I am a person with opinions, enjoying friendly discussion on diverse topics. Many yesterdays ago, I habitually blurted out my thoughts without consideration of consequences. Today, I try to be more controlled about the “when and where” and take time and care in crafting my words.
Typically, I do not voice an opinion to a general audience. More times than not, I find it a waste of my energy. It is not my intention to change someone’s opinion, I only hope to encourage the sharing of perspectives. What I experience is something more akin to debate. There is nothing wrong with this, and it has its place, but I find it combative. When people come together with the sole intent of winning over the opinions of others because they are convinced of their own righteousness on a topic, I think we lose an opportunity for improvement.
Yesterday, I couldn’t help myself. The topic was the censorship of books, and it was like another post I had recently seen. I felt compelled to register my opinion on this forum, populated with Canadian writers, against the advice of my inner voice which was screaming, “Don’t do it!”. So far, I have not received any mean comments, but one lengthy response got me thinking; not about what the writer intended to clarify for me, but how narrow minded our responses are when wrapped up in our own biases. Naturally, I again felt compelled to respond with a better explanation of my original intent, knowing that this was also a mistake. I was now caught up in momentum that was gaining traction and would likely have no fruitful outcome.
What did I learn? Social media is not the place to voice my opinions. If my intention is to encourage discussion so that I may gain insight from a different perspective, this format is too limiting to communicate with sufficient substance and it is too easy for people to throw daggers from the shadows of anonymity.
Do you have any personal experiences related to the sharing of your opinions on open social forums?
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