When a conflict is in public, what's the role of the audience?
Added 2023-12-24 11:00:08 +0000 UTCMerry Christmas Eve, if you celebrate!
Since so many people are spending time in large groups this time of year, especially with extended family (who may or may not be easy to be around), the topic of conflict is on the mind — especially conflict that plays out in front of other people.
Today, I aim to explore the function of an audience during disagreements. When does it add pressure, carry risk, speak truth to power, bring safety in numbers? When is it a way to hold someone responsible or to right a wrong? When might it harm, humiliate or coerce instead?
Everything depends on context, so I'll use some examples to illustrate. Hopefully, this may be of service.
Timecode:
- 0.00 Intro
- 01.56 What if privacy isn't possible? (e.g. arguing in a public space, is there potential for danger or unintended consequences?)
- 05.35 Topic + Audience. When might the topic call for discretion (e.g. a personal shame), and when might it call for amplification (e.g. a public threat)?
- 08.32 Relevance + Power. Which audience is relevant (if any)? What are the power dynamics between everyone involved? (e.g. calling out kink practices in a dungeon vs. bringing up the same topic at a vanilla work event.) Risks vs. rewards.
- 12.04 What is/are the motive(s)?
- 13.03 Performance + Manipulation. Are people acting differently because others are watching? Is it possible to manipulate the crowd?
- 14.54 Outro / Consenting to learning publicly, being wrong publicly, letting go of some privacy.
Captions auto generated by Patreon; Transcript at the bottom of this post via Otter AI
Warmly,
Morgan
