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1. Embed this notice
   Shaula Evans (shaulaevans@zirk.us)'s status on Wednesday, 24-May-2023 13:39:52 JST Shaula Evans

   in reply to

   Not all opinions move the conversation forward or reflect well on the speaker, particularly uninformed opinions.

   Disagreement, contradiction and derailing are the opposite of friendly conversation & good-faith engagement.

   Before you rush to disagree, you might consider the identity of the speaker, the original context of the quote, the context of the conversation it's quoted in, the intentions behind both.

   It's okay to pause and think.

   It's okay to have a thought and not share it.

   • Embed this notice
     Shaula Evans (shaulaevans@zirk.us)'s status on Wednesday, 24-May-2023 13:39:53 JST Shaula Evans

     When I post quotations from world-famous artists, inevitably someone, almost always a cis het white man, will respond to the quote to tell me why it's "wrong".

     Because they know better than Arendt, Baldwin, LeGuin, Havel, Lourde, Angelou, et al.

     Because yelling at me somehow conveys their disagreement to dead people who are not on Mastodon.

     Because contradiction is engagement & conversation.

     Because their opinion matters so much.

     I don't even know.

     Men: You have permission not to do this.

     Paul Cantrell repeated this.