Protests are shouting matches. We’re not talking about general discussion. Do you censor yourself in general discussion because conservatives play gotcha games with you? How is that honest communication?
Protests can (and admittedly often do) devolve into shouting matches, but not necessarily. As I’ve aged I’ve reached the understanding that those never accomplish anything positive or useful. As such, I rarely bother anymore - if I go to a protest, I’m there simply to be counted as one of the (hopefully) many on that side of things. I do my best not to allow myself to be baited because it’s just so pointless.
Do I censor myself? Maybe - if you consider choosing not to bother arguing a point because it seems likely that they’re not going to engage in good faith to be self-censoring. Otherwise, not really - I do try to consider my words carefully because there can be a LOT of logical steps to an argument that I don’t normally consciously think about as I likely reached my stance a LONG time ago and all that immediately comes to mind is my final conclusion.
My life involved significant patches of effective solitude, and so I never really had to learn to argue my perspectives until I was old/mature enough to understand the importance of politics. Up until then, my thought processes were solely focused on determining the end result - the important things to remember. All the steps that got me to a final answer weren’t important enough to bother trying to remember because I usually didn’t need to recall them very often.
Unfortunately, politics is ALL about arguing those individual steps before the final conclusion I reached, but my brain wasn’t trained during my lifetime to work that way - so I have to think out what I’m saying each time. It’s why I prefer this text-based type of social site - I can’t think on the spot quickly enough to do video, for example.
So if you consider that to be self-censorship, well I disagree. I consider it making sure I’m communicating what I intend to effectively so that the conversation doesn’t get derailed too easily.
Protests are shouting matches. We’re not talking about general discussion. Do you censor yourself in general discussion because conservatives play gotcha games with you? How is that honest communication?
Protests can (and admittedly often do) devolve into shouting matches, but not necessarily. As I’ve aged I’ve reached the understanding that those never accomplish anything positive or useful. As such, I rarely bother anymore - if I go to a protest, I’m there simply to be counted as one of the (hopefully) many on that side of things. I do my best not to allow myself to be baited because it’s just so pointless.
Do I censor myself? Maybe - if you consider choosing not to bother arguing a point because it seems likely that they’re not going to engage in good faith to be self-censoring. Otherwise, not really - I do try to consider my words carefully because there can be a LOT of logical steps to an argument that I don’t normally consciously think about as I likely reached my stance a LONG time ago and all that immediately comes to mind is my final conclusion.
My life involved significant patches of effective solitude, and so I never really had to learn to argue my perspectives until I was old/mature enough to understand the importance of politics. Up until then, my thought processes were solely focused on determining the end result - the important things to remember. All the steps that got me to a final answer weren’t important enough to bother trying to remember because I usually didn’t need to recall them very often.
Unfortunately, politics is ALL about arguing those individual steps before the final conclusion I reached, but my brain wasn’t trained during my lifetime to work that way - so I have to think out what I’m saying each time. It’s why I prefer this text-based type of social site - I can’t think on the spot quickly enough to do video, for example.
So if you consider that to be self-censorship, well I disagree. I consider it making sure I’m communicating what I intend to effectively so that the conversation doesn’t get derailed too easily.