We live in an intolerant world. If you think I’m wrong, just pull up any article on the internet. Go ahead, any one of them. You will find plenty of self righteous, bigoted, narrow minded, or judgemental statements. No matter the subject, a lot of people feel the need to let their opinions be known. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it just down right scary.
Before the internet, you might read something in the paper or see something on the news. But you didn’t have an instantaneous audience of millions to throw your opinion out to. You might stand out in your yard and discuss it with a neighbor. You could discuss it at work over lunch. You could discuss with a group of friends. Where ever you discussed it, you were talking face to face.
There’s a lot to be said for talking to someone face to face. You can hear their tone of voice. You can read their emotions in their eyes. You can judge where you are going by their body language. Maybe you start to step on their toes a little with your comments, but you notice the color flooding to their face.
If its something important to you, you might continue on. But if its a difference of opinion, you might decide that it just isn’t worth the animosity you would create by continuing down that path. I think 99.9% of the things that we discuss in our society is opinions. Some things just naturally evoke a very strong opinion from people. It could vary from the usual politics or religion to who made better cartoons, Hanna Barbera or Looney Tunes. It just depends on what is important to you as an individual.
In this internet age the most difficult thing of all is trying to have an intelligent discussion with someone who isn’t. They toss observations, commentary, and throw in a few Bible verses. Yet none of them has anything to do with anything else. They can’t debate intelligently because they lack the common sense of a dung beetle. Once they realize they aren’t making any headway with you, then it becomes personal. They think are being clever. But their words are like vomit spewing from their mouth. It makes no sense and just results in one big mess on the carpet.
If I was sitting across from them, I could look them in the eye and say “You aren’t making any sense.” Then they could either explain themselves better or I would see the empty look in their eyes and know that it was time to move on. So without the benefit of talking face to face, I am simply moving on.
