Maybe We Should All Just Stop Shouting For A While?

It's both the title and a question. I mean, how's all this shouting, anger, ranting and noise working for you? From where I stand we're going nowhere, perhaps even backwards, and I wonder whether we've lost the simple skill of being able to listen? To listen does not mean you agree, or consent to that persons view. Just means you have enough respect to keep your mouth shut for long enough to hear what another person has to say. It costs you a few moments of your life, and assuming you've also engaged those funny shaped things on the side of your head you might even learn a little something, too. Is it really such a big ask? Apparently yes, because we as a society appear to have stopped wanting to listen. And I hate it, and it's going to produce nothing good. Whether it's the Trump train in the USA, or the leavers and remain clans, or any other rival faction we've got into this deranged habit of he who shouts loudest wins. Only this isn't how society wins. Not ultimately. Sam Harris, my intellectual hero, once remarked that no society ever destroyed itself by being too reasonable. I agree. And when we listen we aren't committed to consenting. Just making an effort to better understand. I don't see what anybody loses by doing that? And then there's this whole other thing we see emerging, cancel culture. It's when we actively try to silence the voices we do not agree with, or that challenge our own positions. God forbid. That's terrifying to me, and it should be terrifying to you. I've said so many times that freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a working society. It's the lifeblood, an engine of innovation that, if its working, makes us wiser and better informed. And we appear to be turning our backs on it. So here's my advice. Don't. Buck the trend. Invite contrary viewpoints. Hell, seek them out. See what other's think so it sharpens your own intellect. And be charitable and not begrudging. And perhaps most importantly, don't think other peoples thoughts for them. I had a guy do that to me last night and I went off like a firecracker, telling him in no uncertain terms that he shouldn't assume to know what's in my mind, or in his case claim that I didn't actually mean what I was saying. Let's give people the opportunity to express themselves. Let's allow them to breathe. You may loath what they have to say, but there's something honorable about being able to listen well. It's an art form. Simple arithmetic. Talk less, listen more. Rinse and repeat. And I bet that if you do this you'll gradually come to realise that you are the wiser for it, the richer and more rounded. Conversation is our primary means of communication, a global treasure, and we've never needed it more. So let's talk. Let's listen. And let's relate. Who knows where that will take us.