The Good Side of Any Polemic

In a weird day in Twitter yesterday, people was discussing something about gay Oreos. Being too late to understand what the fuck people was talking about, I just commented how all that talk made me want to eat some cookies and thinking about Poison from Final Fight. If you are not aware, Poison is a character that gender and sexuality is kinda nebulous, with various statements made by Capcom that vary from her always being a woman to her being a transgender.

Surprising, people in my feed and I started to discuss if she is or not transgender, then we started to discuss  transgenders must be addressed(with respect, we all agreed) and how transgenders and gays should be represented in games. It was all very civilized, funny and respectful of everyone involved. It is a polemic theme and we discussed it as reasonable people in disposition to hear each other points.

This leading to transgender discussion. Internet.

This being the Internet and all, it is in fact surprising to have those kind of good discussion over polemic themes without derailing to name calling and stupidity. This is the reason many people hate those polemics and shy away of discussing it. The difficulty to have intelligent and meaningful talks because there is so many people who enter in those talks with no clue about the topic, no intelligent insight to input or just to be an utter asshole all the way because this person have nothing better to do.

But I think polemics are always good (yes, I am aware there is fabricated polemics, but I will get on that), because it allow to people to express their opinions on problematic themes. If everyone tries to avoid polemic topics, humanity would always live in a status quo and not progress as a society. Remember that, for example, interracial marriage was forbidden. If people decided to not discuss this because they feared creating a polemic, people of different races would still be forbidden to marry.

I am not saying that you should just jump in any polemic. First, you must analyze it, see if it is a real polemic who affects your life in any way. Many people make polemics out of themes who don't are polemic for attention. To avoid it, you need to be fully aware of the issue at hand and if there really is two sides in the discussion or just one side with someone trying to make it look there is two sides.

'Look, I am saying that there is people who think that being healthy is a problem! It is a polemic theme!'

A polemic could be a great way to listen and learn why there is two sides of the discussion. It should be not a competition where one side wants to win over the other. Participating in those polemics, in those discussions, may be a great way to improve one self by getting to know better both sides of the discussion and trying to understand why each side have a different opinion.

Ignoring a polemic will not make it go away. Saying that you just want to be left alone will not make a problem solve itself up. A real polemic, one who have real effects in people's lives demand everyone affected to think about it carefully. of course, I understand that it may be a long discussion, and many times we are dealing with two sides who don't want to listen to each other.

But if you left others dealing with it, you may be caught surprised in discovering that they reached an agreement you may not like about. Making yourself heard is important. So, do not shy away of a polemic because you hate them. Listen to every side of it, make your own opinion and make it be known. That way, all polemics can be solved, in a satisfactory way for everyone.