IV, Rudeness and Woyano

I honestly, sincerely like IV (IV, I think you know that). I think we should honor IV's decision, whatever it is, whether it is to stay or to go.

Woyano is a "community." But let's not begin to think that it's a community. In a community, you're more or less forced to stay and bear with the nasty neighbors. If you're wealthy, you never even think of living in "that kind of community." You go buy a lovely residence in a <b>gated community</b>.

Is Woyano to be a gated community? Will we enforce some kind of code, beyond already existing laws? Will we enforce (the dreaded) "political correctness?" Will you have to pass a test to live in Woyano World? It's Woyano's choice. I, for one, am agin' it.

I can't be sure, but I think I know with whom IV had this chat. If I'm right, I know this to be a good person, but a person who cares very deeply about the things this person believes in. Too  deeply? Who says? I'm certainly not going to make that judgment. On the contrary -- I fight and work and cajole my entire working life to get my students to know enough about something and care enough about something that when they hear someone saying something objectively wrong, they have the guts to get up and say, "THAT'S WRONG."

Sometimes, I think, it's necessary to applaud rudeness.

Woyano is a cool place. But it's not perfect. One of the first postings/discussions we had was about a "code of behavior." I myself find it odd that someone can post something that is objectively false, but because "everyone has a right to their opinion," that posting is somehow not objectionable. But if you respond -- <b>insistently</b> -- that this is hollow, and false, and propagandistic, some people (not all, by any means) react as though <i>you</i> have broken some sort of code of honor.

I believe everyone has a right to their own opinion (as though you could prevent it). But I don't believe <b>anyone</b> has a right to make up their own facts, to try to foist a perverse, imaginary view of reality on anyone else. And yet, perverse, imaginary-reality-foisters have a comfortable home in Woyano.

I don't know the economic structure of Woyano, but I have an idea of the pressures the Woyano team is under. Unless I'm entirely mistaken, this is <b>NOT</b> a not-for-profit project. You need to cultivate as big a user list as possible, in order to build as big a readership as possible (if I'm wrong, please explain). So you're not really as concerned with the quality of the information as with the quantity of "hits" or page views, or click-throughs something or someone gets. Whether something is useful, or informative, or educational, or enlightening (intellectually or spiritually) really doesn't matter as much as whether it is getting viewed, and commented upon, and viewed some more. If I'm not mistaken, that's the real bottom line.

If my assumptions are correct, I think this is a real problem.  All ideas are not equal, and so all opinjoions are not equal. This sounds like a very un-American thing to say, but it is not. In fact, this is the attitude this country was founded on. This is the attitude that Democracy was founded on. The idea that all ideas are equal, and all opinions are equal is very much a late 20th century attitude. It is part of the post-modern worldview. And it is the worldview of most Americans in this early part of the 21st century. But that doesn't make it either "American" or correct.

Democracy is all about discussion, debate, argumentation, and -- if necessary -- fighting about what ideas are worthy of broad consideration and what aren't. My view of what Woyano <i>ought</i> to be about is linked to this idea of democracy -- the dedate, the discussion, the argumentation, and -- whenever necessary -- the fighting.

Woyano is a free association of individuals into a virtual "community" (not a real community), so anyone is free to come and go as they choose. I would like to see it stay that way. I think, as the Enlightenment thinkers did, as the founders of this country did, that the good ideas will be accepted as such, and the bad ideas will fall by the wayside, and this will all happen through a vigorous discussion of those ideas.

This means that some people who hold bad ideas will be told that they hold bad ideas. They will be told that their opinion, while they are entitled to it, stinks.

I have been having doubts for some time now (as Georgie will attest) that Woyano is up to this challenge. I fear that Woyano is almost hard-wired to go the way of the "free-market" approach to information, that is to say that Woyano is programmed to value information as a salable commodity, and not to judge information by its true worth.

I have, from time to time, introduced some "red herrings" to test this idea. The most recent time was this week when I posted some (admittedly amusing) pictures under the heading "How to Tell if your Woman Knows..." at the same time I posted an objectively very important story about a record opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan. The funny, amusing, entertaining posting got (at last count) over 120 hits and a dozen or so comments; the important but, arguably, boring opium story got a handful of hits and 2 comments. This is not a criticism of the folks on Woyano; it is a criticism of Woyano.

I honestly hope IV stays. I think he's a charming and completely lovable chap (as well as knowing a thing or two about wine). But I honor his decision one way or another. But more importantly, I hope the people who are creating Woyano on a daily basis let it take its natural course, because I believe its natural course (outside the artificial constraints of profit) is to be a forum for the discussion/debate/argumentation of controversial topics.

That's what I hope. What do YOU hope?