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I like this site. i see intelligent stuff, funny stuff, stuff that is supposed to be funny but doesn't tickle me, dumb stuff, incomprehensible stuff, meaningless stuff that is posted just for points (and sometimes even admits it) and pugnacious stuff. wow, just like real life! but the thing about social media is that if your post isn't private, it is public, and if your post is public, it invites comments, and you can't control the comments. if someone disagrees with you, and that upsets you so much that you start calling people names and telling them to "move on" (with the exception of trolls, whom you don't have to tell to move on; you can move them on by blocking them), then you may be in the wrong place.

it doesn't take much courage to make a social media post, but it takes a teeny tiny bit -- just enough not to wet your pants when someone corrects your spelling (it wouldn't hurt to learn how to spell ATHEIST, for example) or disagrees with something you said (oh HEAVENS, anyone who disagrees with even the tiniest point you make must be a christian, a republican or the devil incarnate). i was told to move on twice today and, despite what those to move-on-tellers might think, i am actually not a troll.

one person actually thought my comment agreed with her post but took offense that i VERY GENTLY corrected her spelling "sense" as "since" (in my correction i even speculated that it wasn't her fault -- for example, she might have been using voice to text; i went out of my way not to diss her for the spelling). she was wrong about my comment's agreeing with her post, by the way.

the other one... well, i already forget what got his panties in a twist but i seem to remember he was talking about my feeling better, as if i had gotten emotional about our disagreement. i guess i wasn't all that emotional, since i can't remember what the conversation was. i can't check because the poster in question appears to have blocked me. i'm just WEEPING.

i don't remember being unreasonable in either case, nor even rude, but i guess to some people, it's unreasonable and rude for other people to exist and have opinions.

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genessa 8 Sep 29
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Hey cats help everything. (So does popcorn).

sometimes i am in the mood for popcorn. i am never not in the mood for cats! thank you 🙂)

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oh by the way, if you want to respond to the person who just called me uptight and cunty, i won't actually see your response because that kind of name-calling is what impels me to block someone, and i have indeed blocked her. that's okay, if you only want her to see your support or your disapproval, but if you want also for me to see your reaction, best respond to this comment instead, as if i am not mistaken, i cannot block myself lol

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Yup - you've described a pretty good cross section of the country - especially now. Lots of hairtrigger offended out there, and many that don't take the most respectful of corrections well at all ! And lots of black or white thinkers (literally and figuratively !), no grays, no flex, no willingness to see other viewpoints. The one who disagrees MUST be the enemy to be hacked down. Oh my ....

And with our current White House resident, all of this super sensitive stuff is on the rise continually.

Carry on anyway !

i cannot but do so. and i shall! likewise, likewise!

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Considering that we have an international membership, I don't understand the interest in correcting someone's grammar or spelling. We all make typos and we all occasionally make a spelling error. If you can understand the meaning of the poster's words...who cares if they've made a spelling error?

i can usually tell if it's a typo; the one in question was definitely not. it COULD have been a mishearing on the part of a voice program. but it was an error i have seen often and letting it stand perpetuates it, so more people will think it's right. as an ex-english teacher and magazine editor, i care. that's who cares. i do. and i bent over backwards to be nice about it, and the reaction was still outsized. it was as if i said "no offense, but you have a tiny bit of whipped cream on the end of your nose" and the other party said "how dare you! you're evil! you want me to die! my life is changed!"

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@genessa I do it with the friends I've met - but unless I can't figure out meaning I try not to mention it. (And yes it's hard).

And even with friends if I know they're having a bad day? I don't mention it. In fact I stomp on the urge pretty hard usually.

For some reason it makes people stabby. The world is on an epic upswing of stabby lately. So I try not to make it worse.

It is way easier to see a mistype or auto correct error after the fact - something that galls everyone.

@RavenCT i don't always mention it. i usually don't. this was "since" meaning "sence." that wasn't a typo. it MIGHT have been a voice misinterpretation, and i mentioned that in my "correction" (which was in passing, WITH an apology in advance, yet) so the person wouldn't feel bad. i guess THAT didn't work. but that is something, as i say, i see a LOT and i really want people to stop making that particular mistake if possible, and no, i don't think that makes me obsessive or (as some like to say, not about me yet but i'm sure it's coming) a grammar nazi. yeah i understood what she meant. maybe she didn't understand what i meant when i apologized and made excuses for her in face she wasn't ignorant, which i guess she turned out to be after all.

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Excessive intensity and a blunt response can turn people off. I try to envision how ‘I’d’ look at a party or human gathering saying the same.. It’s one thing to feel (even know) you’re right, and another to constantly inflict self righteousness on all comers … though some ask, even beg for it. Fine crooked lines ~

I need to be a slightly better listener.. often reacting with instant irritation when reading ‘talking points,’ as opposed to someone's personal hard-learned/ earned opinion/s. To me, these are intimate conversations, perhaps due to their public nature? And, I remain impressed how ..civil most responses have been.

