Think
Twice
“People
are curious. A few people are…They will put things together, knowing all along
that they may be mistaken. You see them going around with notebooks, scraping
the dirt off gravestones, reading microfilm, just in the hope of seeing this
trickle in time, making a connection, rescuing one thing from the rubbish.”
Alice
Munro
Part of
the reason we are given to gossip, or at least to talking about people we know
and even people we don’t know, is that we are curious creatures. We like to
know, or think we know, what makes other people tick. What motivates them, what
interests them, what their “truth” is—as though we could possibly know any of
that about another person. We can’t, but our curious minds try to figure it out
anyway.
I don’t
think we’re the only mammals who do this snooping. Our pets scrutinize our
every move—they want to be near us, for sure, but they also seem to find us
interesting. They are interested in other things too. Just last week, I found
Liza with her entire head stuck down a chipmunk hole in the back yard. If it
had been a snake hole, she’d have been in trouble. It was as though she was
asking, “Who lives here?” I confess that I do that too—not with chipmunk holes,
but as I walk the streets of Birmingham, I look at houses and try to imagine who
lives there and what their lives are like. I wonder whether you do this too.
In my
opinion, having a curious mind is one of the most wonderful parts of being alive. It keeps us interested, engaged, informed, excited about life, motivated
to get up in the morning. We have some wonderful tools now for finding out what’s
happening in the world, and what’s being said about it. We can solve problems,
get recipes, read about people and historic events with a click of the keys. Such
a brilliant invention.
Unfortunately,
we can also use the same technology to spread rumors and false information, to
smear someone’s character or sow seeds of unrest and fear. Because we are
curious, and seeking information, we pick up and spread untruths, sometimes
without even knowing we’re doing it. Nefarious actors take advantage of this to
spread lies and harmful misinformation. We expect the technology-managers to
police information and tell us what’s true and what’s not. We want to know, so
we can pass it on. It’s how we bond with other like-minded people, especially
while we’re confined by the pandemic.
There’s
a pitfall and a moral lesson in all this. And it’s not about the technology
companies—it’s about us. Before we pass along anything, we might want to ask
ourselves, “What’s my reason for wanting to send this out?” Am I doing it for
wrong reasons? Are we hoping to unite or divide? Is this a message of hate, or
love? Do we want to cause harm, or raise spirits? Right now, during this trying
time, with anger and mourning mixing with pandemic fears, we can make a
difference just by deciding what helps and what hurts. Helping is better.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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