The Green Study has been a personal essay blog for the last ten years and the commenting community here is largely made up of smart, thoughtful, respectful, and considerate humans.
Despite that, polarization of politics has affected many of us right down to the bone. No matter what side you’re on, heels are dug in, and many of us are not particularly good at engaging on controversial topics, myself included, without reacting with defensive anger.
Be that as it may, I still consider this my turf and as such, will curate it to the best of my ability. My guiding principles for the comment section are civility, mindfulness, authenticity, and growth.
Civility: No personal attacks, name calling or needless escalation. The use of stereotypes or labels and cutesy insult names are not appreciated.
Mindfulness: Not everyone shares your life experiences or perspectives. Don’t assume.
Authenticity: Save the talking points for the big dogs. I tune out people who recite memes, fake news, inaccurate science, or try to hawk their own wares. Be you and stick with your own perspective.
Growth: Conversations get better when people expand on ideas or give a unique perspective.
On that note, I have not always followed these principles myself when writing posts and am trying to be more mindful about that. I still like salty language in context and believe that humor which punches upward has its place.
If I do not have the time, energy or wherewithal to curate comments on a post effectively, particularly if it’s controversial, comments will be turned off.
Please feel free to send me a message via my contact page and I’ll answer emails as time permits.
Thank you.
The Green Study 