considered to be friends.
I am a socialist, perhaps a communist (with a small “c), and I have strong feelings and concerns about what’s going on in the world today. Other steel guitarists, and I don’t think they’re necessarily the majority, are just as passionate about their admiration for Donald Trump, etc. and many are in the middle somewhere. Aside from our common humanity, we all are, and think, differently - that’s the way things have always been, and it’s not bad. I think everyone has a right to express their opinions on social media, but what I’d like to propose is that in order to avoid loss of friendships we all take a step back and self-refrain from getting into political or religious arguments on other steel guitarists’ threads on facebook. I don’t think it accomplishes anything except a poisonous feeling of bitterness.
I know that those I disagree with (and hopefully myself as well) are, despite our differences, good people - they love their families, they’ve been through and shared hardships, they love the beauty of nature and are in wonder of the beauty of the same sunrises and sunsets. We all love music, we all love the steel guitar, so let us do what we can in order to remain friends and members of this family of steel guitarists and lovers of the instrument and the heartfel music it is capable of making.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
_________________
www.susanalcorn.net
"So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray."
- Mary Oliver |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 8:59 am
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Appreciation and agreement, Susan. We are living in difficult times, with tough times ahead. Focus on what binds us rather than divides may be what we most need. Peace indeed.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 9:16 am
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Well said, Susan.
Chris |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 10:14 am
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Susan, you have noted a couple points which I believe need repeating to help us along the path you describe. For example, you note the word "polarization".
We seem to have devolved into an "all or nothing" society. I have yet in my almost 70 years met anyone with whom I agree 100% of the time, nor that I disagree with 100% the time. Yet we have increasingly become "us" vs. "them".
This forum is an example of how we can find a common ground on some things and be the better for it, even though we may strongly disagree on other things. And that approach can work for other parts of our life as well. Agreeing, or disagreeing, with most of what someone does should not lead to either blind following, nor hateful rejection.
Seeing the flaws in someone we admire, or the good in someone we dislike, can help us make a more logical evaluation based on reality. And when evaluations are based on reality and fact, we are less likely to disagree. (and are likely to be less polarized when we DO disagree.)
Heck, us steel people still have not settled Emmons vs. Day - we're sure not ready to solve the rest of the world's issues! 
_________________
Many play better than I do. Nobody has more fun. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 7:36 pm
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I wouldn't dwell too much about what's said on Facebook. From what I can gather, it's become nothing more than "the graffiti wall of social media". 
Merry Christmas, all! |
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Benjamin Franz
From:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 3 Dec 2018 10:57 pm
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| The scourge of the internet. It’s all too easy to be abusive when you don’t have to look someone in the eye. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 4 Dec 2018 5:10 am
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These are good words, if only they are heard.
If only Forum members could see how we are seen. B0b has done a good job to keep the focus on steel guitar at the expense of politics.
It seems to keep the forum from being a strictly social medium. For the others that don't make the grade, honi soit qui mal y pense.
There; I said it.
Thank you for writing, Susan, particularly at this time of year, when we do good to be our most empathetic.
[/i] |
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Susan Alcorn
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2018 5:52 am
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I agree with Mark that we are living in difficult and polarized times. I also agree that facebook is in many ways a real scourge. However, social media (and the SGF is also a form of social media albeit more controlled - we don’t share cute cat videos, unless they’re playing steel) is a fact of life today; we keep in touch with family and old friends in a way that is much more immediate than in the past. It’s also an important medium for businesses and for many musicians, an important way to get and publicize gigs. And it’s a way to express our views on things like politics which is something on almost everyone’s mind these days. What I asked is that we don’t go out of our way to spread rancour among our fellow forumites - civility (and hopefully there is still room for that).
_________________
www.susanalcorn.net
"So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray."
- Mary Oliver |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 4 Dec 2018 7:00 am
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Susan, the "block" feature on facebook is your friend. Since I follow you on Facebook, I have a pretty good idea what inspired this post. If anyone is so rude as to hijack a thread I post to my friends on Facebook, they get blocked. Makes life much better.
_________________
Check out the Steel Guitar Union Hall Facebook group for you daily dose of Steel https://www.facebook.com/groups/steelguitarunionhall |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2018 7:56 am
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| If more Steel players would attend Steel Conventions and meet face to face a few times a year, I have seen that type of live interaction go a long way to keeping folks civil and happy. |
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Brian Gattis
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2018 2:39 pm
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| Agreed 100% |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2018 9:21 am
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| Don R Brown wrote: |
| This forum is an example of how we can find a common ground on some things and be the better for it, even though we may strongly disagree on other things. And that approach can work for other parts of our life as well. Agreeing, or disagreeing, with most of what someone does should not lead to either blind following, nor hateful rejection. |
Hear hear! |
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John Macy
From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
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Posted 5 Dec 2018 7:20 pm
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Amen
_________________
John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar |
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J R Rose
From:
Keota, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 7 Dec 2018 7:17 pm
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Susan's last post that included CIVILITY is a very important word and a state of mind we all need to have.
I call it RESPECT for our fellow man. I was raised and told you bite your tongue sometimes out of respect to a fellow human being. You just do not speak everything that comes into your mind. J.R. Rose
_________________
NOTHING..Sold it all. J.R. Rose |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 9 Dec 2018 6:05 am
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| That is one of my favorite features of this forum. In the going on two years I've been a member, I had one guy get a little tiffy about a word that was used in a musical context, and tried to tell us how un-PC it was. I explained where the word came from in the musical historical sense, and how I was not here to get into word games. I have never had another problem, and it's always been great. Facebook - not so much haha! |
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