Balkanized.

So I resurrected my blog.

I've been going through a long period of questions within myself. Trying to mesh philosophy, core values I hold with social interactions, and trying to fend off the habits I occasionally get into in my employment. Certain levels of humor, and camaraderie is lost on me because I have to be so stone-faced at work. It inevitably bleeds over into my social life, and I realize I've become a bit of a machine. I'm hoping that writing helps a bit of that, but much of what goes through my mind is pretty hard-hitting and serious. I talk politics because I enjoy politics. In truth, I enjoy discussing politics - Though many of my peers just become enraged and frustrated at what I argue... as though some intellectual concept (only conveyed by education) is lost on me. I'll admit, I do find some amusement in it, though unfortunately sadness is the dominant reaction I hold in my discussions with the more liberal (as statistics go) friends I have. Strange, that it's so easy to segue into this post with that in mind. I will admit, I'm targeting specific people and groups with this, but it isn't a pejorative analysis. It's simply an observation.

Also I should mention that this post has been years in its mental development, short in its writing.


I mentioned a while ago that I intended to write a post about the word "Balkanize."
A few weeks ago, I watched a video on youtube from a guy (or channel) that goes by the name "VSauce." The point of this particular episode actually had to do with something we've come to know as "the friend zone" with regard to relationships. The episode was interesting for it's content and the subject it addressed, but during the episode it brought up a concept called "Cyber Balkanization." I'll write a little more about it as I segue this post through the idea. But it got me thinking about the word "Balkanize.

As I researched this word, not having practically used it in the past (though having a vague understanding of it's meaning) I realized that it very accurately conveyed an idea I had tried to get across to a friend about a year ago.

I had invited this friend to my house, to do her tax return and have dinner. As we got to talking, the topic of relationships and such had come up, probably because of another post I made quite some time ago, sharing my frustrations with the "fairer" sex. I had mentioned that I generally prefer "Small Town Girls" because they seemed a bit more "connected to reality." At least, that's how I put it. Unfortunately I didn't really possess the rhetoric to properly explain why at that point, and in retrospect, I think it may have seemed a bit pejorative, as well. I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to share the idea that I was trying to convey, and that particular episode of VSauce tied a few things together for me. Unfortunately  many of the things I try to share with folks don't come across in a very couth manner. It's not that I intend to offend.

VSauce's Post Here

So Balkanization, is basically the separation of a large group, into smaller, more distinct factions that often (but not always) harbor negative views of the other groups.

Typically, we use this in a social context to explain how factions of people separate and segregate themselves, often times due to religion, economic status, geographically (as the definition goes), etc. To me however, VSauce's explanation of the concept with regard to online interactions was particularly useful, in a social context.

Simply put, the idea of cyber balkanization is the notion that the online community is so immensely large and mostly anonymous that people who are online, tend to gravitate toward communities that reaffirm their ideas and beliefs. It even allows them to speak more freely than they would in a public setting, because they do not need to fear a negative reaction from others in conveying a controversial idea. - The internet has a bigger community for Nazis than you'll likely encounter elsewhere. Ergo, the balkanization occurs as people find themselves involved exclusively with people who agree with them, and there's no sense in forcefully putting yourself into an environment that might otherwise be socially hostile, unless you're a troll or just looking for an argument.

This got me thinking about real interactions between people in large cities. Is the same concept applicable in a large city where you can make similar choices, what about those you choose as friends? I thought about this with a specific group of people in mind, that I came across about 2-3 years ago. These folks were all very liberal, and pretty intolerant (despite their claims) of people who disagreed with their views. They were verbally hostile and while non-violent, you could generally expect some kind of under-handed ridicule or disdain from many of them.

After some thought, it occurred to me that the idea really is consistent, even outside the internet. People tend to gravitate towards others who share their same ideas, whenever possible. Now this group, while well meaning, largely refused to discuss politics with me (including the friend I had dinner with) because by and large, they became very emotionally charged and often times outright angry. Moreover, the context of the discussion was never open to new ideas, The nature of the rhetoric used and the subtext of the discussion was always "We need to correct your erroneous thinking, Joe." For as supposedly educated and liberal as these folks are, they were always very disdainful and closed-minded. Simply, civilized discourse and achieving mutual respect despite our ideological differences, was not possible because of their attitudes.

So, where does this get to small town girls?
I realized after some fuming about these friends and some thought on the idea of Balkanization, that big-city living drives that very same thing we find on the internet - A wider group of people to socialize with means that we can be more picky about those we decide to associate with. In a small town, there aren't as many opportunities for discretion, so if someone wants to socialize, they must learn to accept (not simply "tolerate") other people's origins, opinions and differences. In summary, the perspective of a person in a small town includes the whole of the town and those in it, as opposed to simply the selected group of people one associates with. As an unfortunately unfamous rap artist said "This society's deprivation depends, not on our differences but the separation within." That being said, small town girls have been more "socially adept" than folks in the big city, in my experience. Perhaps the distinction between male and female isn't necessary, but the context of our discussion was from my perspective. Small town guys? Not in the scope.

Might be worth analyzing the political trends in those small towns, with this in mind.