On feeling misunderstood: Assumptions in online communities
Lately I’ve been struggling with feeling misunderstood in the social media space. This is a sentiment I’ve written about before (particularly in this blog, this article, and this Instagram post) but every so often the chance of someone completely twisting my words makes me feel paralyzed all over again.
That fear is especially salient when I feel like I’ve recognized a lot of nuance on a topic and people still make sweeping generalizations or latch onto just one part of what I said.
Like, it’s one thing if we present a sort of vague or very concise message and someone fills in the blanks. That’s a natural inclination! We all come to the table with our own past experiences and connotations. But when authors specifically call out certain things, verbatim, and folks still somehow assume we’re making a completely different (and often extreme) point?
It’s disheartening.
Some examples of this:
Sometimes I need to get everything on paper so I don’t feel like I’m the off-base one. Here are a few e…
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