When was the last time you changed your mind? Was it under the spotlight of interrogation?
Was it beneath a hail of fire and brimstone? Was it through being cornered, outnumbered and getting personally insulted?
Probably not. Because people don’t change their mind because you told them too. And they will never return to a space that treats them that way.
Minds are changed slowly, overtime and often in silence; after weeks of quiet moments in the shower, and following many thoughtful miles in the park.
I openly accept a lot of the content I share is challenging, difficult and even upsetting.
I understand it can threaten peoples’ most guarded beliefs, or world views, or even their political identity, and naturally a space that does these things, isn’t always rainbows and fairytales.
But too often I see pile ons in comment sections; they are needless and counter productive breakdowns of discourse, and I see them not just on this account, but on many others like it.
And it makes me wonder, what’s the point of being ‘right’, if you’re ineffective in communicating your ideas?
And how can we set an example of how to disagree better?
Illustrations by Smalllike and Philipp Petzka from the Noun Project
Images by Paul Green and Alfred Kenneally from Unsplash