People often talk about forming communities of like-minded individuals. While being part of a community of like-minded people can be positive, you should not restrict yourself to only such social networks because there are two inherent problems with only participating in these communities. First, you stunt your relationship-building potential. Second, you lose ideological diversity. In this article I shall address the first issue; tomorrow I shall confront the second. Now, for the step-by-step result of isolating yourself within a community of only the like-minded.
- As you would associate more with that community you would slowly lose touch with those outside the community. Eventually, you become isolated within that community. A community that becomes a society of hermetics is one fraught with danger.
- As you communicate more within the community, you pick up on how they speak. Your diction and gestures become more alike. While this is not inherently egregious, it could make it harder to communicate with outsiders.
- Likewise, it makes it harder for you to understand outsiders. This lack of understanding that arises from miscommunication only fosters stereotyping outsiders which results in further miscommunication and misunderstanding.
- As you lose understanding of outsiders, you begin to fear outsiders and their motives. Evidently, such fear worsens the situation because when fear arises it usually results in action to find protection from the source of the fear.
- We now have miscommunication, a lack of understanding, stereotyping, fear, and advancing protections against outsiders. n other words, the ground is fertile for the practice of intolerance. This exponentially exacberates the divide between community members and outsider. Any potential relations are immediately strained.
- One evident collective result is that new members are immediately distrusted as outsiders and must prove themselves as like-minded community members to gain respect.
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1 comments:
Dear Ethan Lee Vita,
Im Nate Chapman. i find that what you have to say in your 6 results of stunted relationship growths happens to be to the point and i find it mostly correct.
if one must limit them selves to one group they do pick up on the simple mechanics that the group follows.
this in turn will cause all contact with anyone unlike them or the particular group in which they have come attached to, to absolutely be outcasted.
i find my self quite guilty of this habit and we all are guilty as sin in regards to it.
everybody wants a place where they can be cool accepted and even wanted. this in turn explains the reason for these Communitys as you would call them. no one is really an outcast it will more narrowly point out that each community is an outcast to another and that each community will have an ordeal that they will put themselves through.
so in turn we in our community must reach out to the other groups and realize that those groups or communitys are not much different than us even if they talk, look, and act different they have the reasons for it.
personal reader and friend
Nate Chapman
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