My Tail Is Not Between My Legs

My newest favoritest blog is "And then she was blah blah blah." I was reading back through the archives and came across this post that says the thing I have been trying to come up with for a week.  So all credits and applause to Ru. I hope I'm not getting too stalker-ish. 

I hate:

1. The belief that because I tell the truth, I am necessarily admirable.

This is based on false logic.  The truth is good, as is the search for truth.  But your opinion is not the truth.

But I'm sharing my honest opinion!  you say.  I'm being real when most people are just being phoneys!

The fact that you are being genuine may be admirable.  But if you are a genuine ass, don't be surprised when people treat you as such.

2. The belief that because I shared my honest opinion, I cannot be criticized.

Look, you shared your opinion.  Now you have to be prepared to back it up.  The fact that I dislike or disagree with your opinion does not make me a bigot or infringe on your First Amendment rights.  (Because as much as I wish otherwise, I am not a government agent.  I digress.)

If you are going to enter the marketplace of ideas, you don't get run right back inside your fortress of solitude as soon as you've shouted your opinion in my face, without giving me time to respond.

3. The belief that all criticism is hateful.

Look.  I may have unnecessarily thick skin when it comes to this final issue.  I wrote for a certain unnamed college newspaper back in the day, and I remember every nasty thing anyone ever said about my writing/my opinion/me.  I was called stupid, bigoted, lame, hypocritical, prejudiced, biased, dishonest, and someone even implied I was into BDSM.  (Don't google that if you don't know what it means.)

Did it hurt my feelings?  Sometimes.  But it made me very aware of the line between criticizing a subject, and criticizing a person.

Calling my ideas stupid is not hateful.  Calling me stupid is.  Only if I actually am stupid will I fail to see the distinction here.

I don't even think I need to put a closer on here.

See you tomorrow folks.