Politics rant
I'm going to go ahead and get something off my chest right now.
I don't discuss politics. I am not comfortable discussing my personal politics, most of the time. This is mostly because I am all too often made to feel like an ill-educated idiot for my beliefs -- which, incidentally, are not that radical to begin with. And this does not even involve me opening my mouth, most of the time. It's already started this year, with perfectly logical and wonderful people belittling others who think differently, and it's pissed me off badly enough to go on a defriending purge in the past.
I'm not foolish enough to demand that everyone not talk about politics around me for the next two months, because that would just be inane and ridiculous. But I am going to respectfully ask that anyone who does comment on the current election PLEASE remember that not everyone believes as you do, and that does not give anyone the right to call their intelligence into question. If I have to go through another election being deluged with 'anyone who votes thus-and-so is stupid', I'm going to lose a great deal of faith in the online community's ability to have respect for others. I understand that many people are passionate about their beliefs, and I applaud that kind of passion, but that does not give anyone the right to belittle others for thinking differently -- and it goes for both ends of the political spectrum, conservative and liberal alike. I truly hope no one on my flist would do such a thing, since I <3 all of you regardless of political beliefs, but I nearly shut down my journal during the last presidential election, and just wanted to get this out there.
I don't discuss politics. I am not comfortable discussing my personal politics, most of the time. This is mostly because I am all too often made to feel like an ill-educated idiot for my beliefs -- which, incidentally, are not that radical to begin with. And this does not even involve me opening my mouth, most of the time. It's already started this year, with perfectly logical and wonderful people belittling others who think differently, and it's pissed me off badly enough to go on a defriending purge in the past.
I'm not foolish enough to demand that everyone not talk about politics around me for the next two months, because that would just be inane and ridiculous. But I am going to respectfully ask that anyone who does comment on the current election PLEASE remember that not everyone believes as you do, and that does not give anyone the right to call their intelligence into question. If I have to go through another election being deluged with 'anyone who votes thus-and-so is stupid', I'm going to lose a great deal of faith in the online community's ability to have respect for others. I understand that many people are passionate about their beliefs, and I applaud that kind of passion, but that does not give anyone the right to belittle others for thinking differently -- and it goes for both ends of the political spectrum, conservative and liberal alike. I truly hope no one on my flist would do such a thing, since I <3 all of you regardless of political beliefs, but I nearly shut down my journal during the last presidential election, and just wanted to get this out there.