This Online Discussion Did Not Go Well. I’m Calling On You To Fix It
So this user Fogwoggler recently got banned from the website RateYourMusic following this disaster of a thread right here (update: it appears that he’s gotten unbanned). I think the discussion could have gone better if both Fogwoggler and the other users explained their positions better without using all those trigger words and insults like “racist, “insect,” etc. Do you think you could make this a reality?
Here’s the problem. Everybody should have focused on the issue they were discussing — whether some people refuse to say the n-word out of fear of being assaulted, and whether this is a problem. Fogwoggler was in the affirmative but said that they wanted to leave their explanations to the DMs because it’s a music site, not a site for race talk. The other members disagreed but when they were doing this, they didn’t really take into consideration Fogwoggler’s perspective and whether Fogwoggler would understand their message correctly. Then before anybody had a chance to resolve the topic, a.k.a when it was soon to do so, another user called them racist without saying why. As you can see, neither Fogwoggler nor RateYourMusic really got to explain their side of the story before triggering each other.
Fogwoggler may be banned on RateYourMusic but they are still on Letterboxd, so here’s my idea. If you have an account there and stand on the side of the other members in the RateYourMusic thread, why not apologize for how the previous discussion went and start the discussion anew, but instead allow for opportunities for you and them to hear each other out? No buzzwords designed to get people upset this time!
This is important because then Fogwoggler can talk about an issue that matters to them without getting their views shut down and feeling misunderstood. My goal on Medium is to use Internet discussion as a tool that can help people grow and enrich their knowledge. Maybe someone can give Fogwoggler an equal opportunity to benefit from these sort of conversations.
