edges and ties

One of the speakers at the conference I discussed in my previous post suggested that a Facebook newsfeed tells us something important about personal identity today.  I've continued to ponder this suggestion.  Certainly it is true that very person's "home" page looks different and reflects that individual's unique collection of "friends."  This reality mimics the reality that no one is precisely the same as any other person, a reality sometimes contrasted with a romantic notion of traditional societies in which knowing one fact about a person was likely to reveal many, many more. 

One perspective on this new reality is to lament a sort of identity politics in which finally no one can communicate with or understand anyone else because no one is precisely like me: edges.  This point of despair or mere irritation is reached when we hear ourselves say, "Well, everyone has her own view of what freedom is." At the moment we appear to be giving in to the premise that there is no possibility of making contact across the difference or even much point in trying. 

Another perspective is illuminated by the analogy to the Facebook page.  It highlights the connections and the ways in which each person has the potential to be a bridge between other people or communities: ties.  Rather than each identity factor contributing to increased isolation, each factor provides more points of interconnection. 

This is one way that Bonhoeffer wrote about Christ who is the mediator, not only between the believer and God, but also between the believer and other people.

Perhaps these edges and ties are similar to the dynamics Robert Putnam considers under the terms bonding and bridging in his discussion of social capital.  AmConers: let's remember to take this up next semester!