It is not all about you...

At the Mad Hatters Tea Party, also known as the intertoobz, one is frequently provided the opportunity to hear all about one’s total failures as a human being.

You really have to grow a thick skin or you will go insane. If you are already insane, all the better. Freedom’s just another name for nothing left to lose. If you can try to develop some masochistic tendencies, you really got it made.

Sometimes I collect these things, when they show some particular skill or artistry, and post them in my Rave Reviews. Here are some of my recent epic fails as a human being: delusional.. indoctrinated… incapable of thinking for yourself.. powerless.. weak.. you don’t see your own shortcomings.. you have a blind spot the size of Uranus.. you are being judged and from the looks of it you are not going to make it..I hate you….your faith is weak….you’re a pathetic woman…everyone hates you….uneducated imbecile…troll…you’re a liar….IB speaks the words of a harlot..

That last one I was rather fond of and wrote a whole post about. Anyway, in most of these the YOU is usually put in all caps, screamed out at the whole world so there is no doubt who we are taking about here. It is YOU, YOU, I tell ya. YOU are a total failure as human being.

No, no it is not. The need for those caps reveals a defensiveness and doubt that is so typical of people caught up in knee jerk emotionalism and rhetoric. When one is in that state it is all about YOU. Often our mean little words projected out at somebody else reveal a great deal about what is going on in our own psyches and have very little to do with the person we are pitching our own little digs at. OUR OWN little digs, as in what we say about others are what we say about ourselves.

When you insult someone, especially a complete stranger on the internet, it is all about YOU. You do possess the truth, but all you possess is the truth about yourself.

Can’t we all just get along? No, no we cannot. It is not the nature of human beings to get along and agree on everything. In fact, when that happens it’s rather creepy. What we can do however, is act civilly towards each other. Stop personalizing every single issue as if it is all about YOU and your personal offense and how YOU feel.

It would be lovely if, when somebody writes something on the internet that speaks to their own experiences as a human being, we would stop and consider the fact that this is not all about YOU. This is about somebody else, a real live person with feelings, emotions, etc. YOU do not have to agree. YOU may even want to disagree. YOU may even want to point them in another direction. YOU may even want to start your own blog to express YOUR own views.

I rather enjoy controversy, debate, confrontation even, as long as it is somewhat civil and kind. The Stupid however, it just annoys me.