Yesterday a friend sent me this video in an email with a subject line "Liberals say the damnest things." I've seen it before. I vehemently dislike this kind of garbage. I don't care if it is liberal bashing or conservative bashing, I do not like this kind of generalizing trash.
Watch it at your own risk. I find it offensive .... and it would be equally offensive if it were aimed the opposite partisan direction.
This is what accompanied the video:
"People of America unite!! Get to the polls in 2010 and 2012 and throw these bastards OUT!
You must watch this! Please watch this ... We must stop these people from taking over our country
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Subject: Wow, what a flub!
Now that you all have been sucked into Maxine! (your favorite from CA) What do you think of this comment?
This clip shows Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D – CA) discussing drilling for new oil reserves. She explains, in a slip of the tongue, what this entire administration's agenda is all about.
Whoops! She let it all slip out!
What can you say? Notice the people around her. This clip is about as blatant as a liberal can get. What she said was accidental, and notice that it stopped her dead in her tracks for a long moment, but it was too late. Just hope the country wakes up in the 2010 elections. It isn't possible for too many people to see this video and I hope you will send it along to every voter you know. "
In the past, I've tried to just ignore this sort of think, in part because it causes hard feelings when you try to address it, because people feel strongly about it. That's OK, so do I. We all have the right to our opinions. And freedom of speech is one of our rights.
I've had a few people who have offended me with the implication that my opinion is not as important as their own. In fact, my opinion is to wrong, in their eyes, that I shouldn't express it. I've tried to deal with this as well as I can, trying to get to a place of mutual respect for our disagreement of views. In some cases, this has resulted in a loss of the friendship. Why? Because if I can't be treated with respect, I see no reason to continue being in a relationship in which I am repeatedly told I am wrong, even when I have quit trying to express my thoughts!!! After a while, it becomes such a burden that frankly, the friendship isn't worth it. How can I be friends with someone who views me as beneath them? Always wrong? Not quality enough? And yes, it has often be I who opted to end the relationship, because I don't need to be in a "friendship" in which I am stifled and not good enough.
Yesterday, when I received that video, it was a first from that particular person. It is from a friend from long ago, recently reconnected thanks to the internet. We've exchanged a few emails, and I thought all was good, just a light-hearted friendship refreshed after many years. After thinking it over for a while, I decided to nip it in the bud. Better now than when I'm worked into a lather after numerous like that.
So I wrote:
"[name omitted], I get uneasy when I see subject lines such as that. I'm a moderate with liberal leanings, and after watching that, I can tell you I've seen similar misstatements by conservatives. I don't like those, either. I read and listen to a variety of sources, making sure I'm getting information from both sides of the aisle. Frankly, it stinks on both sides from the (pardon me) shit they all spew out of their mouths.
I welcome things that are productive to our future, but I'm not so crazy about things that are, IMO, trash talking. I do my talking through a constant stream of emails and letters to my representatives. I'm sure they're getting tired of me, but I'll bet they know I'm not going to vote for any of them again, regardless of the party persuasion! I think they've all let us down.
Can we agree to both use our energy direct at the source of the aggravation, and just leave me out of partisan emailing? Send me jokes, send me constructive information, and I'll love it. Fair enough?"
I thought that was worded to bridge a gap. Apparently not! I got back:
"The short answer is, nope.The long answer is, I am very conservative and extremely concerned for this great Republic of ours. If you fail to see the obvious and dangerous socialist leanings of this film clip, then you and I are simply on different agendas. And shall remain so. But you need not conern [sic] your self about any more e-mails from this old vet.
God save America. "
And to that I say, indeed, God save America. Apparently this old vet lives in a country different from mine, in which the right to speak, to think, to express opinions, and even to differ in opinions from others, without censorship. People with opinions similar to this person's seem to feel free to say whatever they want, but I can't? Or at least, I can't and expect any respect for my opinion if it disagrees with theirs!! And since it is the opinion of that person that it makes me a socialist, I likewise consider his denigration of my opinion to smack of communism!!
All I can say is WTF???????
I'm just really angry because people such as this seem to think there is no opinion better than or even equal with their own. I go out of my way to attempt to allow everyone to express themselves, but a strange concept here, I also think I deserve the same right AND the right to request that my opinions are respected. that person does not want to send me "constructive information," and apparently directing this energy on the members of Congress is not in her/his ability, either!! Again, I say WTF??
I'm not opening this for comment. I know some of you will want to. But I don't want another argument on my hands. I'm simply expressing my opinion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Consitiution, and my frustration about my supposed inferiority to those people with cement between their ears!! Please feel free to rebut or agree on your own blog!
