Why I Am Scared To Write What I Think

The usual calm and informative atmosphere of the website I write for called Inter:Mission Bristol was recently unhinged by a controversial article that split opinion. My first reaction was that it was fantastic that people are putting these contentious opinions out there for the world to read and I was hoping that interesting comments would gradually materialise to further my knowledge on the topic. To be fair, concerned parties wrote their thoughts eloquently below to argue the other side of the coin, but I was taken aback by the other comments such as, ‘terrible article’ and ‘[Is Inter:Mission] just looking for page views’. 

This isn’t the first time that I’ve come across hostility where I believe hostility is undue. As the editor of the theatre section, I regularly find people who want to review shows but are simply too scared to review anything less than perfect in fear of the onslaught of criticism from readers, especially within the student circle. I therefore beg to ask the question, is the access to instant responses that the internet gives us making us think less and type quicker? 

I have always been one for formalities, but I believe that, ‘terrible article’ shows a lack of respect for the writer and doesn’t offer much information either. I can’t help but think that when people had to write letters to newspapers in order to comment on a controversial piece, the slower method of structuring the correspondence and physically putting something in the post may have allowed for a deeper thought process, and presumably less irrational half sentences of disapproval.

I have always had respect for writers who write what they think and I thoroughly enjoy reading an article when I totally disagree with it. The writer took their time, structured their points and hopefully did some research, shouldn’t the commenters do that too?

We shouldn't make writers feel like this