It’s not worth the trouble…
Posted by Brad at 1:11pm Monday, October 13, 2008
Mean people suck. They can ruin your fun, they can ruin your conversation with others and they can ruin your day. They can take a reasonable disagreement and turn it into a very mean-spirit, very personal attack. I’ve written about it before. Some recent comments on this blog (which have since been filed in the appropriate bin) have brought up the matter once again.
It has been said many times that you shouldn’t discuss religion and politics with others because it can devolve into an argument and become very personal. I typically follow this rule diligently. This blog has been an exception because it is a personal expression of my thoughts, observations, opinions and pontifications. I don’t mind people disagreeing with what I say — although I do like it when people agree — it’s just not necessary to make it so personal. It’s not necessary to belittle and insult and spew hateful comments.
Small-minded people will reduce a conversation to small-minded ad hominem attacks. It saddens me, but I try to dismiss such idiocy out of hand. But sometimes, it’s just not worth the trouble.
When I started this particular incarnation of my personal blog, my intention was not to have politics take up as much of my blogging space as it has in the last month or so. It was to be more of a light-hearted, observational type blog — more along the lines of my blogging idols Dustbury or Okiedoke. And for the most part, I stuck with that formula until last month.
As the presidential campaign hit high gear in its final stretch before the election, my attention turned increasingly toward the political insanity that has ensued. Especially after having some conversations with friends and family who may not understand why I feel the way I do, I wanted to share some of the thoughts and concerns I had. I also shared the perspective of others far more knowledgeable on the subject.
My intent all along has been to go back to my original formula of blogging once the election ended. But, these circumstances have prompted me to scrap that plan and abandon the political discussion altogether. It’s just not worth the trouble.
Consequently, I’m going to take the rest of this week off from blogging just to mentally shift my focus back to this blog’s original intent. My apologies to those readers who didn’t like all those political posts; thank you for your patience. It’s all about to change back. To those who didn’t mind, thank you for your support.
And to those who played a part in compelling this decision, thank you for helping me refocus my efforts. You’ve reminded me of that verse in Proverbs, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself,” as well as that other great proverb, “You can’t fix stupid.” You just can’t have a reasonable, adult discussion with a closed mind; it’s like talking to a brick wall. It’s not worth the trouble.
Tune back here for the return of the original formula soon.
On Oct 13, 2008, Brit' Gal Sarah said:
I have to say I will just be happy when the whole things done and dusted!
On Oct 13, 2008, Patsy Terrell said:
I check in on your blog periodically and haven’t seen the posts of which you speak. However, I’ve noted that people are much more “rabid” this year, regardless of their right or left leanings. I worked the democrat’s booth at the Kansas State Fair in September and I was amazed at the hate I encountered. I do it every year and that’s pretty rare. I’m betting republicans experienced the same thing, but it may have been less noticeable just because there are fewer dems here. But this year people are much more intense on both sides.
On Oct 14, 2008, Karla said:
It is tiring to endure the personal attacks that get thrown out into the political arena, whether it be at the candidates or us personally. It’s amazing to me how easily hate-filled the attacks become. I’ve become convinced that most people truly don’t even know what the issues are, let alone actually vote according to them - it has become an emotional vote in every sense of the meaning. But then when you go back and read history, it doesn’t seem we’ve changed all that much after all.
On Oct 14, 2008, Brian said:
It is a rare thing, IMHO, to find two people from opposing political viewpoints that can have a reasoned and rational discussion about their differences.
We now seem to live in a country where people look first at the ‘R’ or ‘D’ next to a politicians name to decide if they will agree or disagree with that individual.
In the end, I believe we all lose because of this black and white ideology and myopic view of what is right. There is a compromise to be found on healthcare and so many of us need it (not just the 47 million without insurance but the 200 million of us struggling with the increase in premiums and reduction in benefits). I fear we will not find that compromise in my lifetime. There is a compromise on the abortion issue (where both the unborn and women’s rights/privacy need the discussion to productively continue). I am even more confident that we will not find that compromise in my lifetime.
I could go through a long list of the items where American’s need political compromise but alas, it would simply be a list of items that will likely never be accomplished.
I am biased in this arena but my opinion is that there is a false equivalency that has been established. This blog has had a partisan tone but the information presented was rational and factual. The responses to the posts are seldom rational or factual. Even though there is disagreement from the beginning, it is the one who chooses to opt for poorly constructed attacks on logic or who chooses an ad hominem attack to ‘discredit’ the opposition who bares the blame for why these political discussions make no progress.
Most of my life, I have represented the conservative viewpoint. That changed many years ago and I am often in the position to defend a more liberal position. My heart is as an independent who is issues focused. As such, I believe I see the ‘debate’ from a clearer perspective than those who have been partisan their entire adult life. There are hacks and antagonists on both sides of the political spectrum but in my experience; it tends to be the partisan Republican who chooses to break down the debate with unsupportable attacks on logic itself.
For over 6 years now, I have honestly hoped to have a reasonable and rational dialogue with someone supporting the current neoconservative (very different than traditionally conservative) administration and political movement. It is a very very rare thing to find someone willing to rationally defend conservatism (or the attack that neo conservatism has become on it).
I might be the anomaly and I do think it is best that you retire political discourse from your blog but I will loudly and proudly say that I think you have done an excellent job in representing issues rationally and factually. If we could find even a handful of people willing to present information in the same manner, perhaps the compromises people like me so desperately desire would be possible.
I hate to see your political voice leave the discussion but would be the first to say that I think it is a fairly futile effort to convince the current political movement to open up to a dialogue of differences — most particularly the evangelical Republican who has decided to give his vote away no matter what the issue.