On the Loss of Organic
Knowingship:
A few
days ago I engaged in a conversation with a social media acquaintance. If
social media is good for anything its eliciting impromptu conversation over a
simple post, rehashed and overused quotes, silly video, or satirical memes. This
old friend who was on my friends list but I didn’t really socialize with spontaneously
became a beacon for philosophical and intellectual conversation. He posted a
political meme, I commented, he replied, we discussed, he invited me over for a
beer and cigars to solve the problems of the world in one night. This
mechanical conversation is quite literally the longest I’ve ever had with him,
yet I feel like I know him more than I know certain people that I associate
with organically on a daily basis. Everyday conversation is so shitty. So fake.
So automated. While it’s understood that we have private lives that we don’t
want anyone to discover, it’s also true that we’ve lost so much natural contact
verbally. This isn’t about the expression of emotions as a means to really know
someone, it’s about the expression of thoughts and beliefs. It’s about who we
really are and what we stand for. It’s about not hiding. It’s about being real.
It’s about having true conversation with someone in attempt to actually get to
know someone with that simple end in mind. Maybe not with the potential goal to make
them lifelong or intimate friends, but at least keeping that as an open line.
Modern Everyday Conversation:
“Hey.”
“Hey.
How are you?”
“Good,
and you?”
“Good. Have
a good day”
“You
too.”
Umm,
really? This is what conversations consist of. Even more depressing: We pretend
to care and be interested in the other participant’s response. I recall once
instance in which I asked a person how their day was going, and before he even
replied I responded: “Good.” What the fuck? That was subconscious and systematic. Going through the motions, if you will. That's when I realized
just what a joke “knowing someone” really is. I said “good” because deep in my kind
heart of hearts I didn’t give a two cent shit about how he was doing. God, I
hope that’s not just me because if it is I’m a dick. Still, I see these people
every single day. I talk to them every single day. Do I really know them? None
of the conversations had with these people are idea based. They façade questions.
Shield questions. Irrelevant questions. The answers to those questions are just
the same. People don’t want to let people into what they really think or feel.
It makes them intellectually or emotionally vulnerable. Too open. Too real. So we build
walls around our minds and our hearts in attempts to keep them as safe as
possible. This is no life. Life is letting people in. Life is getting hurt.
Life is being made to look like an absolute retard and learning from it. Life is being exposed. Be exposed. Be vulnerable. Be unshileded. Experience. "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be." After all, what is the purpose of a caged and sheltered life?
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