07/30/2024
I know that I am going to get into a lot of trouble over this, but I am just exhausted OVER EVERYTHING and I know that what I am about to say is not going to change anybody’s mind, but I feel the need to say it anyway.
PLEASE STOP FIGHTING OVER THE OPENING CEREMONIES OF THE OLYMPICS!!! Please remember that I said, “Please”.
If someone wants to be offended about something that you don’t think they should be offended about, because you know more about what offended them than they do, trying to educate them is only going to p**s them off more.
Please remember, THIS IS THE F’N OLYMPICS!!! NOBODY CARES ABOUT THEM!!!
We all have family members and friends who look at what is going on in our country and our world differently than we do and as a result will react to events and vote differently than we do. PLEASE LET THEM!!!
The Presidential election is not going to be lost or won, trying to change minds. It will be lost or won based on two things.
1. Making sure that everyone who agrees with us votes with us and doesn’t either not vote or casts a protest vote for a third party candidate, because they are an infant and doesn’t like who was chosen to be the VP or because the candidate doesn’t agree with us on every single issue that we hold dear. GROW UP!!!
2. Convincing that very small percentage of the population who are undecided, even though the choices could not be more clear, to vote with us. How do we do that? By getting out of our own heads and trying to look at the country and world through another person’s point of view.
How is it possible that someone could be undecided? The main reason is that the most visible and vocal voices on each side often seem unreasonable at best or insane at worst. The other reason is that their Facebook feeds are flooded with people fighting over nonsense and they are as exhausted as I am over it all.
I was watching The Avengers for the umpteenth time yesterday and the scene where the Avengers were fighting with each other and Loki’s scepter was glowing brighter as a result and it became clear that it was torquing up their emotions truly resonated with me.
Social media is the mind stone. It gets us all torqued up over nonsense. We don’t have enough personal bandwidth or time to truly connect with our family members or friends in person, so we try to replace that lack of connection with a social media connection and when that goes awry, because it is a terrible medium for communicating complex feelings and ideas, it just produces more anger and hostility.
So instead of fighting with someone on social media, please give this a try.
1. Ignore what they post on social media and call them on the phone, or if possible, go see them in person. They need to hear your tone of voice so that they know that you are sincere.
2. Be sincere.
3. Before you talk about what you are fighting about, tell them that you love them and will always love them.
4. Tell them that you recognize that there will always be things about which that you disagree and that is OK.
5. If there is something about which the you agree, remind them about that.
6. After all that has been done, hopefully you realize that it is not even necessary to discuss what you disagree about anymore, because it doesn’t really matter, and you find something less controversial to talk about.
