Recently, my husband and I spent an enjoyable dinner out with friends. There were six of us at the table, and most of the time was spent sharing personal anecdotes and laughing. Still, we were somewhat on edge as we had been warned by the host to "stay away from politics," because one third of our party were Democrats and two-thirds were Republicans.
Day by day, the list of permissible topics of conversation is shrinking. Certainly one does not discuss religion, Lord knows! But now added to the list, along with politics, are sexuality, the ongoing wars in Israel and Ukraine, campus protests, Covid vaccinations -- in fact anything at all to do with anything at all of any importance going on in the world. It's limiting, to say the least, but it assures that nobody will get up and storm out in a huff.
Meanwhile, online it's like the Wild West, where instead of gunslinging it's insult-slinging. Since most of the participants will never meet there's no harm done, except in extreme cases where the nastiness causes debilitating anxiety that lasts long after the verbal sparring ends.
Young people today don't know any better because they were never taught the value of intellectual independence, but it's sad when grown adults ban civilized discourse and are unwilling to entertain any point of view but their own. I wonder, why is that?
No comments:
Post a Comment