Don’t Be Mean
A request for discussions on Medium
I‘m new to Medium, and also new to putting my opinions on the internet (or anywhere to be honest). It, therefore, takes a lot of courage to speak my mind — especially as I know that coming from an orthodox Sunni Muslim worldview these can be very different to the pervasive Western Secular narrative.
I understand that opinions differ. Experiences differ, world-views differ, education and background differ. Even the opinions within my own family differ! However, I believe there is a way of discussing these differences, and that does not include being mean.
Medium comments aim to encourage discussion, however, mean comments either discourage people from voicing their opinions, discourage them from engaging in discussion and discourage ‘unpopular’ opinions OR force people even more into their silos and entrench their beliefs even more.
People may also be like me, soft and prone to overthinking. Both of which combine badly with comments offering criticism in a non-constructive or aggressive tone… A comment you think is harsh but fair may leave me overthinking it for a whole day, and I know I’m not alone.
You may say that I just need to “have a thicker skin” or “build up an armour”, but is that really the environment we want to live in?
Therefore, consider this my personal request:
Please be nice.
