BENGALURU: I can easily handle different opinions. But how do you handle people who cannot take opinions other than theirs?” a senior journalist friend of mine was thinking aloud. She was shell-shocked when someone she respected a lot started calling her out for a statement she had made, as it did not resonate with his. “Many of us have been asking the same question,” I told her. I was grabbing some takeaway food from a restaurant and while waiting, overheard a group of friends discussing how their numbers have depleted considerably since the advent of social media platforms.
My friends were having a similar discussion over lunch recently. “All we do is fight and break away,” one of us said, recalling how good it was before fake news, ill temper and aggravated language crept in. “We were respectful when we started. We used to have actual discussions and respected each other’s opinions. Now we attack each other personally. People harass others via trolling and gaslighting. We have fallouts with those we grew up with over some issue.
We are even losing our sleep over toxic interactions,” stated a friend who is often at the receiving end of nasty insults for her blunt views. For a while now, I have been asking myself if I can actually address this issue with enough confidence and honesty.
Can we handle opposing points of view without losing our integrity? Are we not rattled in the face of aggression on social media? How do we engage with the massive amount of crude content bombarding us every day? What do we prefer – losing friends and acquaintances over some political issue or keeping them by remaining neutral or side with them blindly, just because they are too precious? I strongly feel that we belong to a confused generation. We do not have enough clarity in this post-truth age. We like freedom of expression – only when it is our own.
Our tolerance quotient has plummeted to such a depth that we have lost sight of it. We are too scared of offending people who take pleasure in taking offense over whatever they deem right. Erik Pevernagie, a Belgian painter, says emotions must regulate our thoughts, not manipulate nor substitute them. Our perception is only a biased picture of reality, and emotions are individual or provisional. Therefore, critical thinking and emotional thinking must go hand in hand, he adds. I was reading people’s opinions on a recently released Kannada movie.
While many passionately lauded it, there were some who said they did not like certain things about it. Both these groups were at loggerheads and in their haste, even gave away the plot and were not considerate of those who had not seen it. It is important that we be conversant, civil, have lucid thoughts and opinions. We need to look at the world through a fairly clear lens and for that, sometimes we need to step back a little and gaze at the whole canvas.