One of my favorite things is to see the implications in the things people say. Maybe I look for these things more than others, but I see a certain insight into people by what they leave unsaid with the way they say things. For instance, today my cousin shared a picture on Facebook. It read, "Share if God is #1." Obviously, whoever made it is looking for agreement, but the implication if you don't share it is that God is not #1 to you. Along with that implication is that you aren't a dedicated believer, or that your faith in God is less than it should be.
I have been a netizen for a long time, so I have played my share in the games that poke fun at the mistakes we make when typing a message in a chat room, on a forum, or social media. Words have meanings and saying things carries an intent. Sometimes the meaning of an individual word does not match the intent of the message being shared. Some people are quick to jump on those mistakes as being the actual itent, but are we really getting at the business of communicating with each other? So, this is what I find: I may understand the implications in what others say, but they may not recognize them at all.
Which means, there may be things I say that I do not understand the implications of. Paul said something on the gift of tongues that seems particularly cogent in this case, "If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a [foreigner], and the one who speaks will be a [foreigner] to me" (1 Corinthians 14:11, NASB).
Communication is a process of sending and receiving messages, and so often we are too involved in jumping to conclusions instead of verifying that the message we received is the one intended. I can see no other explanation for the partisanship in politics (worldwide, even) and the snarky eruptions that happen in online settings.
