#auspol bit of a sleeper in this week’s news, great article about the fracturing of communities, ostensibly…

#auspol bit of a sleeper in this week’s news, great article about the fracturing of communities, ostensibly by social media. Given the fractious nature of Twitter too, there’s something important here, being missed I suspect. /1 https://t.co/w7jPRz9G20

Social media makes peoples’ beliefs visible. Often these beliefs clash. The people who hold them haven’t always clashed in the past, because wealthy societies can buy their way out of conflict. When there’s plenty for all, rarely do we need to argue anything. /2

Wealthy societies don’t discuss, they don’t argue. Life is good, disagreement is corralled inside platitudes like ‘each to their own’. As Google say about themselves, revenue fixes most problems. ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ is the mindset, why are those poor people arguing? /3

Pandemics reboot socieities. They’re the literal on/off switch, nothing else achieves it. Traditional natural disasters like bushfires unite people behind (often jingoistic) causes. Pandemics keep stripping every layer of social fiction away, making each of us alone. /4

All the usual attempts at pulling together ultimately fail, because the virus undermines every type of social grouping. There’s no ‘strength in numbers’, the virus loves all groupings. The ultimate defence against it is being alone. And that’s why these communities…/5

…are beginning to fracture. The fantasies and delusions we use to maintain social unity in normal times are being stripped away by the virus. People are on their own, because ultimately you are always alone. Even in normal times. The pandemic is just revealing it. /end