Alcorn: Twitter-pated about modern communication - #lakewoodnews

I've been trying to give some thought lately to why it's so hard, in today's world, to have a real dialogue about issues.

Haven't you noticed how it seems like, whenever an issue comes up that needs attention, our default position is towards dueling monologues?

One person from each side of the issue goes in front of cameras and take turns shouting at the audience, as represented by the moderator.

And, while I appreciate that both sides are presented, the whole exercise has become so pro forma that nobody even listens to each other.

By the time the eight-minute block of television time is over, there's been no exploration of nuance, no digging deeper into other perspectives.

The moderator, on behalf of the audience, usually thanks the two combatants, maybe adds a clever quip, and then teases the next block.

Everybody comes back again after commercial, the moderator announces the new topic, and the exercise starts over as if nothing happened.

In the last two weeks, the Colorado Rockies have gone 6-3 against the two best teams in the National League, proving there's been growth.

Unfortunately, in the middle of that run, they visited the woeful Milwaukee Brewers and got swept in a three-game series.

Proving one of two things: Either the Rockies are still not talented enough to win consistently, or they're just not mentally tough.

Speaking of mentally tough, is there anybody in Denver who could use a mental coach more than Mark Sanchez?

Here's a guy who came out of college with a great resume and performed very well his first two seasons. He had a great future.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, he became mistake-prone. Somewhere, he began to make big mistakes at the worst possible times.

So he came to Denver with one mandate: Don't give the ball to the other team. The Broncos defense is good enough to win again this year.

All that is required of the quarterback is to be smart, don't give the ball to the other team, give the defense a chance to dominate.

But what we saw in the preseason from him was the same old tendency to make bad decisions or to be the guy bad things happen to.

Which, I suppose, makes him pretty similar to all of Trump's campaign managers, or all of Hillary's lawyers.

Now, if you're sitting there, reading this, wondering what the point of this column has been, it has been to demonstrate a current reality.

One of the most popular social media platforms is Twitter, which allows you to post your thoughts 140 characters at a time.

Each of these thoughts in this column is 140 characters or less. And even as I was writing, I found it hard to hold a thought for very long.

My point is this: If this is how we've evolved to communicate, then it's no wonder we can't focus long enough to actually solve anything.

One hundred forty characters is barely enough to make proper introductions, much less come to any understanding of another point of view.

This isn't how Tolstoy, or Sun Tzu, or Scheherazade, or any of their cultural descendants approach the world.

But, then, I guess, none of them could attach a picture of a kitten to their writing, so...

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