Greetings 👋 I really do care! Expressing myself genuinely aswell as putting in the effort to understand where the other person is coming from: that builds bridges, connects and leads to worthwhile discussions. Bad faith discussions do not, I think.

I heard a quote once, paraphrasing, that tries to convey:

Good etiquette means is trying to understand the other as well as one can. That stuck with me eversince. I try to understand where the other party is coming from as well as I can. Genuinely.

My experience with that is that you build bridges. My experience without that is each side is expressing opinions, that fall flat on each other’s ears more often.

Don’t be mistaken though! It does not mean to be a pushover, nor people pleaser. It means to gracefully, exercise a conscious effort, to understand - and I noticed my arguments could be way stronger even, as they are more precise. And more accepted by others.

Now you are talking about a specific point, dismissing a debate. Because someone else argues in bad faith. Am I correct in the assumption that people told you they don’t want to discuss any further as they feel you’re coming out of a position of bad faith?

If I suspect or feel the other person is arguing in bad faith, so not being interested in finding a genuine communication channel, then it’s just that: voicing an opinion, discussing only to be able to repeat that opinion. monologue disguised as dialog. Not much value.

And it’s okay to express an opinion, it’s even sometimes okay to not wanting to discuss it - but others can sense that too and don’t want their time wasted.

So let’s discuss genuinely ☀️