Case in Point

 re my latest posting: https://amen-art.blogspot.com/2022/01/tone-shift.html 

Monocle Mag writes when setting up Lillehammer, Norway as a safe haven for publishing and communication generally: 

If you had all the knowledge in the world at your fingertips and could say whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, what would you do? Historically, this has been an unthinkable scenario. Now? Well, this may be the world we live in.

 My blog. We all have the same apps on our phones, I mean who am I to act like I refresh more than you? 

But to sharpen the point, beautifully:

...not only fear of the other, but fear of upsetting people. even digital natives seem to have a hard time navigating what is strong, spirited debate and what is just plain abuse. The safest option in many cases is to retreat to a corner of the internet filled with cat memes and general silliness, leaving the shouting matches to the shouters.

Okay but I don't want cat memes. I mean I'm not that tired, I'm not going to feign ignorance and I don't want to give up. But I do resonate strongly with this idea that is is harder and harder to speak from a personal place of authority without feeling like you're shouting down at someone or something. I don't feel like anything has been taken away from me as the world opens up with disparate opinions, think pieces and emerging scholars and experts. Dude, I'm one of many and it's so exciting! Not an expert, not a scholar, but a speaker! And it's dope dude!

But all that being said, I gotta watch my tone like any reliable Toastmaster. I gotta take a beat and realize when I'm parroting Don Lemon and when I'm filling in a blank. I hope to fill in where I hear others drop off. But not to say others clock out prematurely

...just to say, "Hey brother, I heard ya, and if I may..."