FREEDOM TO SPEAK, WISDOM TO LEARN

I have caught myself removing a comment before posting it not because it was incorrect, but because I thought, "What ways could this be interpreted wrong?

I don't believe it's just me though.

It's like each time you speak, there's a warning sign in your head. There's one sentence which has 10 different meanings, and no matter how well-meaning, somebody in some location will be offended.

But that's now really changed how many of us communicate.

We have to wait a longer time before speaking.

Many times messages are rewritten.

At times we resort to silence rather than honesty for the sake of safety.

But is there an increase in respect or fear in the society we live in?

I believe it's a combination of the above.

I think that words are important.

Some statements are intentionally hurtful, mean and degrading to others, these shouldn't be made up for by simply saying "I'm just talking my mind." , and I believe that Just because we have the right to free speech doesn't give anyone the right to be rude.

Meanwhile I'm afraid that we've gotten to a time where it feels like whenever we disagree we're disrespecting each other.

Not a single opposition is a criticism.

Not all of the things you're not comfortable saying are offensive.

At times, change starts when we are questioned.

If all difficult opinions are suppressed, we miss out on something good learning from people who think differently from us.

Something I noticed is the lack of intent in many conversations. When We are not sure what is meant by something like, "What do you mean by that?" we just go straight into, "How dare you say that?

So What ends up happening is the other party would become defensive before they even start talking.

This is even worse with the introduction of social media.

The platforms aren't designed to encourage deep debates, they are designed to encourage quick reactions.

A brief video, a sentence or screen shot taken out of context can reach thousands of individuals before they have heard the whole story. In such a setting many people cease to express their true opinions, not because they have nothing to say, but because they fear to be the next target.

I don't think that's a good thing because People often don't want to speak their truth but that doesn't necessarily make it a kinder society.

It may just be a different one that works better for you.

Aside from that, I'm not quite sure that it's the answer to say whatever you want and let everyone else deal with it.

It should be a rule that we respect each other's ideas and feelings in our discussions because how you say something is as important as what you are saying.

We can have dissension without denigration.

It is OK to question ideas, not people.

We should be able to correct others without embarrassing them and similarly, I believe that we should be better listeners not just jumping to conclusions, maybe we should ask some questions first.

Often people say the wrong thing.

They truly don't know any better.

They may just have a different view.

In those circumstances a conversation is needed, rather than a condemnation because the reality is, we don't want to live in a world that's all about why someone's offended.

We also don't want a world where people feel free to say whatever they want without thinking of what it means for others, It's not a simple balance to make but it's important.

The objective is to develop a place where people can be honest, listen to each other, and disagree with each other respectfully.

If we lose the skill of having hard conversations, we aren't losing just our voice, We will no longer be able to communicate with each other.

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