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

[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.

[fantasyforever.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way- my parents were flatly Republican (I don't think either of them have voted for a Democrat in all their lives) and raised us the same in a town of largely Republicans. But college has a way of taking off the blinders and opening minds, and it did that for me :P

Now I call myself an Independent- I'll accept ideas from all parties, then vote according to which I feel is best. Which irritates my parents to no end- I just tell them that I think for myself and that I don't need a party to tell me how to think ;D

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I love that pin!

I think there is a place for political discussions, & certainly when something happens in politics that affects us all, I like to be able to chat about it. I see a disturbing trend towards "it's us or them" lately, though, and it makes rational debate difficult when people have their political beliefs confused with their ideologies. It all gets too personal at that point. Time to get out of the sandbox.

I also see a trend towards people being TOLD what they ought to think by pundits who often sacrifice facts for the sake of a catchy sound bite. If you like your opinion fed to you in tiny opinionated sugary spoonfulls, you obviously aren't willing to have a discussion & once again, rationality goes out the window.

Fortunately, there's this ability to filter those folks here on LJ...I wish people had "ignore" buttons IRL. ;-)