Optimized for Outrage

Five-Day Forecast  

October 23, 2019

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Years ago, when most of my ministry centered on adolescents, my ministerial colleagues and I would often use an insider term to describe the dynamic that would occasionally emerge. There were times when the climate in the youth group or college ministry community would become particularly anxious and dysfunctional. Yes, various circumstances would seem to conspire to create a perfect storm of dis-ease, but the real culprit had little to do with what was actually happening. Instead, the issue at hand wasn’t caused by an event or situation. It was manufactured and inflamed by a person. 

We called these personalities sticks. Why? Because these individuals tended to stir things up. 

Our world doesn’t need much help in stirring things up. In truth, we’re wired for outrage, and it doesn't take much to get us riled up. Events and circumstances, both outrageous and corrupt, exist as they always have. What’s become increasingly toxic, however, is the gasoline our culture wants to throw on the bonfire. 

In an article entitled, “Facebook Isn’t Free Speech, It’s Algorithmic Amplification Optimized for Outrage,” Jon Evans argues that the (in)famous social media creator, Mark Zuckerberg, is being duplicitous when he says that Facebook creates space for free speech to flourish. Evans pivots and says, “Facebook doesn’t offer free speech; it offers free amplification.” He goes on to say that, “No one would much care about anything you posted to Facebook, no matter how false or hateful, if people had to navigate to your particular page to read your rantings, as in the very early days of the site. 

Evans believes that Facebook is not content with people finding things out on their own. No, the social media giant’s success lies in its ability to direct people to the angst. Facebook, Evans argues, uses an algorithm that finds these pinches, scandals, and controversies and funnels them to our particular newsfeed. Facebook knows that there’s something within the human condition that thrives off the conflict just as we are drawn to the parking lot meetings that bubble up after a particularly contentious board meeting or PTA conference. Evans argues that Facebook optimizes engagement, which "all too often means optimizing for outrage, for polarization, for disingenuous misinformation.” The theory behind Facebook’s operation, he believes, means “the favoring of extremes, the conspiracy theorists, the histrionic diatribes on all sides. It means fomenting mistrust, suspicion, and conflict everywhere.” 

He concludes by saying, "We've all seen it. We've all lived it." 

Facebook, like other forms of social media and kinds of anxious personalities, is a stick. It stirs things up. 

In our New Testament, Paul encourages the church in Colossae to resist the temptation to amplify conflict and disharmony. Rather than inflame, Paul preaches deescalating anxious moments by practicing a Christ-like presence in our communities. 

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17) 

I’d post this on Facebook, but I don’t think this message would go viral. 'Lowering the temperature in the room' isn't particularly sexy. 

Let us be mindful, then, of the dynamics at play in our world, and to what our most base impulses are drawn. Let’s be reflective of the toxic waters that we swim in and consider that we are called to be people who install ladders and offramps out of the yuck. Social media can be an excellent tool for staying connected and for spreading good news. Truly, it can be! 

But that's not exactly why we tune in. That's not entirely why we keep coming back. And that's not what keeps us tethered to the addictive scrolling that may intend to distort, inflame and amplify conflict. 

Deep down inside of us, anxiety and conflict are itches we like to scratch. When this primal hunger is left unchecked, we tend to become sticks. And that can't be good for any of us. 

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You can read Evans article, here: 

http://techcrunch.com/2019/10/20/facebook-isnt-free-speech-its-algorithmic-amplification-optimized-for-outrage/