Y'all, life is too short for this shit. A lot of bad things have happened and they'll continue to, as is the difficulty of the world in which we live. The only Earthly salvation we have is to listen and allow ourselves the opportunity to change our minds. 1/?

I'll admit this - when COVID first fired up in China, I denied that it would be a problem here. I thought we were pandemic-proof. I was uninformed. Once I saw new data and actually *read* beyond the headlines, my mind changed quickly. This is not a difficult concept. 2/?

We have malleable brain matter. We can learn new things, try new things, experience new information. We have our own filters, yes, but it's okay to hear people out. Shutting them down contributes to the overarching problem. This thread wasn't going to be about censorship... 3/?

..but in light of the app shutdowns and account cleanup, I think it's important to draw distinctions between censorship and citizenship. Social media = media companies. People are the "journalists". They exercised editorial intervention because their leniency ran out. 4/?

That's going to happen when people use your platform for organizing heinous activities that have already proven to cause great harm. They're private companies who allowed violations to run rampant prior to actually doing something about it. 5/?

All this mouth-frothing about freedom of speech being robbed ignores the fact that freedom of speech is not a universal right. It protects citizens from government oppression. Twitter is not the government. Nor is Amazon. Or Apple. Or Google. 6/?

When you care more about sharing your own opinion than learning, you're already losing. Think before speaking, read before thinking. Saw that on here recently and it's true. But allow yourself the opportunity to get better by listening and allowing yourself to evolve. 7/?

Society would benefit greatly if people just paid attention more. If you want to debate something, be prepared. I see a lot of knocking and running away. We have unfettered access to nearly everyone's opinions now. It's exhausting. But listen, even when they're batshit. 8/?

Once they've been heard (and my goodness, have they been heard), your opinion can remain the same or change. I'm just tired of listening to people who don't read or think, they just speak. I think we're all sick of it now. If you're in a wormhole of conspiracy, there is hope. 9/?

That hope starts with listening. It starts with recognizing that you may be wrong, not just saying that. If you're wrong, own it. Others will inevitably be wrong too. We should all pursue TRUTH, regardless of whether it impacts our ideology. Come back to real life. Please. 10/10