Currently Reading: I'm up to Ch 3 of Nicole Morgan's Sweet Salvation and loving it!
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” ― Voltaire
"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all."- Thumper, Bambi
Common courtesy used to mean respecting others opinions. If you disagreed, by all means, state your own opinions and have a friendly debate, or at least try to. There will always be those who cannot tolerate a difference of opinion, and they usually lead unhappy lives.
With the availability of the internet, opinions flow on social media. Your friends may not share the same opinions of our current government, religious views, or lifestyles. But where is it written that if we don't agree, the liberal view must prevail?
In the past two years, I've friended people with rock-solid beliefs in Christ; same-sex marriage; pro-Obama; anti-Obama; pro-guns; anti-guns; and welfare reform. Do I agree with everyone? Of course not! Do I slam those I don't agree with? No. But dare I post my own view anymore? It depends.
Two years ago, one of my friends posted a picture advocating tighter immigration laws. They seemed pretty good to me, so I shared it. To my utter surprise, one acquaintance blasted me for it and the discussion blew up. I even had one person 'un-friend' me until tempers calmed down. I wasn't the one complaining; I was trying to smooth things over by remaining silent. And yes, the comments hurt, so eventually I took it down.
In 2007, when I began this blog, I posted some Adam Sandler lyrics. It happened to be a day where I posted, then didn't get online again for several hours. But when I did, I found several angry emails urging me to take my 'slanderous' 'anti-Semetic' post down. Being a newbie, I caved at the time, and posted an apology. But later stewed and fumed over it, especially since a) the song played on public radio and b) the person who was the angriest posted some questionable short stories about Santa, the elves, Mrs. Claus, and the reindeer. I was offended, but exercised my right not to read any further than the 1st paragraph. And later, via emails with others, agreed I was too hasty to take down my post. I didn't understand how blogs portraying blatant sexual content were okay, but an innocent song wasn't.
More recently, I've accidentally managed to anger some friends over the issues of same-sex marriage and gun control. Apparently, my liberal friends out-number my conservative ones, so in order to 'balance' my feed, I shared two quiet posts. The same-sex issue sparked a heated debate and again, one of my friends chose to 'un-friend' me.
Again I ask, where is it written if I don't agree with you, then you have the right to shove your views down my throat? I do not have to defend my views; it's my right to have them. If they're wrong, I'll change my mind farther down the road, and I'll admit I was wrong. If you don't like anything I happen to post, do what I do and skip over it. There's no law that says you HAVE to read my posts. Just use the little 'scroll' feature on your mouse pad and move on.
It's not my intention to alienate people. If we all agreed on everything, the world would be a dull place. Remember the Stepford series? Utopia does not exist. We were given the right of free speech for a reason. Just don't abuse it? Let's agree to disagree on some subjects, shake hands, and go on with our lives.
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” ― Voltaire
Remember this: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."-Golden Rule
Plus, Karma can be a bitch.
8 comments:
True that, Molly. We are becoming a society with a thousand ways to communicate refusing to listen to one another. Bravo for advocating tolerance.
Great post! I'm fond of "the right to shake your fist ends at the other person's nose."
I had a facebook friend whose posts I found thought-provoking and interesting. However, every time I added my thoughts on the subject, his friends were both vicious and vulgar. Eventually, I unfriended him. It made me sad that discourse went only one way...
Molly, I always know when I'm blogging about something controversial, so at the end of the blog I say feel free to express your opinion, but be nice to others with a different one.
I leave comments on Yahoo news articles once in awhile, and they do get vicious there. lol I consider myself conservative, but I'm a Democrat. It's hard for me to understand why Republicans and the Tea Party are the only ones considered conservative. It doesn't really work that way.
I'm sorry Molly that some people are being harsh. I also use my scroll feature to not read posts that I don't agree with... it is sad that we can't have an honest discourse about life and choices. I don't watch the Sunday morning news shows like Meet the Press because of all the yelling. They don't listen to each other.
@Bikecop: Sad, isn't it? People think sitting alone at their computer affords them the right to forget their manners.
@Rose: Love it!
@Anny: I had the same issue last month:)
@Sandy: LOL...I now say if you want to find out who's reading your posts, throw in a bit of controversy. Comments will appear from everywhere:)
@Melissa: I live with Mr. Opinionated Asshat, so I've learned to tune out his ranting. But to see it in black and white under my own post....ouch.
Thanks for stopping by, everyone!
I suppose it's a case of "if you can't take the heat..." but it's still hard to take.
I rarely state my views because of all the realy mean people in this world waiting to stomp on someone who has different ways of looking at the world than they do. If all the people in the world were kind to others. think what a beautiful world it would be. But it will never be that way, people being what they are. But I do believe the USA is in trouble right now and that it will get worse.Makes it hard for me to keep writing. Jane Toombs
Post a Comment