Recently a conservative facebook friend posted a link to her facebook page entitled: "The science is settled: US liberals really are the dumbest creatures on the planet".
And I have to admit, it kind of, well, smarted. As I tried to think why, I decided it was for two reasons.
1 - I had more respect for her than to post such a thing. It was more insulting to her than it was to liberals, and I didn't like thinking that way about her. I felt my respect diminish and it made me feel bad to feel that way. I really felt kind of down after I saw it and was too embarrassed for her to even reply to her post.
2 - More importantly, it provided me a look at how I post things on Facebook, making me wonder if I've ever stooped to such levels, and without remembering anything specific, I have to conclude that I probably have.
I think in general, the links I post to FB are meant to educate moderates to things they don't usually have access to through the conservative mainstream media, who generally post what the corporate world wants them to know. Also impacting the media? How incredibly inept Dems are at getting out a unified or even coherent, well-articulated message.
So, to my handful of loyal readers, of which the friend I referred to above is one, if I post anything as divisive or mean-spirited as that, please refer me back to this post and ask me as politely as possible, but not as impolitely as I deserve, to take it down, and to apologize.
Jamie, you know me in a weird kind of online way, and I like to think we like each other despite our vast political differences. So take a minute and think what it's like for me to be the target of a constant barrage of hateful liberal propaganda. I am daily told that I'm an enemy of the poor and middle class, that I'm greedy, that I'm racist, that I am trying to disenfranchise disabled voters, that I'm a homophobe, that I don't care about the environment. I could go on! This on top of years of you guys calling the president of the United States a village idiot, murderer, war criminal, etc. You have to understand the seriously degrading effect of that cumulative, constant, insulting shitstorm on ***MY*** normally high tolerance and patience!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Friend. This was extremely well stated. I certainly feel that many and maybe most conservatives fit the characterizations you described above, and if you don't, then take pride in who you are and what you believe. Maybe we can both try to dial it back so as to not make things worse still.
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