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In the Sunday Mail (Adelaide’s Sunday newspaper)

By Melissa Leong

“I wonder if we’re losing our capability for rational discussion”

There’s no question that the world is in the toilet right now. And I mean right at the bottom of the bowl, you know? Sure, as long as there have been people on the planet, we’ve had or issues. But at present it certainly feels as though things have hit a fever pitch that only dogs and bats should be able to hear.

As such, I don’t think anyone can be blamed for being a little (or a lot) up in arms, From the atrocities of war and political injustice to social inequality; tragedy and environmental disaster, there’s a lot to be angry, sad and confused about, that’s for sure.

I don’t know about you, but every day feels a bit like a powder keg waiting to blow at any given moment. As our patience wears thin on the issues we care about, I’m noticing that a new kind of worrying trend is rising in tandem. For the sake of our conversation, I’m going to call it “comparative injustice hostility”.

It’s where, when there’s a new article or social media post, people feel the need to pile on with “Yes, but why aren’t you talking about this other issue?”- as if the one problem wasn’t bad enough.

The subtext certainly seems to feel like there’s a (heavily subjective) sliding scale of issues, and when your concerns don’t align with someone else’s, there’s a very vocal group of someone elses who are quick to tell you just how wrong you are. And their “feedback” isn’t gentle. In fact it’s often downright vitriolic.

If you think about it, that’s a bit silly isn’t it? In this crazy world we live in, there’s always more than one relevant issue going on at any given time, and talking about any one of them doesn’t in any way negate the relevance of the others.

The way I see it, in an increasingly darkening world, further division between us doesn’t help anyone. So why are we fighting over which issue is more urgent or more deserving of our attention? It stands to reason that if there are many issues that need support, then shouldn’t we want to support the people who are supporting the issues that we aren’t or can’t?

I’m not sure if clickbait headlines that speak in absolute terms help matters much, but I wonder if we’re losing our capacity for balanced, rational and nuanced discussions.

As a result, I think we’re all poorer for it. We have to remember, however, that an effective discussion, news article, idea or concern is most easily understood when it is succinct. It can’t possibly satisfy every perspective or acknowledge every other concern that ever existed.

Maybe, right now, when tolerance is at an all-time low, we need to dig a little deeper and find a way to respect that diversity occurs in all things, including the very worthy issues we should be concerned about.  Perhaps in respecting that what matters to each of us is a different mixed bag of chaos, we might find a way to realise that we all want the same thing: for the world to be a better place.

Maybe that stars with us all being a little kinder, no matter what we care about.