It’s much like the many Atheist meetings & events I’ve attended - they’re all over the map! But who learns anything surrounded by ..church goers, afraid to exhibit the ability to form an opinion, let alone express it. I’m not only loving this place, it’s many contributions are finding their way into my ‘real life’ - what a twist 🙂

Varn Level 8 Sep 29, 2018

hmm, i have never been to an atheist meeting. i don't see the point, unless it were for political action, like preventing the legislation, execution and adjudication of religion into our lives. that doesn't mean no one should go or that it has no value; i just don't see it for myself.

as for what i would say in person -- i am the same person here as offline. is that good or bad? i may never know but if i thought it was no good i'd try to do something about it. i have seen no reason to do so, so far! 🙂)

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@genessa Also consider the degree to which you diverge from average behavior, that can be telling. If I find myself drifting too far or too often from what’s going on around me, I’ll self-diagnose. Not always wrong in my thoughts or perceptions.. it may require I practice (even more) tolerance … or go nuts.

Atheist meetings, are like coming here.. Same broad perspectives on life! I attend meetings to learn, and love to learn. The knowledge to recognize mounting danger can save your, and your family’s life.

I’m reminded here of my brother’s description of his ex wife's ‘family dinners,’ “All they did was argue,” “It’s not that they weren’t good at it,” “It’s that they’d argue for no reason.” I’ve a low tolerance for that.. as I did ‘her.’ The opinions some have and give are not because they don’t realize there are opposing positions, it’s because these are their conclusions. Instantly opposing the opinions of others simply because ‘you can’ is a bad habit..

@Varn i don't think i oppose people's opinions simply because i can. for some strange reason, i see public posts as an invitation to converse, and if a topic interests me, or baffles me, and i have something to say or ask about it, yes, because i can, i do. i don't think i am argumentative or pugnacious, but i participate. if i have nothing to say, i say nothing. but if i have something to say, isn't this the place to say it? dinner is another story! but this is a forum!

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I've been blocked at least once for having a different opinion to the post. They're obviously mixing me up with someone who gives a shit 🙂

isn't it fabulous how people will call us whiny or otherwise indicate that they think we are terribly emotionally involved when we bother to respond to something with which we disagree, when in fact they're the ones getting their diapers in a knot?

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@genessa Yes indeed. One particular tosser was pro gun, I didn't say he shouldn't own one just that any registration system needs to be robust. Now either he stopped posting immediately or.........
I think he probably did me a favour 🙂

@ipdg77 i have blocked my share! i don't block anyone for disagreeing with me. i block trolls and i block people who call names or make nasty accusations. isn't it odd how the new favorite accusation is "you sound like a republican" or "you must be a trump supporter" or (on this site) "you must be a christian"! i most certainly do not fit any of those descriptions, and i don't think i sound as if i do either. ugh, i think some of it is actual attempts at gaslighting.

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@genessa I think I've blocked three, all for varying degrees of being a nuisance of some sort. Not disagreeing, that's fine, but racist, bigoted and/or abusive.
Outside of the States there isn't this Trump imperative, it seems to have really polarised America, but outside the vast majority just think he's a twat and fortunately a twat in a temp job.

@ipdg77 he's a dick actually 😉) and yeah!

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It seems some on here are a bit too sensitive. I haven't run across it myself, but I have seen others post about conversations and things going on.

it has always bothered me (about the english language) that sensitive has two meanings that don't always complement one another. people who are sensitive to others' feelings are not exhibiting the same kind of sensitivity as people who are so sensitive that if you say "boo" to them they burst into tears; the latter are often amazingly INsensitive to the feelings of others! example: i don't drive and depend on metro mobility, a local door-to-door transportation system for the disabled. it's not like a cab service; there might be many passengers and they get picked up and dropped off in an order determined by the company, not by the passengers themselves. quite often my guy and i are the only passengers and we get taken right home. last night we got on board to find three other passengers already riding. as we were driven, one of the other passengers started bitching and moaning about how the bus driver had missed the turn (he hadn't) and then, being told that another passenger was being taken home first, she grumbled continuously that she just wanted to go home. telling her that everyone on the bus wanted to go home did no good; she never shut up the whole way to the other person's home. bitch, bitch, bitch, the whole way. obviously, she was so sensitive she needed to be first and it was an affront and an injury to consider anyone else's needs. that's ONE kind of sensitivity. that is not to say that some people, especially kids, don't have their feelings hurt more easily than others, and that's ignoring physical sensitivities, about which i know a bit, having (among other ailment) fibromyalgia. i don't think anyone on the bus would've described that one woman as sensitive; selfish would've been a better word. i think, though, she would've described herself as sensitive, which would be funny, because in the other sense of the word, she was about as insensitive as could be.

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@genessa I understand what you mean, though it is something I haven't really thought about before now.

@tnorman1236 it's one of those things that have long intrigued me. ach, i'm a writer; words are my thing. i have a weird relationship with them.

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@genessa I'm a writer too. You should join my group, Wordsmith. It's for poetry and short fiction.

@tnorman1236 i just might! link me, if you will.

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@genessa [agnostic.com]
I guess that'll do it. I haven't linked a location on here before.

@tnorman1236 yep thanks, that did the trick! now, i tend to lurk a bit in writing groups, as i don't want to get stuff "published" here in a manner that will impede my ability to get it published elsewhere, for money. so when i start sharing works it may all be old stuff that has already appeared elsewhere. anyway, at first, i just lurk, but i'm there!

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@genessa Okay, cool. Feel free to lurk or to comment on other's work all you want.

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