Participating on discussion boards is an enlightening thing. People are somewhat anonymous, unless you know them personally, so a person is free to say pretty much whatever they think or feel about the subject at hand.
I participate on a couple of discussion boards, mostly related to the topics of travel and writing, and now, this week, a lot of the off-topic discussions have been directed towards politics. When political discussions come up, the fear people feel comes out. It oozes out of their posts in the form of arrogant, judgemental posts.
And then when people really begin to be fearful, they start a topic on whether or not political discussions should be allowed on that particular board. This week it has happened on every board I participate on.
Just when people are getting to the point where they can see what they are saying, they clam up – and they want everyone else to clam up too. It’s almost instinctual, this inhibition to growth.
It’s just an observation …
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