Should we block people who think differently to us?
Do you think it's a good idea to block people from your social media who don't agree with you, especially if these people who have opinions that you consider to be unacceptable - racist, sexist, Fascist etc? Or is it better to keep up the dialogue, try to understand their point of view and to challenge or even change it?
It depends on the type of interaction they provide.
If there's a healthy back and forth, without name-calling, I tend to not block, and not delete comments or responses.
However, if a healthy discussion veers off to name-calling, I'm pretty quick on blocking those types of interactions. If I want to hear that, there's an elementary school playground right around the corner. I don't need to hear it from grown-ups who think a personal attack on someone with opposing views is the same as having a viewpoint.
Barbara
I don't understand "Block", I do understand Del.
I hardly ever used to delete comments, but since Trump ran for the presidency, I am a del addict. The main reason is when instead of answering a question, they choose to name call, make a personal attack, not even mention the content that I painstakingly added to make the question clearer.
Del a stm that that says the ? is not worth answering, is not really deleting a comment, because there was no attempt to respond to the question asked.
I always try to put details into my comments, so that the specifics can be argued one way or another. And I have no problem if the author wants to del my comment for any reason.
I like to see different viewpoints agreeing or disagreeing, but that doesn't mean I won't try to present my view. But when there are no real arguments the comments are no longer useful.
I don't mean the term argument to mean fight, but as it exists in the courts. The plt makes a cause of action (like a ?) and the def rebuts that cause (like a comment). Then they both argue their case in court. Not to say that this is hp ?, but only to illustrate what I mean by the term argument.
I must be wrong in what I expect from ?s and comments, as I don't get many arguments.
del if u wish
My experience suggests that attitudes are frequently ingrained.
So it is almost impossible to sway others by reasoned argument. For this reason I have no interest in entering into a dialogue with bigots who believe themselves to be superior in any way to people who are different from themselves in gender, race, religion. They are deluded and spreading misery and joylessness in the world.
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