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by brokenkebab
1874 days ago
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I agree that self-restraint in expressing opinions can prevent unnecessary stirring of emotions, but your comment's tone contradicts to this noble idea: it stirs emotions by using meaninglessly overloaded words like "poisonous noise", and vague warnings ("creates far more problems than it solves") which being contextually undefined just sounds patronizing. |
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1. While aggressive, they do have meaning, and aren't meant only for their tone. E.g. "poisonous" is meant to confer that the attitude spreads, and harms discussion. "Noise" is meant in the sense of "signal vs noise". In "creates more problems than it solves", the problems we're trying to solve are the very subject of the comments, whatever they may be in each case, and the problems created are the fallout in discussion. I should have elaborated.
2. The tone they impart was chosen to be commensurate with the behavior they are criticizing and its practical consequences. If I were to be more polite, I could have used a tone like, "I think your choice of words distracts the conversation," but I don't think that communicates my opinion as clearly. Yes, there is a fine line between being honest and being insulting, and I am unhappy if it came across as patronizing, but sometimes it's hard to find that line.
I accept that it's a possibility that my words were uncalled-for (based only on your comment), but they also weren't just expressions of annoyance that I was reaching for arbitrarily. I feel like they aren't comparable to the tone of the post I was criticizing, neither in their severity nor in their meaning.