Preaching to the Choir and Other Distractions

If you want to make strides in a movement—any movement—you have to persuade certain people the cause is just. Who are these people? When you write an article or post a tweet, are you talking to them? If not, who are you talking to? What do you hope will happen?

These are my genuine questions for certain social media posters of late.

It's my goal to make strides forward, toward the ends that I value. Perhaps my mistake has been to assume that others share this goal. Maybe they're just trying to make friends, or identify enemies, or let off a little steam. They're only human, after all, and humans get mean and irrational and short-sighted. But I must confess: I’d prefer if they stopped doing so publicly and in my team's name.

Posting on social media isn't activism, but it can certainly harm a cause if done unthoughtfully.

I believe I need the obligatory “social media presence” to promote my work—even if such is bad for the soul and takes away from time spent touching grass. I often limit short-form platforms to philosophical musings and favorite songs. But those attempts I make at persuasion, there or here, are made with an audience in mind.

This audience is not my die-hard opponents—their minds are closed. It's also not those who agree with me; they don't need convincing. The appropriate target for persuasive argument, in my opinion, are those on the fence. The normies who haven't fought in my trenches, who haven't seen what I've seen. They're listening to all sides, including mine. But it isn't obvious to them who is right. And it’s possible to lose them.

And it would be a shame to lose them with bad behavior if the facts are sound and the position is good.

Hypocrisy loses them.

Using obscure, in-group language that pegs you as belonging to a certain group loses them. Especially if that group's reputation is in question. Double-especially if it's in question because of the actual, verifiable behavior of its members.

Unfair fighting loses them. Employing logical fallacies. Lying. Calling names. Blocking and muting indiscriminately, especially when followed by a walled-off, angry screed on the evils of said blocked person. Observers can see the cowardice in that.

Poor understanding of the issues loses them, especially when accompanied by hubris. Factual mistakes lose them. Refusing to acknowledge those mistakes loses them.

The choir is unconcerned with these missteps, though. The choir will sing right back. And it feels so good to sing: loudly and in concert with friends, friends who raise their own voices to drown out yours when you sing off key.

It feels so much better to sing than to speak in a small, still voice.