Something that’s really sticking in my craw this week is all the preachy talk about “listening to each other.” I disagree. In some ways, people listen to each other too much. And share too much. That’s how we ended up here. 1/

What your neighbor or aunt or some rando on social media says about, say, climate change frankly doesn’t matter much. Unless they’re especially well informed on the subject, take what they say with a grain of salt. And certainly don’t share it. 2/

Another thing that bugs me: people who imply that all anger in politics is wrong. I agree, of course, that we need more civility, but not all anger is equal. There’s such a thing as righteous anger in the face of injustice, and it motivates people to seek needed change. 3/

I’m totally on board w/Biden’s message about unity. We do need to find a way to come together. But to do that, maybe it’s better not to hash out everything online, but read and take positive, concrete action instead. (FWIW, this is just me thinking aloud about my own habits) 4/4

P.S. An analogy on anger. Someone in my life was drinking too much and neglecting her child. I kept intervening to no avail. Eventually I got sick of it and called social services. She was furious with me, and we had a huge fight. We were both angry. But the anger wasn’t equal.

I think this is how it is for some people re: politics. They only hear the arguing, and both sides sound equally angry & loud to them. So they withdraw altogether. But they’ve missed the underlying point that, in some cases, there’s a side that’s simply more right than the other.