Dissent is good.
I am reminded of the story of the girl who fell in love with a revolutionary. She stayed by his side and helped in the fight for justice and liberation from a brutal dictatorship that controlled their country with an iron fist. They fought together for many hard years, and when they had won the battle, the revolutionary was elected as the the president of the country. Made hard by his years of fighting and living at the edge of death, once he took control, he set out to silence those who supported the old dictatorship. There were threats to the new government and the plans the revolutionary had. He became intolerant of those who opposed those plans and saw them as standing in the way of progress. Soon there were many who stood against the new regime of the revolutionary and acted to end that regime. Many would be jailed or executed in an effort to preserve the new regime. The new regime became not very much different than the old regime and soon there was a new revolutionary with a new girl at his side.
True democracy requires that its leaders embrace dissent.
Once you dismiss other opinions as misinformed or irrelevant, you become a dictator. When your word is law and all other views are insignificant or wrong, you no longer support freedom and democracy. You only support the righteousness of your own vision and your own beliefs. You have become the tyrant.
It doesn't matter if you are the leader of the world's last remaining superpower, or if you are a journalist, writer or average joe on the street. Once you have stopped listening to or caring about the opinions of others, you have stopped believing in democracy. You have developed tunnel vision and will never see the forest. You will only see your own trees. Don't be shortsighted. Listen. This is a time when we all need to listen. Allow there to be room in your mind for other opinions and other information to influence your views on events that are unfolding. This is a critical time in the evolution of the modern world. No one should remain silent, but not everyone needs to yell. Embrace your brothers and sisters. We are all human beings and we all have the same rights to our opinions and beliefs and we have no right to impose them on others. Unless, of course, you don't believe in democracy.
"Democracy: Social and political equality and respect for the individual within the community."
--American Heritage Dictionary
Chaos is coming.