Given that my hope is to have a career where I share information in a balanced manner I tend to keep my personal views on politics and current events relatively quiet. However, I do sometimes contribute my opinion to the discussion on civility. Some recent diatribes are downright appalling.
Being correct does not make you seem less arrogant or condescending when you’re telling everyone that happens to have a different opinion how ignorant, apathetic, or misinformed you perceive them to be. The facts are the facts, but the manner they are presented are critical in engaging the opposing side. If they don’t like you, they’re not going to like your ideas either.
What we fail to recognize is that our digital temper tantrums only serve to put more distance between “us” and “them” on the path to constructive dialogue and real solutions. Over time, I’ve been retraining myself to remove “them” from the equation and think of everyone as “us,” regardless of where they land racially, politically, geographically, or any other -ally or position they happen to be in. We are all a part of this thing known as humanity. The fact is that we all have the capacity to do better, or at least, not make things worse.
Maybe the best place to start is learning to acknowledge, respect, appreciate and even love those that hold the opinions that you find to be the most repugnant and abhorrent at the moment.
