Why People Persist In Posting
Why do people persist in posting articles and comments on social media when they generally have no real-world impact at all? It’s a mystery worthy of an article…
Why do people persist in posting articles and comments on social media when they generally have no real-world impact at all? It’s a mystery worthy of an article…
It gives the appearance of doing something
When I am particularly enraged by some perceived stupidity or injustice, my first inclination is to reach for my keyboard. Angry sentences bubble up like swamp gas. Clever turns of phrases appear from nowhere. This will show that idiot, even if the idiot is unlikely to ever read my fevered words. When the process is complete, I usually feel much better, although I have changed nothing. A few “likes”, a comment or two, and my existence is justified. It is cathartic.
Virtue signalling
You post because it shows that you care about this issue, that you have devoted serious thought to the meaning of this awfulness (it’s always awful). You are not a sheep, you do not follow the herd, you bravely say the things that must be said. You go where angels fear to thread. Your legacy will be forever imprinted in something or other – a blog, a comment, a principled post. If it doesn’t go viral that is simply your unfortunate burden to bear.
Overton window
Perhaps your post will slightly nudge the Overton window in your preferred direction. If you do nothing, you can be certain that nothing will change. Floods are fuelled by raindrops. Occasionally, lightning may strike. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” ignited the civil rights movement. JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” brought inspiration to a subjugated populace. “No harm without consent” may yet change the direction of popular discourse.
The judgement of history
As Churchill said, “Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.” Throughout history individuals and groups have put their thoughts and dreams into words to be shared with their fellows. Sometimes these words have lit a fire in men’ s souls, sometimes they have been tragically wrong. But we know nothing of the thoughts of the many millions who never committed their ideas to stone, parchment or paper. Perhaps we post for posterity.
Education and enlightenment
The written word is the channel through which our civilisation flows. From scratchings on cave walls to papers on General Relativity, mankind communicates with eternity through writing and reading. If you have something important to say, write it down where others can read it. History will be the judge of the weight of your words.
Perhaps the best reason for posting, for writing, is that there is no record of what you failed to post. Your silence is not profound; it is just unfound.
Money and fame
A common reason for posting is in pursuit of money and fame. Whilst the environment is famously poorly rewarded, some do profit from their postings, particularly in the age of social media. Sometimes a million “likes” is a form of fame.
Many, like me, persist in posting for the few pathetic pence that we are paid, because it beats digging holes for a living.
Persuasion
I think most perennial posters believe they can persuade others to their point of view using the power of their prose. They have a particular philosophy to promote, an idea for an ideology, a hobby horse which they believe all must ride. One has only to look at the impact of a few scribblings in the British Museum by an unkempt and little-known pamphleteer called Karl to understand why we persist in posting.
Trevor Watkins is the founder of the Individualist Movement, the author of two books, and an Associate of the Free Market Foundation. He publishes on a blog at libertarian.org.za. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation.
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Newspapers used to include a "letters" page. I am sure the editors received more contributions than they could possibly publish. The editors were also able to curate the content to suit their supposed readership. Shifting the Overton window is akin to adapting editorial policy to changing mores. Receiving comment was (and still is) a useful marketing tool for the publisher. The information age has changed all of that. We now have access to a vast public square in which each one of us has the ability to rant, vent and contribute. John Naisbitt said it all in his "Megatrends". (1982).
Sharing your ideas in the hope that they will attract people or effect some change is a fool's errand. Share without hope. Someone like you has a contributed much to SA libertarian thought, but this country may never use any of your ideas until it collapses in on itself and all of us are eventually forgotten, that South Africa even had one libertarian may become forgotten in time. This is fine, we will still try to disseminate our ideas not in hope, but as a way to avoid the nagging of our conscience.
I feel guilty when I don't say what I think I know to be true, especially in a country like this with so much human-caused misery. I feel I have to shout into the probable void because I can say I put it out there for people to find and reason it out for themselves. And if all of us keep doing that, who knows, one day people may get attracted to these ideas, maybe by accident, and it will resonate with them.
This cannot happen if we pay too much attention to the probably meaningless, definitely thankless task of sharing these ideas. We owe it to that 0.000001% chance to share them as widely as we can.
I would list examples of this but I know you know them all already.