I’m interested that this call to ‘be kind’ has been turned into a way to stop people expressing a differing view. I think the suggestion started as a sort of, consider the context or perspective of other people, not ‘if I don’t think this is kind I will make you stop speaking’

Certain groups of people are really invested in controlling conversations, for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s a lack of confidence in their arguments, legitimately or not. Sometimes it’s about not wanting to examine their own views too closely.

Some people have learned that differing views leads to bad consequences (ridicule, violence). All understandable contexts & hopefully I’m being ‘kind’ in the way I’m considering them. But sometimes people just aren’t interested in listening or reevaluating their own perspectives.

I think it’s difficult when you are met with someone closing down a conversation not to feel that it comes from a lack of respect for your perspective, intelligence, opinions. It doesn’t really make it any easier to know it probably isn’t about you. Especially online.