Something I’m quickly realizing as I write these posts is that I actually have pretty strong opinions on some things. It’s weird, because in public life I’ve gotten pretty used to not expressing strong opinions on pretty much anything. There’s this mental machinery that gets in the way most times, saying something along the lines of:
Whoever you’re talking to might have the opposite point of view, and you might upset them by being so militantly against it.
But really, they’re just opinions! They’re not going to kill anybody. If I find out that one of my strongly held opinions goes against the deeply held beliefs of someone I respect, that’s nothing more than an opportunity to listen to them. Hopefully we can both come away with an expanded view of the world.
I think the problem is that I expect everybody I interact with to act like people online do: holding their opinions as part of their identity, and freaking the fuck out when they are challenged. I might end up running into a handful of these people within the confines of this blog, but hopefully I will be able to see them for who they are (people that refuse to change their mind no matter what) and ignore them.
So if you do come on here and want to have a discussion about something that I’ve said, I am excited to talk to you, but I only have one request: please be nice!
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