This post might raise the hackles of the algorithm gods of FB, but here goes.
We should all be aware that social media (especially this one) is driven by profit, regardless of virtue.
It is highly profitable that we get sorted into various and different groups. People (or faceless nameless corporate entities) are making heaps of money from this forced balkanization.
There is more to this separation and tearing apart of community than just FB responding to my tastes or your peculiar interests. There are many, many algorithms in Zuckerburg's water-cooled data farms that drive us into these little opinion ghettos.
They drive us into groups that are defined more by what we are against, or what we dislike and by unease, anxiety and even paranoia. These negative attractions far outweigh any positive appeals.
These is easily seen in the uptick of racist hate groups. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has become something of an easy distraction, functioning as a simple dismissal along the lines of "Well, I certainly am not like that" or "We don't act like IS jihadists or Aryan Nation White Nationalists."
The difficulty is worse than that. The toxin has hit much, much closer to home.
Look at our Christian community in general, and Orthodoxy in particular. We are split now between Constantinople and Moscow. I have former correspondents now who no longer communicate with me simply because I am a priest associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We are fragmented between those who are neo-patristic/neo-palamitic and those who are sophiological, or more given to systematic theology and philosophical methodology. We like to troll each other for perceived errors and post patristic quotes that are posed as rebuttals. We identify ourselves as guardians of the true faith and willingly engage in ad hominem artillery fire, which is entertaining for fellow group members and startling to anyone looking for the peace of the Body of Christ.
Indeed, a lot of this is our own personal, individual fault. That is always the case.
But frankly, it is not ALL our fault. Facebook (and other platforms) are making money off of our mud wrestling. Nothing is more satisfying to some vested interests than watching an Orthodox priest hurling self-righteous invective at various objects, whether they are straw men, theologians who simply don't care, or other clergy who will climb into the mud pit with them, while the drunks in the bar pass money to the oddsmaker.
The internet is truly a dangerous, toxic place. I agree with Neal Stephenson's characterization of it (in his newest novel, The Fall) as "The Miasma."
But you would think Christian FB-ers would be less miasmic.
Here's my plea. Let us all -- whether you are Constantinopolitan or Muscovite, OCA or Ukrainian, capitalist Christian or socialist Christian -- put down our cyber guns.
Let us stop performing circus acts for Zuckerburg's Big Top.
After all, the real enemy is none of us. And the real enemy can't be shot at.
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