Sunday Sermon

As a little girl, one of the many things my very socially-correct Grandmother taught me was that "a lady doesn't discuss subjects like religion or politics in public".

Now if I were like a whole lot of big mouth yakkity-yak so'n'so's I see on my tv or computer everyday, I could interpret that literally and twist it to suit my purposes and say, "Well, my home is not the public, and in a sense, this blog is my home, therefore, I can say whatever I want to here and that's okay."

Unfortunately, I can lie to others, but to myself, not so much.

So, I know good and darn well that when she said "in public" she meant "in general", including in your own home when you're hosting any sort of social gathering.  I can't fool myself into believing that having friends and strangers visiting here, my home on the Web, isn't the quintessential social gathering.

Since I (generally) want to be a good hostess, as ingrained in me since I was a little kid, that's one reason why I (generally) don't post about more controversial topics.

Another reason being, I often don't feel intelligent enough, or informed enough to conduct a good, open, honest argument discussion about many subjects, and mainly about politics and religion.

Not to mention, I can't trust others to be able to carry on a good, open, honest discussion without resorting to name-calling, insults and worse. (Yes, I realize that was a hypocritical statement, given the name calling in the second paragraph above. My apologies.)

But I worry about things, especially politics and religion, and I attempt to inform myself on such issues, which involves reading a lot of blogs, posts, statuses, comments, boards, threads, and websites.
I read a lot of sane, logical, informative speak, but it seems more often than not, the hateful, ignorant, righteous screeching greatly overshadows it.

I mean, that's with both sides of issues.
See, I'm stuck somewhere in the middle of Liberal/Progressive-ism and Republican/Conservative-ism.

For instance, I'm not against Gays, and I'm for Gay Marriage. I'm for the Separation of Church and State (Government), I think the War on Drugs is a money-wasting, losing battle (ie the Prohibition on alcohol in the 1920's), that Physician-Assisted Suicide should be a personal choice, am against the War on (the Middle East), and am not against Immigration.

On the other hand, I'm against Welfare (generally), Socialized Healthcare, Gun Control, Affirmative Action, Government Controlled Public Education, and I'm for Capitalism, Lower Taxes and a smaller Government, Private Property Rights, the Death Penalty and I don't give a lot of thought to Global Warming.

Needless to say, I piss off a whole lot of people!

But not on purpose. My beliefs/opinions are based on what I know/think I know/believe to be true or right. But I'm not afraid to admit if I'm wrong. IF I'm given a good, logical, sound reason to change my mind. I've changed my mind, and have had my mind changed quite often in my 40+ years.

What's not going to change my mind, or anyone else's mind, is having it yelled at me, or being insulted and called names.

I get that people are frustrated and want to be heard, but there are much better ways of accomplishing that, and maybe even making a real difference, rather than being brushed off as screaming, spitting, raving lunatics.

I think the anonymity of the Internet makes it easy for people to forget basic Manners and common Civility, to be able to shred others to pieces and tear them down without a second thought, and to be righteously ignorant because everything they know they learned from Meme's.

But I don't blame the Internet. I think the internet is a wonderful thing....when used in conjunction with Courtesy, Empathy and Compassion, and Personal Responsibility.
Words that, sadly, so many people on the Internet seem to have forgotten, or just don't care to remember sometimes.