Yesterday I expressed my thoughts on social media to find that my words agitated and angered someone I've been following for a while. I enjoyed following this person, and probably similar to that person, I didn't always agree with her perspective, but I found her to be an intelligent, well-meaning, bright person who had lots to teach me.
I tried to explain my words, only to receive an angry retort and then to be blocked. As noted, I've been on both sides of this kind of experience before as I've blocked people and people have blocked me now and then.
What was most painful about this experience was that the individual quickly condemned my thoughts without hearing my perspective--she quickly judged who I was and why she thought I said what I said. I expected more respect than that, but that woman also felt my comment was disrespectful though that was not my intent. Clearly we saw the situation from very different perspectives based on our experiences in life.
Often when people disagree on social media, the disagreement is respectful and we come to a compromise or at least a decision to agree to disagree, but on a few occasions the disagreements have turned hurtful and there's been no other choice than to stop the exchange and block one another. This happened a few times during the Trump Presidency--there were a few people I knew who were spreading Trump's misinformation and lies that I blocked. This has also happened when people use profanity or insults when they disagree, and in a few other cases like the situation yesterday when people simply were not open to who I am at all and quickly judged me and mischaracterized me.
Social media is not a perfect medium, yet in many ways, it is like real time. Similar to real time connections, you'll find some that push your thinking in positive ways, support you, and/or teach you and a few others where the connection simply doesn't work.
I remember long ago there was a well-respected educator who had won many rewards. I really wanted to connect with him because I wanted to understand his teaching/thinking more. Yet, after many tries, it was clear that we saw the world differently and didn't have enough common interest and perspective for good online share. I always wondered why that was true. Was it the difference of where we lived, the types of communities we lived/taught in, our ages, family roles, or our beliefs related to male/female roles in society? I don't know, and while I didn't block this individual, we never had any positive, helpful exchanges.
We're not going to understand or speak to everyone, and everyone is not going to understand or speak to us. It's a big, diverse world out there. But, whether we agree and understand each other or not, we have an obligation to be respectful in our discourse and try to help one another understand where we are coming from and what we think is important.
I'll continue to think about this in the days ahead as social media offers us the opportunity to learn via many perspectives and experiences. This opportunity can broaden our world, our thinking, and our ability to understand and get along with others, and the better we navigate social media, the more we can gain from it. Onward.