It’s easy to sit behind a screen and bash someone you don’t agree with. In the age of the internet, it seems that many use screens as a shield to type inappropriate, hurtful or counterproductive messages in response to people with differing views or perspectives than their own.

It is hard to fathom what justification such people, often referred to as trolls, might have that makes them feel OK saying such horrible things. But nonetheless, these trolls are people and the ISD Editorial Board has a respectful request for them: Stop.

Disagreement is perfectly normal. A good debate is perfectly healthy. Differing perspectives are inevitable.

The problem is not disagreement, but rather reaction to disagreement. Reaction that is often uncalled for.

Rhetoric used to put down others, to disempower them or to shut down any chance at effective dialogue is harmful. Further, it limits our understanding of others and therefore our understanding of how we can improve our society.

Worst of all, some people create fake accounts to say horrible things. Anonymity is rarely ever a driver of effective conversation. Beyond this, it would appear that anonymity is often used so that people don’t have to be held accountable for their words.

Effective sharing of opinion means presenting logical reasoning to support a particular perspective — it doesn’t mean putting down others. As opinion writers for the media, we will be the first to say that sharing opinions without putting down people who hold other opinions is challenging, and we’ve certainly fallen short as well. But this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continuously try to be catalysts for respectful public discourse.

This is by no means an argument against free speech, but rather an argument to use free speech to add value to our society instead of detracting from it. Work to share your opinions while also understanding the opinions of others. While you may have the legal right to say certain hateful things, you do not have the moral right to do so.

Speak, but also listen. Hold true to your values, but be willing to understand why they might differ from someone else’s. This means that, though you may seriously disagree with someone, you should still try to understand where they are coming from.

To show you all that we truly believe this, we are asking to have an effective conversation with those who regularly disagree with our views. In particular, Steve Gregg is a notorious commenter on our editorials with differing perspectives — please see this editorial as an invitation to have an effective conversation with us. The newsroom phone number is 515-294-2003 or you can reach the ISD Editorial Board through the Daily’s editor-in-chief by email at [email protected].