Criticizm @ MindSay

Rarely do I put myself in the midst of some controversy. Today is an exception.

It baffles me, this seemingly inherent human need to attack, criticize and belittle others – this constant need to be ‘right’ and to prove everyone else wrong.

I spent maybe an hour this morning, bumbling around my Inbox, Top Blogs, and a few other side road trips throughout Mindsay. I’d say that about 90% of everything I read was an attack on some thing or some one, or someone attempting to defend themselves against some said perceived (or actual) attack.

Mindsay has become a rather large and diverse community – a microcosm of the world around us, which is a microcosm of the world at large. That means there will be many people here who are different than you are – they come from different backgrounds, they will have lived different lives, they will have different values, they will have different belief systems. And like the world at large, you will likely gravitate toward those with whom you share some kind of commonality in values, beliefs, etc. This is all well and good. When this becomes nasty is when those who share things in common begin to attack or exclude those outside their circle because they are ‘different.’

My network is as off-the-wall as I am. I have all manner of folk here – Bible thumping Christians and liberal, open-minded Christians, and Jews too; a wide range of atheists and agnostics and an interesting assortment of pagans and other various and assorted religions; kids, old people and everything in-between; blacks, whites, bi-racials and whatever other nationality and mix may be out there; talented writers and not so talented; foul-mouthed people and those who are very conscious and sensitive to what they deem, profanity; those who have something interesting to say and those who don’t; city slickers and country folk; yankees an rebels; Republicans, Democrats and everything in-between; smart people and dumb people; the healthy and the handicapped; mentally and emotionally stable and the unstable too; and the list goes on. The point being that many of these folk are people I would likely never meet in everyday life. Those in my network who are very ‘different’ than me in some way or another, often offer me very interesting and enlightening perspectives that I might not have otherwise considered, were I to limit my socialization to only those who think and believe the same as I do. For me, this wide variety of interests and acquaintances keeps my mind and heart open to learn and to grow. I don’t know all the answers and neither does anyone else. I’m not arrogant enough to believe that everything I believe today is the absolute truth and there is no other, nor any other nuances to truth, nor will there ever be – nor should anyone else be so.

Equality means that in spite all our individual differences, abilities, beliefs and opinions, ALL have equal claim to dignity and respect. We cannot have freedom unless we respect the freedom of others. In order for everyone to have freedom, there must be order, and order bears with it certain restrictions and obligations. Freedom implies responsibility – the responsibility to respect the rights of others to be different, to think differently, to live differently…inasmuch as such things bring no harm to others, nor infringe upon the rights of others.

All the hub-bub recently about profanity and top blogs and all other manner of nonsense baffles me. Because we are all different, everyone is not EVER going to agree on the worthiness of a top blog, no matter what sort of selection system is employed. Does it really MATTER whether or not a ‘top blog’ is worthy in my opinion, in your opinion, or in anyone else’s? Personally, I’ve discovered many new and interesting bloggers through regular visits to the top blog page. I’ve also read many blogs that in my humble opinion, were very NOT worthy of such dubious honors, yet I saw no need to take personal offense at this. Some days, top blogs are interesting…some days they are not. That’s life.  That’s people.

As for the issue of profanity, I accept that there is all manner of personal expression, and the use of off-color language rarely offends me very much. But on the other hand, I realize that some are more sensitive to such things, and that is their right too. My take is that if you are offended by language on the TV or radio, turn the station or turn it off. If you’re offended by the language in a movie, you should’ve read the rating before you bought tickets. If you’re offended by the language used regularly in someone’s blog, don’t go there anymore. If you’re offended that someone’s offended at such language, don’t bother with THEM anymore – they have as much right to be offended as I have to NOT be offended.

In a nutshell (what ELSE would you expect from the NUTHOUSE?!), the point I’m trying to make is that Mindsay is a big community. There is something for everyone here. If you stumble upon a blog that makes you uncomfortable for whatever reason, or it just seems to you to be a stupid blog, don’t go back. Nor should you feel any particular need to attack said blogger for having a blog that made you uncomfortable or that seems stupid to you. I guess all this fumbling around with many words is to simply say…

WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG AND PLAY NICE?!