It’s Sunday night. In between cheering for the Vikings and screaming obscenities at the Dolphins (YOU LOST TO THE JETS??? REALLY????) I was engaged in several “debates” on social media over the comments the president made on Friday regarding the NFL ( I’m not going to dignify those awful statements by repeating them, but you know what I’m referring to) and the response from the NFL today.
I already covered that topic here: http://beckypalmer.thecomputerguy.bz/2017/09/civics-101-for-the-nfl-fan/
and I stand behind that 1000% so I’m not going to repeat myself tonight.
What bothered me the most today was the level of pure hate I saw. I saw a very different, very ugly side of a lot of people – including a couple that I thought I knew – and it broke my heart. I had no idea the amount of sheer hate that is inside some folks and yes, I DO put some of the blame on the president. His hateful rhetoric on virtually every topic does nothing to invite civil, mature discussions about, well, anything. The lack of class and respect for others he exhibits seems to give others the courage to be equally awful and thoughtless. This is not the America I love and it certainly isn’t the one that our military fights to defend every day.
So, since some folks seem to have forgotten- here are a few pointers for being an adult and having an adult discussion:
There is NEVER a place for racial or sexist slurs in civil discussion. There is NEVER a place for threats against persons or their property in civil discussion. There is NEVER a place for threatening someone’s livelihood in civil discussion. There is NEVER a place for personal insults in civil discussion. There is NEVER a place for shaming those who disagree with you in civil discussion.
SO, to those of you who think replying to a social media post in all caps with 27 exclamation points is doing the right thing- stop it. To those of you who haven’t even taken 2 minutes to find out what was actually being protested but claim moral superiority anyway, stop it. To those of you who think that calling people who disagree with you childish names, stop it.Stop the hate. Stop the anger. Stop the butthurt.
Let’s take a deep breath or two and have a civil, mature discussion like a couple of adults. I know you have it in you. And when you are ready, I’ll be waiting with open arms.