Wednesday, April 20, 2011

No Room for Discussion

Once upon a time, I wouldn't be caught dead making anything that might be construed as a 'political' statement. I hated confrontation, arguments and anything like that, so I refused to comment on politics and religion. Sometimes, even weather didn't seem like a 'safe' subject.

But I've gotten cranky as I've aged. Politicians have gotten even more outrageous, and the sheep that blindly follow one party or the other have gotten even more woolly.

I consider myself an Independent. I pick and choose which way I want to lean on any given subject. I even occasionally express an opinion that might not agree with that of those I'm with, exercising my right to have my own opinion.

Hard-core sheep don't like it when you aren't flowing along with the rest of the herd.

I recently found myself on a chatlist, the purported tenants of which I agreed with – showing support for our military people fighting across the seas. I expressed my support, and was about to skip back to whatever website I'd been on, when I realized that most of the comments on this chatlist were actually an unimaginative bashing of a politician I currently admire. I lost my temper and caustically bashed an entire political party, blaming them for a great deal of what I saw wrong in the country.

A few hours later, I received a message from someone on that chatlist, informing me I should educate myself before exposing my ignorance. Evidently, if I don't agree with them, I'm not entitled to have an opinion. Now, when was that right stripped from me? Somebody forgot to tell me.

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