I don’t know why I bother, I truly don’t.
I was on Facebook yesterday and Boston.com, along with every news and pseudo-news outlet ran a piece on the firing of Roseanne and the cancellation of her show. It certainly was the topic of the day.
Against my better judgment, I posted a comment about the firing. I strongly feel that the way bad behavior is handled is extremely uneven in this country and I felt compelled to voice that sentiment. So, without weighing in on the content of the remark or “tweet” in question I remarked that it is hypocritical to cancel the show but not to cancel or censure certain shows like The View, Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel and Samantha Bee, who routinely say horrible things about Conservatives and our President in particular. My comment was very to the point and politely stated, my point is that it is handled differently depending on what side is being attacked.
You, as my reader may disagree with me but I’m pretty comfortable with my statement.
I was immediately attacked as a racist, a Nazi, a “Trumpite” and a “Snowflake”(If you can imagine that). It became immediately clear that of all of the vitriolic responses were as if they never actually read my comment. I never endorsed her comment, it was despicable. I never said that it’s ok to liken African Americans to Apes. I simply stated that it’s a different ball game when someone attacks a conservative.
I am proud of myself for not lowering myself to the level of the commenters. I didn’t devolve into name-calling or the exchange of insults. I implored my commenters to read my comment again and finally turned off notifications.
I’m disgusted with the whole thing and I’m even more upset with myself for not refraining. See, I forgot that we no longer live in a country where reasonable discourse and civil conversation are allowed, even encouraged. We now live in an age of butt-hurt, overly sensitive and overly opinionated people who never learned to open their ears and eyes before growing “keyboard balls” and calling anyone who doesn’t agree with them names.
I am so glad to be a part of the blogging community. The people I encounter here are rational, tolerant and capable of disagreeing without long-term consequences. You all are truly special.
As for Facebook? I think I may have made my last comment ever on that platform
The Tao of Bill 
Facebook discussions are so different than WordPress discussions. Over there I just poke the box and watch the frothing while continuing to interject commentary I consider of a reasonable and heartfelt nature. It’s a different kind of fun.
Like, just yesterday, I responded to someone requesting The View to be canceled because Roseanne was canceled by simply saying “They should cancel that rotten POtuS show, too.”
I put an appropriate winky emoji next to it, but still got hit with fiery backlash and snowflake remarks. Then a liberal I never met jumped in to flame my attacker and the whole train went off the rails.
Like I said, it’s a different kind of fun. 😏
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Case in point. You and I likely hold very different political views yet you read my post for what it was and offered a civil, intelligent response. WordPress 1, FB 0
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I think that actually puts WP up and beyond reach. There should be a mercy rule imposed. 🙂
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Hey Superman!
It’s admirable that you want to participate in online ‘discourse’ but it is like spitting into a roaring fire; it just adds to the sizzle. I scroll through my facebook page about once every two or three days (but I don’t have a lot of ‘friends’ so I am not attached to FB) and only pause on something that is interesting but not inflammatory (such as positive thought memes). It is ABSOLUTALLY useless to try to discuss anything in social media. I don’t bother.
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You are entirely correct KC. How are you?
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I’m doing. You?
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I NEVER offer commentary on anything remotely political or religious for the reason you outlined here
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Lesson learned.
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I do, esp. about politics, just not on social media. I’ll stick to WP where I can find tolerance and constructive discussions, regardless differing opinions.
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People on the internet can be cruel. You need to either have a lot of time or extremely thick skin. Even then, it’s not worth it most of the time.
I think that example is somewhat lopsided, tho. Late night shows have always relied on humour and colourful language. They make digs at politicians, but is there any real malice behind it? Who knows. It’s for entertainment purposes. That’s their job – to mock and make light of people. They can’t get fired for what they’ve been hired to do. It’s like firing a clown for squirting water at someone because you fired the traffic warden for the same thing. It’s not really the same.
Roseanne Barr’s tweet was racism, pure and simple. There’s no defence. No argument to be made. She was wrong. ABC chose to dismiss her because she most likely breached her contract.
The main problem I have is that people will rush to say that there’s a double standard without realising that it’s another topic entirely. We can talk about how she’s racist. We can talk about the double standard in the media. Personally, I’m not interested in talking about how she’s racist BUT there are double standards in the media. If that makes sense.
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your last point in really my only point. It kills me that anyone would think that I would defend what she said. It was despicable
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I get you.
I know sometimes it’s hard not to join in when you have something to say, but what I used to do was write out a comment, leave it for a bit before editing it or deleting it. You get the words out, but you don’t have to deal with the headache.
Usually both sides are guilty of the same things they accuse each other of, so it’s all pointless really.
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Good advice
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