Well F&$% You!!

Ahhh....Civility in our world....who knew it was dying?

lostandtired.com

 

 



I admit there are many things in this world that I'm not good at:

 

1. Calculus makes my head spin
2. I am a HORRIBLE speller
3. Can't draw
4. Have trouble staying up late.....

But I don't consider myself a stupid person. 

 

I'm well read.  I try to stay up on current events. I listen to others' thoughts and ideas before I form my own. I am on a never ending quest for knowledge. But at times I find myself questioning my intelligence - and sanity - before I realize...

 

icebergtees.com

 

 

Our world seems to have gone crazy!  People who use to value my opinion - or at least accepted the idea that I have an opinion that differed from theirs - no longer see the merit in that.  I am "wrong".  My thoughts and opinions no longer matter.  I am yelled at; hung up on; treated like a child.  Simply because I have the nerve to say - I don't agree with you.  Or because I have pointed out the flaw in your logic.  Or because I question the motive behind your anger.  Why have people lost the ability to accept that not everyone agrees with them?  Heck- as the mom of teenagers I KNOW no one agrees with me!

 





What is fueling this great decline in kindness?  In my humble opinion, we need to look no further then the political landscape of our Country. 

There was a time - I know this might be hard to believe! - when even our politicians were civil to each other.  They didn't always get along, but they believed in the concept of the "right to disagree".  But then came the Internet, and 24/7 news coverage, and every little thing that was said or done was noted and commented upon.  Everyone quickly knew if you weren't "following the party line" - and oh my are those lines drawn deep - and the art of compromise went out the window as quickly as the "guests" in a whorehouse during a police raid.  No one wanted their "supporters" (read PACs) to see that they might not be doing exactly what they said they would do for fear that the "support" (money for their next election) would disappear.  So they all became a series of talking heads - quick to point a finger and judge those sitting on the other side of the aisle.  And as quickly as the elected officials started down this road, the people who identified themselves with either party went even faster.

The good state of Massachusetts where I live allows me to participate in this great democracy without identifying with a political party.  Before there was an "Independent" party, I was enrolled as an Independent....now I am a registered unenrolled.  This allows me the freedom - and I like to think intelligence - to look at the issues and the candidates through my own eyes; not eyes colored by some political allegiance.  And this allows me to be more accepting of others opinions and ideas.  I don't have some platform that I have to support; no agenda to fill; no political ideology that I have to live by.  I can listen to a person and say "Why I don't agree with you, I do respect your right to think that way."  People I know use to feel that way about me.  They respected my intelligence; my opinion.  Then politics got in the way.  I became the "enemy".  The person who was always wrong and uninformed because I "God-forbid" had an opinion that was different.  Didn't matter if I had lists of facts and figures - disagreeing was enough to prove that I WAS WRONG!

 

And I am TIRED of that!

 

 The beauty of this Country is that we all can disagree without fear of repercussion....or at least that is how it use to be.  It is true that the Government won't come after me if I work to get a law or policy change, but boy, I can no longer say that about the population; the American people; my friends. The death of civility has made it open season on hate.  Pick up any newspaper - watch any news show - and you can see the hate that one side has for the other.  Each side is better then the other - and yet somehow no one gets anything done....but I digress.....As much as I despise the rhetoric, I can sit back and watch it while being slightly amused and saddened by the show.  But it becomes so much harder to accept that animosity when it is a friend who is attacking.

 



keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

 

I do NOT disagree just for the sake of disagreeing, for much the same reason that I don't JUST agree with you.  I am my own person with my own opinions, values and ideas.  You cheapen me when you say things like that.  I always respects others - even if I disagree with them - so why am I not entitled to that same respect?  I do not believe that it is necessary for We the People to resort to the mudslinging and anger that is rampant in Washington.  How can we ever expect to force our politicians to come together and work if we can't do it with each other?  When civility dies our Country is for the worse.  How can we expect our children - the leaders of the future - to learn to work together when they see their role models, their parents, incapable of doing that?  And is it any wonder that the younger generation seems so angry and disconnected?

 

I will always do my best to be respectful to all, but being human I know that I will make mistakes sometimes.  I do my best to admit when I was wrong.  But know this - I will always defend your right to be entitled to your own opinion....will you defend mine?