To Speak or Not to Speak

What American writer Sophia Dembling says here is correct, but in many cases there are also risks to speaking up.

As long as we have this level of polarization in American politics, I’m reluctant to start (or join) a conversation that will either be tantamount to preaching to the choir, or to become the galactic waste of time that is arguing with Trump supporters and their familiarity with the content coming from Fox News.

Having said that, I had an interesting experience at a party a few months ago, where I must have been silent for a while early in the evening.  A guy I had never met approached me later and said, “Until you started talking, I thought you were unintelligent.”  It seems true that people read whatever they will into others’ silence.