Genuine encounter requires an audience of equals who address and challenge one another

Evidence

The space of appearance is like a communal “I-Thou” relationship that has resisted the temptation to collapse into an “I-It” one, where no part of the group appears abstract to the other or where, as in Plato’s ideal city, “some are entitled to command and others forced to obey.” It is a space where I am empowered to see and be seen, hear and be heard, by those whose investment in the space is equal to mine. Unlike the abstract public of Twitter, the space of appearance is my “ideal audience” in that it is a place where I’m addressed, understood, and challenged—thus providing a known context for what I say and what I hear in this space. In this form of encounter, neither I nor anyone else has to waste time or energy on wrangling context, or packaging our messages for the lowest common denominator of public opinion. We gather, we say what we mean, and then we act. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 600

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘ideal audience’ of the space of appearance as those who invest equally, contrasting with Twitter’s abstract public.
• QUESTION: This ideal-audience framing raises the privilege question the reader flagged — does having such a room presuppose resources and networks?
• XREF: connects to: Genuine reciprocity requires mutual tension and shared attention between two participants — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 14