Originally posted on my Facebook page:
Okay, here I go ticking off people again. But I am going to rant anyway and this time I am not full of meds and it is not the middle of the night. I am not angry, I am just stating how I feel. This rant is the result of a couple recent posts and emails (emails from people I know but do not care for, by the way. People, in I my opinion, who live in a narrow little world even if they do get around a lot.
I hate messages that imply or outright state that if I do not repost them, somehow I either am heartless, ignorant, agree with the opposition or am guilty of a myriad of other things. I do not repost. I do not repost. I do not repost. If you want to do so, fine. That is your prerogative. But the quickest way to turn me off is to not only ask me to repost but to act like I must disagree with your message or assign some other negative, nefarious motivation to my not reposting.
If I want to use my feed as a sounding board for any cause, I will do so. I do not need anyone's help. I do not want to promote or support any organization or group on my newsfeed. (I am speaking of political, religious, business or social organizations. I do and always will openly support our military members. I do not think of them as a "group" for the purposes of this post.) I have been around the block a few times and know that not all groups are what they seem and supporting them publicly may come back and bite me on the ass. So I will do my own promoting of causes or not. Now if these are on your feed and I visit your page, I see what I see. But I really hate having these things sent to me. Email is the same. And by the way, I hate Obama and everything he stands for but when conservatives post stupid, inaccurate things about the man, they do all conservatives a disservice. There are plenty of reasons to find him the worst thing to happen to this country since the Civil War. Please do not make up crap. It just lessens your credibility. Leave that to the liberals. Check out your facts before passing stuff along.
I apologize to my liberal friends and relatives for this showing up on your newsfeed. Go ahead and delete this post. I probably would delete yours if you were praising Obama. Also, to my liberal friends and relatives, you can be just as guilty of ignorant actions as the rest of us. Stop saying "Tea Party" as if it is a political party. It is not. It is not a monolithic, racist, reactionary group. Conservatives are just as intelligent and as ignorant as liberals. We just approach things from opposite viewpoints. There are plenty of idiots on both sides. No one side has the monopoly on ignorance and bigotry.
This certainly holds for religion. If you are an atheist, you may be just as guilty of pushing your ideas and being blind to anyone else's views as a religious person. I get fed up with both the religious right and those who act like anyone who is religious has to be stupid. You can both be bigots. I am not a Christian and do not wish to be converted. But that does not mean I totally dismiss Christianity or any other religious views out of hand. If religion does not explain all the mysteries of the universe, neither does science. I do not pretend to know the answers to the creation and no one else does, either. Or if anyone does, he isn't talking, at least in this dimension. But I think there is room for both believers and non believers. I don't want either side pushing their beliefs on me. And quite honestly, if all you do is talk about your religion or lack thereof, I have to wonder who you are really trying to convince. The most truly religious people I have known in my 66 years really do not talk about it much, but do live it. And the most truly intelligent atheists I have known admit they do not know all the answers anymore than the religious zealots think they do. I don't like receiving emails that make out non believers as evil or religious people as ignorant. Keep these to yourself or whatever, but do not send them to me.
Now for my final rant---for those of you still reading, which I imagine is an exclusive group consisting of ---ME! Although most people I personally know are not guilty of this, sometimes I see stuff that is downright racist. Sometimes it is racist in general, and sometimes about Obama. Fortunately most people I know are not concerned about skin color. That is good because there are plenty of racists, of all colors, to go around. Everyone wants someone to look down upon, it seems. Blacks, browns, reds, yellows, whites, greens, blues, polka dotted, it does not matter. All groups are guilty. Sometimes I think people do not even understand what they post or email is racist. If it promotes hatred or denigration based on skin color it is racist. Same with ethnicity. Simple. So, think before you forward it in email or repost it. No one needs that crap. I don't want it. I delete it immediately if I see it and then think you are a dumbass. If you want to dislike a group, come up with a better reason for it than skin color. It makes you seem like an idiot. And yes, there are groups I detest. I dislike a lot of people and groups as a matter of fact. I am not bias free by any means. But I like to think I detest them for more important reasons than their skin color, who they are screwing, or what language they speak. If I speak against them it is because of their actions and beliefs. We all do that. It is called using judgment, not prejudice. We are supposed to use judgment. We do it all day long in many different ways. And no, this is not just me trying to excuse my own actions and beliefs as non-racist. I admit that occasionally I have racist thoughts, and then I try to take a look at what I am thinking and analyze it and if it is racist, I try to change it. If I can justify my thoughts based on facts and experience, I feel okay. Okay. End of rant. Again, you may feel free to disagree but that does not mean I want to hear about it. I probably should save my rants for my blog from now on. And will. Or will try to.
