increasingly sick of it all
If anything I've become much less self-centered over the past couple of years. This is in large part due to my job, which doesn't necessarily require me to pay close attention to the inner workings of people's brains, but that is definitely what I end up doing pretty often. It's carried over into other aspects of my life. I find it really interesting to try and figure out why people operate the way that they do, and why people have such differing opinions.
Lately I'm incredibly frustrated. There's a lot of political stuff going on this year, which brings people's opinions out on Facebook and the like, and for the most part I just read what others have to say because, as I said, I want to figure out why people feel the way they feel and maybe I'll realize that I've been stuck on thinking a certain way that wasn't helpful. I think I've changed a lot as a result. Unfortunately, most people seem to be stubborn and set in their opinions, and when someone else simply states a differing opinion (perhaps in order to help them see things a different way), they respond with vitriolic, hateful words.
This especially pisses me off when my gay, liberal friends go on and on about conservative Christians "hating" us. I know that this IS the case in many instances, particularly because that's what gets shown to us in the media...we have to see Fred Phelps's clan every time he pickets a funeral or whatever. Idiotic rednecks with hateful signs reliably make the news because their views are so extreme. Many people do experience genuinely hateful behavior first-hand, and that makes me sad. But it's no reason to make generalizations about all conservatives and Christians. Personally, I have friends who are conservative and Christian, and I've talked to them and come to realize that none of what they believe has anything to do with hate. They just have a VERY different way of seeing the same issues. The core of the issues is not the same to them, and it never will be. Meanwhile, my "liberal" friends spew hateful words at THEM.
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THIS IS CONSTRUCTIVE?
For the most part, people on BOTH sides don't have any desire to change their opinions, which means that there will always (at least in our lifetime) be people who we perceive as "hating gays," even when those people have never done anything hateful at all. That's not going to change, so just deal with it. Live your life, set a good example by showing that you are a loving, intelligent person who is NOT sick and NOT wrong. That's all you can do.
Lately I'm incredibly frustrated. There's a lot of political stuff going on this year, which brings people's opinions out on Facebook and the like, and for the most part I just read what others have to say because, as I said, I want to figure out why people feel the way they feel and maybe I'll realize that I've been stuck on thinking a certain way that wasn't helpful. I think I've changed a lot as a result. Unfortunately, most people seem to be stubborn and set in their opinions, and when someone else simply states a differing opinion (perhaps in order to help them see things a different way), they respond with vitriolic, hateful words.
This especially pisses me off when my gay, liberal friends go on and on about conservative Christians "hating" us. I know that this IS the case in many instances, particularly because that's what gets shown to us in the media...we have to see Fred Phelps's clan every time he pickets a funeral or whatever. Idiotic rednecks with hateful signs reliably make the news because their views are so extreme. Many people do experience genuinely hateful behavior first-hand, and that makes me sad. But it's no reason to make generalizations about all conservatives and Christians. Personally, I have friends who are conservative and Christian, and I've talked to them and come to realize that none of what they believe has anything to do with hate. They just have a VERY different way of seeing the same issues. The core of the issues is not the same to them, and it never will be. Meanwhile, my "liberal" friends spew hateful words at THEM.
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THIS IS CONSTRUCTIVE?
For the most part, people on BOTH sides don't have any desire to change their opinions, which means that there will always (at least in our lifetime) be people who we perceive as "hating gays," even when those people have never done anything hateful at all. That's not going to change, so just deal with it. Live your life, set a good example by showing that you are a loving, intelligent person who is NOT sick and NOT wrong. That's all you can do.