(09-26-2023, 11:59 AM)Grace Wrote: @"Ninurta"#2 and I went out to eat at the Chinese buffet after my doctors appointment this month and sitting behind us were a couple young men. Being seated so closely I could overhear their conversation quite easily.
One was sitting there complaining about needing to find another job that had an atmosphere that was politically more to his liking because he was sick and tired of "the way it is today", this gentleman noted. He said it used to be "I think, therefore I am", but now it's more like "I have a thought, therefore I must subject you to it".
I thought at the time, and later told Ninurta that "subjecting others to one's thoughts used to be called a "conversation" " now it's called subjection as if its somehow an oppression and an abuse.
I mean, agree or disagree but standing around the water cooler people are going to attempt to engage in conversation. You are allowed to disagree with someone and/or share your own views in return. It's called conversation when you do this.
I simply CANNOT understand people who cannot manage a simple conversation with someone... people who don't even understand what a conversation even is and looks like. I'm still in shock to have heard this out of the mouth of a real live person.
I noticed an article this morning talking about the same thing as it's being noticed by businesses everywhere. To quote from the article:
Quote:[British television] Channel 4’s CEO, Alex Mahon, complained that the youngest generation to enter the workforce doesn't have the skills to debate, disagree, or work alongside people with different opinions.Outside Link to Article on Yahoo
“What we are seeing with young people who come into the workplace, Gen Z, particularly post-pandemic and with this concentration of short-form content, is that they haven’t got the skills to debate things,” Mahon said at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge according to multiple outlets, including the Telegraph.
If this is what has occurred, that people got so far into their online bubbles that they can't deal with real life what are we to do to resolve the situation?
How do we re-integrate people into society?
These attitudes are affecting the free exchange of ideas online, we've seen that for years now, and it's bleeding into real life in a very serious way when people can't even deal with water cooler conversation or even recognize it as conversation.
If we cannot integrate them back into real life we are well and truly lost as a people I fear. However - if we can reintroduce them and integrate them into real life where it's not some imaginary utopia where everyone holds the same views - then we might have a chance in the coming storm.
What are everyone's thoughts about this topic? Are you all seeing this in your personal interactions with people?
Do you think it may also affect you?
I keep my opinions mostly to myself while at work, except for a select few I've known for years, and have come to know are like-minded.
I kind of understand where that guy is coming from, to an extent. I'm not saying disregard any and all conversation with people who you haven't known for years, but with people I rarely interact with, I tend to keep it safe. "How bout those Eagles!" Predictable, probably boring, but safe
Everyone is different, but that's how I like it, for the most part. We had a new girl who I was training. People seem to want to tell you their life story right away anymore. I'm standing there thinking, Christ, are you buttering me up to write your story or something?
She was a good example, because the more she spoke, the less I liked her. Bashed Trump at every turn, and said she wished AOC would run for president. I said something along the lines of, they're both equally loathsome, and you'd think we could do better in a country of 325 million. I kept all conversations work-related after that, and she quit after a short while anyway.