Thinking Before Speaking (Editorial)

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We have one solution to lessening the polarization of this country: Keep quiet.

We realize that there’s some irony in advising this course of action on the opinion page — in which, yes, opinions are expressed — but this is no April Fool’s joke. Hear us out.

We all have stupid, cruel, ridiculous or flat-out wrong thoughts, probably hundreds of them throughout the day. But before the internet and social media, we mostly kept those thoughts to ourselves.

Oh, we might have expressed them to our significant other over morning coffee or in the office breakroom, but our significant other and work colleagues knew us and could make allowances — or not, depending on the stupidity or cruelty of the thought — understanding that maybe we were going through a bad patch or that, generally, we were a pretty good sort and our stupid thoughts did not reflect the totality of our character.

And if we were intent on sharing our stupid thoughts, we had to make a real effort, such as writing a letter to the editor of the daily newspaper, and taking that effort, putting pen to paper, gave us time to reflect on whether this thought was really something the world needed to know. In addition, the editor could choose not to publish it.

Now, however, the internet and social media encourage us to weigh in on every news event and controversy right as it happens and share our views right then with the entire world, amplifying our stupid thoughts and making social media what it is: a perpetual outrage machine.

Discretion and self-control — which used to be virtues! — could stem the rising tide of bile. Just a thought.