...no. What could I say?
I'm going to try to keep this very general. I have a hunch that, were I specific, I'd piss people off.
Because I try to be fair. And I see lots of people who, in my non-humble opinion, don't give two craps about being fair.
I see too many cases of the seeming attitude "I can't just believe something: I have to be a jackass about it." I see too much dismissal. I see repeated attempts to, say, correct something that's incorrect (I know, I know, someone is always wrong on the Internet) get simply ignored.
It's easy to ignore! I know!
And it's easy not to listen. Corollary: it can be hard to listen.
I'm trying to listen. I really am. I'm trying not to be dismissive. I try not to be passive-aggressive. (One big exception to that, that I'll admit to because I'm working to be honest: lately I've seen people doing the dumb thing of bicycling on sidewalks, and I say to them as they pass "Really?" And what I truly want to say to them is "Ha ha! You're too scared to ride on the street!," buuuuuuuuuut that's, heh, overly confrontational.) I try not to twist others' words.
One thing I need to do is be better at arguing, but I run up against the personal wall of how I don't like to argue, how I almost literally argue myself out of arguing with others because, in my efforts to think through my potential arguments, I feel the other person won't argue in good faith. I assume they won't be fair, and that my trying to be fair leaves me more likely to be dismissed. When I realize I'm likely to resort to yellng instead of arguing, I know something's off.
I've said this before. I've felt this before. This is unorganized even by the standards of blogs, but it's what's on my mind.
Can I have other stuff on my mind, please? (There. Now I'll see if I listen to myself...)
