Imagine you're sitting at a family dinner, or say during a gathering like the Ied or Christmas where all members of the clan and the different generations get together. Imagine everybody engaging in a conversation, and it being a family get together most would want to have their views expressed and heard. At some point the conversation turns into a discussion, the discussion escalates into an argument and by the end of it the whole thing breaks down into a shouting match. Then perhaps some of the more ill-tempered ones would raise their voice, while others come up with theories and data to prove their point. The elder members of the family would perhaps be horrified at some of the ideas being bounced around, while the teenagers would claim sarcastically that everyone else is an idiot and don't know what they're talking about.

And what sort of topic would likely cause such family dispute and divergence of views? What else other than politics, religion and gender issues - you know, stuff about what men or women should or shouldn't do or how nice girls should behave. In other words, hot topics that most people have strong opinions about and one of the reasons why the New Order government under Soeharto strongly discouraged from being openly discussed for fear of causing social conflicts.

Hence, it is often said, if you want to have polite discussions at the dinner table, stay away from potentially flaming issues, namely politics and religion. Unless you're in a seminar or symposium with relevant experts and credible speakers plus a moderator to keep the discussion going in a civilised fashion.

Also if you have young people around and don't want to rub them the wrong way, stay away from disparaging comments about their appearance, behaviour and the company they keep, unless they think you're old fashioned, ignorant and don't have a clue about what's cool and trendy in the world.

But then, that's what being a family is all about: discussions, arguments and the sharing of different points of views, however contentious. In a family however, argument is more or less self-contained. Those with an advantage in experience, a stronger vocal cord or the gift of the gab are usually more adept at getting their tuppence in and coercing others into their point of view.

Imagine, however, engaging in a similar argument with potentially millions of family members, all with the ability to speak whatever they want, at the same time and from just about every age group capable of texting on their mobiles. Daunting, isn't it?

At least that's what public speaker par excellence Mario Teguh found out after he tweeted on Twitter his views on fun-loving women, that is women who smoke, drink and go out clubbing, are not good wife material. Which, in terms of opinions, are nothing revolutionary or surprising coming out of a middle aged man whose profession is to be better and more knowledgeable about life than his audience.

As a Motivator and Inspirator, Mario is used to dishing out pithy comments to ardent followers who hang on to his words in awe for lessons to guide them in their lives. His way is the Golden Way. When he speaks on the stage, drum rolls, the spotlight falls on him, the audience fall silent.

When he entered Twitterland, and managed to accumulate 23 thousand followers, however, he forgot he was not speaking on the podium where there was no conversation, let alone discussion -only a monologue from his direction.

The world of Twitter however, is like a family dinner gathering magnified a million times depending on how many followers you have and how re-tweetable your opinions are. And like being amongst the family, the spontaneity and instant connectivity with Twitter means there are no manners, niceties and other self-restrain one normally reserves for polite social gatherings.

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