Compassion Over Cancellation: Seeing the Humanity Across the Aisle
Educators must show society what respectful and robust disagreement can look like.
We’ve seen so much division in the last two years.
Democrat versus Republican. Liberal versus conservative. East versus west. Urban versus rural. Rich versus poor.
And if that wasn’t enough, the pandemic has introduced bigger wedges than ever.
Relatives have severed relationships. Friendships have been finished. Neighbours have stopped talking to each other. Creators have been utterly cancelled in a flourish of clicks and keystrokes.
When adults behave badly online
On the weekend I observed another local protest. And by observed I mean I followed it on social media platforms.
Protestors and counter-protestors faced off. Emotions were clearly running high and there was no shortage of screaming euphemisms on either side of the issue on the ground and online. But one moment from Twitter really got my attention.
Someone there gleefully infiltrated (his word) a group of protestors. He began snapping pictures of participants and tweeted each photo with snide, belittling remarks for each unsuspecting subject.
