No, seriously. When people are opening their minds and trying to learn, don’t slam their minds closed by being a jerk. I know there are some people asking questions in bad faith, if you realize that’s what’s happening block and go, or just don’t interact. You don’t have to answer at all if you don’t want to, nothing says you have to interact to begin with. Just don’t be rude is all?
I remember when I was learning about feminism after escaping my edgy anti sjw phase as a kid. I would ask questions, pretty stupid ones sometimes, but I was being genuine and I would get shot down almost every time. It almost made me want to quit learning. It made me feel like I wasn’t welcomed in a community that was also meant for me as an afab person who identified with my agab at the time, but because I wasn’t as educated and didn’t know how to research I was treated like I was out to hurt people when I was just a dumb kid trying to learn.
The other day in some tiktok comments I saw somebody ask, pretty nicely might I add, if trans people experience something similar to body dysmorphia but with their gender instead. A very easy question to answer, but I saw somebody in the comments calling them ignorant and that they should just look it up on google.. Absolutely not, that’s so rude. Google can be hard to use, especially if you don’t know exactly what you’re meant to be researching. You don’t know what you don’t know, yknow? If you can’t answer the question then don’t, but don’t literally insult people for trying to learn.
I’d also argue that it can be a bit ableist to expect people to know how to research, or assume things are common sense. Some of us have learning disabilities. Fun fact, learning disablities don’t just stop once you leave school, they effect all learning. There are still some concepts that just won’t click in my mind, and it’s lead me to ask some goofy questions in the name of just trying to understand better.
Be patient, be kind, or just don’t answer if you don’t wish to. It’s very easy.
tdlr: Don’t be rude to people asking questions, it closes of their minds and could chase them away from learning. It’s also just rude.
