"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge, argument is an exchange of ignorance". - Robert Quillen

We live in a generation where more and more people have access to wide platforms for voicing their opinions. In prior decades, and without the comfort of the internet, people would resort to soap boxes and writing to newspapers to air out their thoughts on topics. These days there is an abundance of opportunities to get your thoughts out there - like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. They're an easy way to reach a large amount of people which are also in a sense a safer way to voice opinions as you suffer less repercussions than if you were to stand in the street yelling out your views.

Due to the ease of expressing opinions online I believe people have become more intolerant of listening to other people.

Just the other week I was blocked by someone on Twitter. I kind of want to laugh at that statement as it's something I never thought would happen as I don't engage in speaking rudely or negatively to people online. This blogger tweeted saying how she thinks people are total snobs when they refer to their job as a proper or adult job. I replied to this jokingly saying how it made me feel bad as I occasionally refer to my job as an adult job only because I studied hard through university and my current work feels different to my uni jobs. This was met with a string of quite rude comments calling me a snob. I was a little taken back because, as I said, I never engage in being uncivil/mean to anyone online and was surprised someone would be unkind back? I tried to explain as nicely as I could how I never intend for it to be a demeaning statement and I think what everyone does in life is important as we all make the world go round. Gosh, I even added in a smiley face to sound friendly in case my original statement could be interpreted the slightest bit mean haha. Without much discussion or anything I was blocked. It just made me more disappointed than anything that we weren't able to enter into a civil discussion so I could hear why she felt that way and then also reiterate how my intentions were not to be snobby in the slightest. Well, I guess that's the internet for you.

In my opinion: discussion is power. We should never get stagnant listening to other points of views and hearing why people believe what they believe. I think it's important to hear what people have to say. In the past i've held certain views on topics only to have them completely changed when having a conversation with someone. One of my best friends (shout out to you Cherri!) comes from a different background to me and holds quite a lot of different views on topics to myself. I absolutely love chatting to her as we both have such civil conversations discussing soo many things. I love trying to understand her point of views and rationale, similarly she also likes trying to understand my views. Discussing doesn't mean you always have to agree with each other but it just means you're trying to absorb more knowledge and gain an understanding.

Unfortunately, the media is a very one sided thing and if you happen to have an opposing view to the alleged popular opinion of the day you face ridicule and an onslaught of horrible comments. This is probably why I never post my opinions online, because I know for talking about certain topics I could face a lot of backlash from people who don't have any intention of understanding where i'm coming from. It just shouldn't be that way. The best way for our society to grow is being able to have open conversation with one another which is free from judgement and argument.

I do think social media is good in many ways for acting as a forum for discussions but it's so important for us all to treat each other as HUMANS. It's the simple things like being respectful, not judging people, not throwing out hateful words, asking why someone feels a certain way.