Beyond Hashtags

Beyond Hashtags

It is probably too late, but I press on in pursuit of likely lost causes. In this case, to rescue the hashtag from its current use to divide and subdivide people into a caricature of an idea they might hold. In the social media universe, at least as I understand it, the hashtag was intended to simplify searching for similar categories across multiple posts and platforms. The symbol provided a quick and easy way to sort lists and entries. Very helpful – allowing the organization of bits and pieces of information, thoughts, musings, opinions, and so on, after the fact, and to collect similar bits from wherever hashtags indicate they are residing. All well and good.

The problem, at least as I see it, is that the hashtag has been weaponized. I can imagine a version of it in Corinth - #iamofpaul #iamofapollos #iamofchephas #IAMOFCHRIST – rallying points for division. I suppose it might be more or less innocent were it used to register preference – which is inevitable. But what seems to happen is that my preference becomes, in my informed insecurity, the best option not only for me for everyone – which then leads to it becoming an easy measure of the intelligence of everyone – which then leads to it becoming a way  of dismissal, often with appropriate contempt, of the unenlightened who do not have two brain cells to rub together as witnessed by the fact that they don’t agree with me! They are probably, therefore, subhuman and deserving of nothing but shame lest they spread their damnable ignorance to the naive. And thus, we hashtag other parts of the Image of God – of the Body of Christ – into easily disposed of categories with self-congratulatory ease.

Not good.

What is missing in the hashtagged world is the reality of nuance – of both/and. Hashtags are gross filters – either/or, yes/no, for/against, agree/disagree. But that is not, in practice, how we think or live – unless forced into it by an increasingly loud shame culture, quick to tell us how we must think and live if we are to be accepted in the best of circles – by which is meant, by implication, the normal, sane, intelligent group of which I am a part (as compared to the reprehensible group on the other side). It’s like middle school all over again! Identity – value – is wrapped up in the most facile of markers, reducing those who aren’t us to cootie status!

It does not take long, if we are even moderately observant, to notice that, while there are some clear either/or, yes/no, issues – most of life is far too complex to allow for the simple sub-divisions implicit in our current hashtag identities. It is multi-textured, multi-hued, multi-faceted – and calls for respectful awareness of the mystery of being. We hashtag into reductionistic simplicity, to our loss. We may still hold to our preference, but we must do so humbly knowing that it is possible to be both/and on most issues about which we care. Further, it is possible to hold to a point of view without espousing everything that gets lumped into the hashtagged version of that point of view. We can, and probably must, be political – but we need not be (dare not be, as disciples of Jesus) partisan, knowing that no single party – no single position on pretty much anything – is going to adequately represent the Kingdom of God, which, ultimately, we seek in all its glorious depth and breadth.

Hashtagging disables constructive engagement – we have already filed people into their respective categories thinking, by doing so, that we no longer need deal with them as people. Not so. In many cases, the opinion someone holds on any particular issue is the least important thing about them – so when we start with that, when we subdivide by least important things, we lose out on the mystery that reveals how much we are alike. We lose out on wonder.