I was insensitive and inconsiderate in a recent Vegetarian thread. I’m sorry about that. It seems I am often insensitive and inconsiderate. It’s doubly bad because I joined that thread saying to myself that I was going to be sensitive and considerate. I guess my punishment is that I never did satisfy my curiousity about vegetarian ethics.
Anyway, this thread isn’t about me.
It’s simply about this:
If you wish to be a kind person, you need to leave people with something to cover themselves. A way out.
When somebody is being personally attacked, it makes it very difficult for them to concede a point, even if they want to. Trust me, I know.
Even (and I think, especially,) if the gang that is attacking has a valid point, it is wrong to wield that point against a person like a sledgehammer.
So, what I’d like to do is talk about possibilities.
I think Opalcat is a fantastic person. I love her website, and I enjoy 99.9% of her posts. I think she is most often careful, friendly, and meticulous, but she’s got a lot of passion too.
Occasionally, in the heat of passion, defending something one believes in strongly, one may say something that is ill-considered, or doesn’t come out right, or is over the top.
When you’re being personally attacked, it’s very hard to admit to anything, and it’s hard to say you’re sorry to people who are actively attacking you. You wonder if they deserve it, for their lack of understanding.
On the other side of the coin, I’m not a big fan of The Ryan, but does the current attack against him have any possibilities of ending constructively?
So what do you say to the idea that all offended and involved parties come in here, take a deep breath, and talk about mountains and molehills.
Perhaps admissions of overzealousness might be forthcoming as well.
Let’ start applying the social band-aids. Look at wounds other than your own, whether you caused them or not, and spray on the soothing bactine of a kind word or an apology.
Then we can try to do better next time.