What the heck...?

[merimask]

I feel like everyone took their crazy pills this weekend.

 

Aside from the weather being perfectly shitty, I'm trying to stay busy & productive & keep making pretty things.  Being an emotional, feeling critter, it's been increasingly difficult to do this weekend because I feel beset by irrationality at every turn.

I can barely watch the news anymore because fully half of what I hear makes no sense to me at all.   Between Rush Limbaugh spewing hate & getting applause for it, Proposition 8 continuing to be the most evil little bit of legislation I can think of that's been passed in this country in a long time, and President Obama being blamed for the mess the economy is in by the very same people who happily supported deregulation & the trickle-down free market economy run by greedy shortsighted thieves...it just makes my head hurt.

LJ remains a quiet refuge for me to share my art & my thoughts, & even here I am blindsided by idiocy.  In a friend's journal, responding to a political entry (where I basically said no more than "yes, this." because politically we are similarly-minded) I got dogpiled by a raging right wing dittohead who's opinions were as infuriating as his inability to figure out how Spellcheck works, exactly.  So I did something I've never done before and banned the SOB.

Unfortunately I can't stop him in my friend's LJ where he continues to rage unchecked, attacking everyone in her journal who responded favorably to her entry (while not exactly attacking her or her entry).  It leads me to wonder what I would do if such a flame war broke out in my own journal.   It's not my business to tell other people how to conduct matters in their journals, but this is a social networking community.  If people start flinging sand, I see no reason why they shouldn't be kicked out of the sandbox.  I think this is why I'm so careful & selective about who I actually have on my f-list.  Everyone here behaves civilly towards each other...everyone is rational.  I know for a fact that there are people on my f-list who have opinions both religious & political that differ from my own, but we have too much mutual respect to pick fights in each other's journals (or with the people who reply there...which seems incredibly rude to me).

I resented the attack so much that I almost de-friended her...not because I was upset with her but because I feel that if her LJ is stalked by close-minded ScaryPerson, I'd rather not make myself available as a punching bag to said idiot.  In the end I didn't de-friend because I hate doing that, & frankly I like her.  However, I dislike drama.  I'm not here for drama.  So after banning Rush Jr. I decided that if I don't comment in her LJ anymore, he can't "get" to me anymore.  Why open myself up to unlooked-for and unsolicited attacks?  It seems foolish on my part to do so.

So, there's a new addendum to my own personal "no drama" policy.  If I get bitchslapped in your journal, that's the last time I'm ever going to comment there.  It seems fair enough to me.  Furthermore, if people who comment in my LJ get attacked by someone on my f-list, that person is off my f-list.  I'm not saying we all have to agree all the time about everything; I'm just saying it's rude and uncalled-for and there are other ways to debate an issue than to start a flame war in someone else's journal. 

 

Anyway, these are of course only my opinions.  Your mileage may vary. 

 

Comments

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I didn't see any of that. Don't want to, either! I've had my bubble firmly in place. It keeps getting poked at, tonight, but I'm reinforcing it stubbornly. I go through life unaware of most of the 'issues' out there. (I thought for most of my life that racism basically went out with the 50s, only to find out well after I was old enough to be moved out of my parent's place that actually, it hadn't. Also, I still don't really understand the different between extreme left and extreme right in politics and...well, it's basically everything.)

Maybe it's irresponsible to not deliberately delve into this stuff and educate myself on the way things actually are. But I flat out refuse to change, at least in one part because if everyone cared as little about these topics as I do, no one would ever fight about *anything*...other than whether bell-bottoms are cool or not or other such minor topics. I don't do much good in the world, but I don't do any harm, either, and it's the only way I can stand being alive.

Anyway, DST was wonderful, wasn't it? Well you said the weather is bad...but it was sunny, here, and in the plus temps, if just barely, so I'm happy with that, at least.

Sorry someone was horrible to you. There's no way you deserved it because you're a sympathetic and reasonable person.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

Seriously, WTF has been going on this weekend? It's been nothing but crazy and wank from all corners of the interwebs. Cabin fever, maybe? I'm just keeping my head down and hoping it all passes quickly. Yikes.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

Wow. Talk about a turbulent weekend. :(

I know what you mean about the news--it got so painful to watch after 2000 that I find it hard to bring myself to follow the news in any form, even though I know as a responsible citizen I should. But sometimes it's so hard, especially when it seems that "discussion" has been largely replaced by flame wars.

I don't want to have to restrict myself to "safe" topics, and so far I have been lucky, I guess, in my on-line communities, because I have relatively rarely had problems with flame wars. I don't agree with everyone on my friends list, and I know that they don't always agree with me--and why should we? We disagree sometimes passionately on subjects near and dear to our hearts, from books to politics. But I treat my friends with respect, and expect to be treated the same, and I expect them to treat each other with respect.

I can't imagine anyone on my friends list attacking anyone on my journal, though now I have this dread that I've now jinxed myself and someone will snap some day and chase you away.... unlikely though that is!

