As I write this, we are a few days removed from the executive order that effectively halted the construction of the almost finished offshore wind projects off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I’ve made my feelings clear on the subject of offshore wind here in the past and I don’t feel like I need dive back into that now. In the early going, I was in full support of the concept, but after doing some deep reading on the subject, I changed my mind. I have to admit, that I was disappointed that my feelings made a 180, I very much would like the US and the rest of the world to take strides to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but I just don’t see this as an environmentally responsible option.
I made the mistake of perusing social media after the executive order was delivered, and it managed to further cement itself as the center of the universe as it pertains to screaming into the void with the hope of finding an opposite who will scream back. I won’t lie and say I didn’t participate, but I wish I hadn’t, because it achieves nothing.
Living in these challenging times, social media facilitates a fantasy that allows us all to see what we want to see and creates this false reality that we shouldn’t have to see what we don’t want to see. The concept of our own personal algorithm is now an excepted part of everyday vernacular, and our social media platforms ask us “see more like this?” and track us, every day to try and keep us all satisfied, scrolling and drooling. Open up your FYP (for you page) and see for yourself. If you’ve been Googling tarpon trips in the Florida Keys, your FYP will feature tarpon images, compare brands of nail guns, and you’ll see nail gun content. In addition to surfcasting, custom lures, swimbaits, kayak fishing and nearly every other mode of local fishing, I regularly Google and interact with content that has to do with the Red Sox, and my FYP is loaded with Red Sox ‘stuff’ sifted in with the fishing.
As I was scrolling through this disturbed yellow jackets’ nest of comments, I came across one that simply read, “And this page gets an unfollow.” I know this is just one guy who thinks of his attention as some form of currency and that the page will feel the crushing loss of his views, but I read this as an example of exactly what’s going wrong in this issue, in politics and in everything else that humans can debate.
I will be the first to admit that the facts that have altered my views on offshore wind might not be 100% accurate, I may have been influenced by someone along the way who was spreading misinformation, I may have forgotten a key point, I may even have ignored something that I hoped wouldn’t be true or I may have been a victim of the ‘spin’ certain media outlets apply to “facts” before publishing them. But the difference is, I will admit that. Another difference between myself and way too many others, is that I read both sides of the argument, because I’m not so naïve that I will believe 100% of the things I read that I agree with, and dismiss 100% of the things I read that I don’t want to be true.
The act of unfollowing a page or even refusing to read articles from news sources of an opposing slant, exposes you to being lead to a curated conclusion. There has never been a time when checking the shadows on both sides of the door was more important than it is now. I guess, what I’m saying is, no matter what you seek to learn: read from a diverse list of sources and give yourself the chance to come to your own conclusion. Because, let’s be honest, almost no debatable issue is 100% right or 100% wrong, and when someone or something is telling you it’s all one and none of the other, you should run to seek the other side of that story… so you can decide for yourself.
