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I missed the part where they had high speed wireless internet and social media networks in the 18th century. Technology has enabled us to have artificially wid

I missed the part where they had high speed wireless internet and social media networks in the 18th century. Technology has enabled us to have artificially wide reach and memory. And then they digitised it, made it searchable and opened it all up to the masses. Don't like a person and they have Twitter? Guess I'll dig through their Twitter feed and find something objectionable they posted when they were 16. While I'm here I'd better make sure all my like-minded online "friends" from all over the globe pile on and try and coerce their employer to fire them. For good measure, let's find their address and make it easily accessible online. Technology has a transformative effect on the things we apply it to. Let's not pretend that trying to shame people in the 21st century using freely accessible communication networks that span the globe is the same as monkeys shaming other monkeys.

ceejayoz 5y ago
The point is it that doesn’t matter as much as you’d think. If you piss off your monkey tribe, you’re done for. Good chance you’re dead soon without your social group. The news of your being kicked out spread to everyone who matters in life. Piss off your town in the 1700s and the same is probably true. People didn’t move far from family and relied heavily on local communities. Again, news spread to everyone who mattered rapidly. I’d rather today’s flash in the pan outrage over a community shunning - or worse, tarring/feathering or lynching - a couple hundred years ago. It’s a lot more survivable; ask notable cancelee Louis CK about his recent Grammy win.
- 2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
  If I said something truly moronic as a teenager back in the “good old days”, but only my family heard me, I’d get punished and that could be enough to rethink my views or behaviour. My mistake would likely end there. Or at least your neighbours might never know. Now some dumb kid can post to Twitter or Facebook and that can be used against them 10 years later by some random person. You could even be saying things that aligns with your communities values (say you have conservative religious views) and then a bunch of strangers who you don’t know will come after you because they disagree with you. I can literally reach back in time and hold people accountable for things they no longer believe in. Comparing this to not getting lynched is a really low bar. I would certainly hope in this day and age that we’re at least civil enough not to become pitch fork wielding mobs. That’s the bare minimum.
  - Retric 5y ago
    You swapped public vs private, but peoples diaries have caused them problems in the past. It’s an issue with the written word rather than the spoken one that’s adding repercussions years later. “If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.”

ceejayoz 5y ago

The point is it that doesn’t matter as much as you’d think. If you piss off your monkey tribe, you’re done for. Good chance you’re dead soon without your social group. The news of your being kicked out spread to everyone who matters in life. Piss off your town in the 1700s and the same is probably true. People didn’t move far from family and relied heavily on local communities. Again, news spread to everyone who mattered rapidly. I’d rather today’s flash in the pan outrage over a community shunning - or worse, tarring/feathering or lynching - a couple hundred years ago. It’s a lot more survivable; ask notable cancelee Louis CK about his recent Grammy win.

2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
If I said something truly moronic as a teenager back in the “good old days”, but only my family heard me, I’d get punished and that could be enough to rethink my views or behaviour. My mistake would likely end there. Or at least your neighbours might never know. Now some dumb kid can post to Twitter or Facebook and that can be used against them 10 years later by some random person. You could even be saying things that aligns with your communities values (say you have conservative religious views) and then a bunch of strangers who you don’t know will come after you because they disagree with you. I can literally reach back in time and hold people accountable for things they no longer believe in. Comparing this to not getting lynched is a really low bar. I would certainly hope in this day and age that we’re at least civil enough not to become pitch fork wielding mobs. That’s the bare minimum.
- Retric 5y ago
  You swapped public vs private, but peoples diaries have caused them problems in the past. It’s an issue with the written word rather than the spoken one that’s adding repercussions years later. “If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.”