Comments on: Things I’m thinking: Mean people suck and things can change

by: SuJo

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:16:25 +0000

It’s the same with our democratic political systems Jana - we lift someone out from amongst ourseles, tell them we think they could be our leader. Then, for the duration of their term in office we set upon them, trying to knock them off the pedestal, tripping them up, setting the press on them like bloodhounds - never ever telling them again that they have our support.

I have wondered recently what we could achieve if we lined up in support behind our elected leaders, removed obstacles from their paths, accepted that difficult problems don’t get solved in a day (or with words alone), and left their personal lives ‘out of it’. I have come to believe that constructive collaboration could be more powerful than democratic debate - at least sometimes.

I don’t think we’ve tried that approach yet in Europe and I hope to God that our American cousins give it a chance now. SuJo

by: Y

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:35:38 +0000

Unfortunately there is an aspect of tech culture online that seems to breed this kind of antisocial crap. Not sure if you heard of the Kathy Sierra incident (e.g. http://scobleizer.com/2007/03/26/taking-the-week-off/) but that’s even more egregriously awful.

As for what ’social media’ really means for companies and how they market, some of the more interesting ideas I’ve seen come from Hugh, for example http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004714.html . Having blogs and social networking pages doesn’t really cut it unless there is authenticity and honesty instead of just another attempt to slap up a corporate brand.

by: Jeff Bennett

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:17:30 +0000

Great post Jana. We can all change. Social media is enabling some change as well as you point out. A key foundation of our civilization is mutual respect. We must honor this, teach this, celebrate this, embed it into everything we do. With this we can then be civil…and change.