[thegeminifactor.livejournal.com]

Lemme get this out of the way: I'm right there with you, politically. Seriously, Republican Party: Rush is your best guy? Seriously? Moving on.

Here's my take on things; take it for what it's worth. Yes, LJ is a social networking site. However, each person is allowed their own page, their own journal, and they should be able to regulate how others use it as they see fit. It might be a little different if everybody was contributing to the same page, but they're not. They're coming to see what you or their friends have to say, and striking up conversations accordingly. It's your sandbox, you paint the sign that says RULES on it. That's how it goes.

[alexkrycek42.livejournal.com]

Well that was sad to read, but I would fully understand. I take my digs for choosing to post publicly and not friends locking my LJ into Ft. Knox.

No matter what, I think you're great, inspiring, and someone I always like to read what you have to say. I will continue to comment here as long as its okay with you. <3

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I have a million friends, but I read very few of them regularly and some of them I never read at all (I am using "friend" loosely, obviously; the public posts to my LJ are at least partially promotional). If someone's LJ is a problem for me, it drops off my default list. I would like to clean out the dead wood, but who has the time?

I promise I'll never go all batshit crazy on you! :-)

[empath-eia.livejournal.com]

Believe me, if anyone attacked you in my journal they'd be defriended and banned faster than they could sneeze. Not that I have any right-wing dittoheads on my flist in the first place, but just so you know.

[oraien.livejournal.com]

Politically speaking... I'd rather not :P But my own no-drama policy includes drama for other people. If one of the few friends I care to share my journal entries with attacks someone that I have invited to be there for what is apparently NO REASON, then they have a problem with ME.

Sorry though, that this had to happen to you. I know how icky people can make you feel, even when you might never be exposed to them again.

[chibi-kaz.livejournal.com]

I like to think that politics are like cigars and onions -- either everyone in the party does, or everyone does not. It should be the height of impoliteness to start a dust-it-up political fight if not everyone there is in the mood for such.

Now, I frankly sometimes rather enjoy a good revivialist political debate, Parlimentary style, but again, only if all parties are into it. And I certainly like to be able to have a beer with my opponent afterwards.

It sounds to me like this "Rush Junior" fellow was a troll, period, whether or not he had a legitimate ideological beef with the subject. Trolls are the kid that likes to stomp into the sandbox, kick around the sand, force all the nicer kids to leave, and then insist on his superiority for controlling said sandbox. (They're usually the doofus who's older than the other kids, because he got held back in school... and they're almost always "he"s also.)

Frankly, I just go find another sandbox.

[ren-tigger.livejournal.com]

Well, I was born and bred republican, but I was young and foolish then. I am now firmly entrenched in the middle of the road, and I am open to ideas from both sides, and avidly avoid the raving lunatics from both sides. (But I love to chat and I have some kind of "Rave at me" sign on my back.)

As far as I am concerned, Bum Rush Limbaugh is a truly defined Hatriot, and one of the signs that the end is near. However, everyone is enititled to an opinion, as well as everyone is required to show respect whether it be virtual or real word. It really sounds like the individual that caused you to start this post firmly earns the credential of a poo flinging monkey.

When it comes to drama tho, I agree with you and created a pin and plaque a few years ago (one of the most popular items I have at faire.)

http://tigger.to/ndz.jpg

Feel free to take it, use it the way it is, adapt it, or change it any way you want to use to get the point across when it comes to drama. Be warned tho, sometimes the pin causes people to think you h ave extra padding on the shoulder and brings on the tears.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

[paynesgrey.livejournal.com]

Ugh sorry to deal with that. I know how hard it is to avoid political wank. I tried my best too in my journal with LJ-cuts and filters, and even that doesn't work. *hugs*

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

Wow...I'm glad I'm lazy and haven't been checking my flist because this kind of bullshit would turn me straight off of LJ. I got enough stress from home, I don't needed useless arguing here. If something like that happened in my journal, I'd just close down the article and lock the posts. Hell, if I was feeling reaaaaaaaal vindictive, I'd go under and edit all the posts to something really stupid.

[fantasyforever.livejournal.com]

...Right now, I'm actually glad we can't afford cable and the channels come in fuzzy. I don't watch TV. So I miss out on all this political drama O_o

I just wish the stupid people would stop breeding! Then they would slowly die out as a species >.> (And that is directed to stupid people on all sides, just to be clear)

At least we had pretty weather in Virginia :D;; And I agree- having a bitchfest in someone's journal is just rude. Polite debate or discussion sure, but if you want to bitch at people, do it in your own journal.

[tricia612.livejournal.com]

It's your sandbox and you make the rules. If someone can't play nice, they're kicked out. End of story. Life's too short to put up with crap like that.

I will be on iron pills for a while. Taking them every other day right now (slow release ones) but have added fiber pills on the days I take them. Also adding dissolving fiber in my smoothies. HATE the side effects of iron but the fiber really seems to help. Good luck.