From posting angry and hateful comments online over something we know nothing about to ending a relationship over an argument that began because of something small, it is a lot easier to fill our hearts with hate than with understanding.
If you look at society, there is a lot more hate than kindness in the world; the internet trolls are posting mean comments, families and friends fight over politics, and people with different opinions can’t get along. We as a society have forgotten how to have conversations, how to see another’s perspective.
I understand that sometimes when someone is attacking your work or your beliefs, the first instinct is to “fight fire with fire,” but that doesn’t actually solve anything. When people criticize The Stute, something that I and my staff have spent so much time on and put so much work into, I am ready to fight that person. And it’s not because I can’t take the critique, it is because most of the time the critique is coming from a hostile place. Most people don’t usually reach out to us saying, “Hey, I think you could have done this better,” or, “I don’t think it was appropriate to publish this article for this reason.” Instead, a lot of the time, we hear from the grapevine that someone is upset with The Stute and has been making their grievances known to everyone but us.
I’m not naive and I understand that not all our articles make everyone happy, but that is not our job. As student reporters, we are simply trying to do our best to record the history of Stevens, and we try our best to remain impartial. Yes, I know that sometimes this isn’t always the case, so then next week we go back to the drawing board and say, “How can we improve ourselves this week and not make the same mistakes?”
I’m always amused by the reaction that we get when people come to our layout nights on Thursdays. Even people who don’t have a lot of respect for our organization begin to show respect when they see the amount of work that goes into the paper every week. One visitor joked, “I thought elves put the paper together.”
So, it would be nice if we could have productive conversations with people who have criticism or constructive feedback for us, if people would bring their concerns directly to us, and if people would understand the work that all members of The Stute put in on a weekly basis.
I am also aware that when people react in a hostile way, a lot is going on in their head. Sometimes, things [and in this case, articles] can have unforeseen consequences. Most of the time, when we publish things, we do not know how someone may react to it or how it will impact others. All of the articles we publish come out after heavy deliberation and are of the best quality that we are able to produce. That doesn’t mean we are always perfect. We write for the Stevens community, so no matter what our position is, as a community and as a society we should be discussing issues together. Even though it it takes a lot more hard work and understanding to see someone else’s perspective and spread messages of love instead of hate, the results will be more fruitful for everyone in the end.
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