What goes into making a #shirtstorm ? Why should we care?

What goes into making a #shirtstorm  ? Why should we care?
David Amerland 
Too many online interactions with friends and colleagues lull us into thinking that everyone is like us, forgetting that the world is bigger and more diverse and the potential for misunderstandings has not gone away.

Or, if you love controversy, jump into the discussion.

#shaming   #bullying   #crowdbehaviour  

Originally shared by David Amerland

Witchhunts…

When I was at school I was an anomaly. A jock that’d put up to twelve hours of extra training each week I was also the guy who’d forego sleep to make sure his grades did not slip. It was a strategy that made me part of many camps and distrusted in all. My presence in each one, tolerated because those in each school social group had no choice: I worked hard to stay at the top, clocking up more training hours and study time than anyone else there. 

Had I been part of a hunter-gatherer clan I would have had to make a choice: be a hunter or join the priesthood. One simply cannot do both. I wasn’t so I straddled two worlds, never quite easily fitting in either. 

It was a position that made me realise two things: First, that I should never be vulnerable by displaying weakness and second that no one felt secure in their choices. The jocks feared the brainy kids (whom they would bully every chance they got) and the brainy kids hated the jocks (whom they’d torment in class over academic ability, every time the opportunity presented itself). Fear and hate are close relatives. One breeds the other. They come about from a refusal to accept others’ differences, an unwillingness to think that the world is big enough to be really diverse and that no one sets out to be just one thing in it. Paradoxically, they become the elements that build communities, enclaves. They enable everyone within a group to display the same ‘badges’, to proclaim their colours by disavowing all strangers, being hostile to all outsiders.

We’ve grown up, a little, but have not necessarily changed that much. The Inquisition (http://goo.gl/4JOol) we set up by learned men who, armed with a sense of making the world the same could write detailed manuals that gave instructions such as:   “When sentence of torture has been given, and while the executioner is preparing to apply it, the inquisitor and the grave persons who assist him should make fresh attempts to persuade the accused to confess the truth; the executioners and their assistants, while stripping him, should affect uneasiness, haste, and sadness, endeavoring thus to instill fear into his mind;…”

Stripped of its horrific subject this is not unlike other manuals I have seen where scripts and detailed guides show one how to “close the sale”. (http://goo.gl/9dqgxn). The similarities are there because there is an underlying culture that is similar. It is formed by the unshaken belief of entitlement due to ‘rights’ and a sense of righteousness in what is being done. The Inquisitors felt they were following the word of God given to them by Rome. Those who use a script to close a sale are unshakeable in their belief that the end justifies the means. 

Joseph McCarthy (http://goo.gl/V5H6A) was able to so easily codify what was to happen for “unpatriotic activity” because there was fear (and hatred) of Communism and Communists. The moment the enclave is formed and the wagons have been circled you always get two camps. The good guys with the cowboy hats (and the guns) fighting against the evil ‘Indians’ (with their bows and arrows).   

The European witchhunts of the 15th century (http://goo.gl/u8f4I) historian Steven Katz writes had a particular flavor: "the overall evidence makes plain that the growth, the panic, in the witch craze was inseparable from the stigmatization of women. ... Historically, the most salient manifestation of the unreserved belief in female power and female evil is evidenced in the tight, recurrent, by-now nearly instinctive association of women and witchcraft….”

One that refuses to go away: http://goo.gl/EgpNCF. The article makes clear that once again there is a “them” and “us” mentality here. The ‘aggressors’ are again ill-equipped: “Those accused of sorcery often come from similar backgrounds: female, poor and of a low caste.”

These are patterns that repeat themselves in different ways. Dr Matt Taylor may have landed Phileas on a comet, made us all feel cool with our tech advancements but his choice in sartorial attire was all it took to kick-off #shirtstorm (http://goo.gl/OASA5y) where he was pilloried by people as diverse as Atlantic writers and NY Bloggers (http://goo.gl/7nhF7w) because… well, as The Telegraph article makes sarcastically clear “… he put ”… back female advancement by several thousand years with his poor choice of clothes.” 

The shirt in question, custom-made by the wife of a friend of his (http://goo.gl/AKHtmX) became the signal of weaknesses and vulnerability that I also used to fear. It took the “I am so smart my brain is the size of a planet” subtext out of the equation and reduced a brilliant man to a socially inept weakling anyone with half a brain could attack (and there were many who fit that label apparently). 

The fact that we can so easily take the one moment of technological triumph that should unite us and turn it into a gaudy circus of all the things that divide us is evidence that we have some way to go. Transparency and social media are key ingredients in #shirtstorm . In times past there would have been a de riguer ‘uniform’ for mission control. The soundbites and images would have gone through a PR person first. We, ‘the public’ would have been spoonfed the story. Authority figures would have given an account of it (and told us how important it was and how proud we should feel). 

We don’t quite work like this any more. The immediacy of contact made possible by the connection makes us focus on what is happening, frequently forgetting to ‘dress’ the message. Too many online interactions with friends and colleagues lull us into thinking that everyone is like us, forgetting that the world is bigger and more diverse and the potential for misunderstandings has not gone away. 

Perhaps, as a suggestion, reducing a person to tears at the moment of his greatest personal triumph (http://goo.gl/qRQ8CG) may not be the best way to affect lasting change. There is a real need to consciously let our guard down a little. A need to perhaps not circle the wagons at the first sign of trouble but ask “how can we deal with this in a way that allows us to move forward from here?” 

As someone who, by degrees, shows more of who he is in posts and videos I can say, first hand, the process is not easy. It is stressful, fraught with risk, liable to lead to misunderstandings and conflict. And we have to be ready to deal with it in ways that do not involve kneejerk aggression. On the plus side, this approach can be rewarding, fulfilling and lead to real change in the way we think and the way we progress. 

So, it is Sunday and this is The Sunday Read. You all know the drill. Coffee, donuts, croissants and yes even some (meringue) cake (http://goo.gl/GOw1T8) for those who have the penchant for it. Have one awesome Sunday wherever you are. 

#davidamerlandsundayread