Stand with the people of Iran against the murderous Islamic theocracy!
posted by Infidel753 at 1:02 AM
Individualist, pro-technology, pro-democracy, anti-religion. I speak only for myself and not for any ideology, movement, or party. It has been my great good fortune to live my whole life free of "spirituality" of any kind. I believe that evidence and reason are the keys to understanding reality; that technology rather than ideology or politics has been the great liberator of humanity; and that in the long run, human intelligence is the most powerful force in the universe.
God doesn't exist
Evolution happened
Global warming is real
Aging is a curable disease
The election was not stolen
Everything "spiritual" is a lie
US out of UN, UN out of US
Free speech is for everybody
Humans do not have "souls"
Men can't become women
Fetuses are not persons
Words are not violence
Taiwan is a nation
Pluto is a planet
9 Comments:
People shouldn’t just ghost one another and leave the person hanging in confusion. I think it is mostly cowardly.
I’m sorry this happened. I confess that I have also done this ghosting (and have had it done to me). I just felt that the person had to know why and there was no point in further discussion. I don’t know your situation, of course, but in mine I felt that I was being deliberately trolled in two separate cases, one on the far right and one on the far left, amusingly enough, in order for the person to “show off” in front of other friends, which I found frankly humiliating. If it had been a serious conversation (in either case), I might not have done it. Sometimes when I feel emotionally stressed, it’s just too much to engage in conversation over hot topics, so perhaps your (former) friend similarly felt overloaded and past her limit of engagement. It’s possible she will respond to your email when she feels better. I hope so!
Oh my. Idunno, Infidel - I sit in this world with the fundamental understanding that I don't know enough about everything to profess an accurate opinion about most anything. I believe the term that I like to apply to myself is; "Blissfully ignorant". I blog to share memes and comics, to offer some observations on matters of planet, stupidity and wealth. To perform due diligence with research and references when posting a missive. To accept constructive criticism and opinions when they either augment the post or provide a balanced counterpoint to the commentary. It's why I appreciate our relationship! But to ghost someone because their viewpoint not aligned with a specific world view... that's just sad. At least have the decency to tell the person, personally, the why.
Given your history with this person, and the benefit they have been in your life, I will hedge that it may be something as innocuous as "my computer / internet crashed in mid-sentence" (not like that has never happened). Or like Debra (She Who Seeks); away, REALLY AWAY, on vacation.
I hope these things find a healthy resolve.
Rade
Anvil: I certainly wouldn't, nor consider it acceptable behavior from someone else, in a case where there was an amicable relationship going back years. But it's depressingly common.
Paula: It sounds like you were under personal attack, of a sort. I don't think things I wrote on my own blog, directed at a general audience and not targeting any particular individual, could reasonably be construed the same way.
She's been posting on her own blog during the whole week when this stuff was happening, and seems to be in good spirits, not overloaded or depressed about anything. I know people sometimes can come across that way even when they have bad stuff going on, but it's all I have to go by.
Rade: It's admirable modesty. Lots of people claim more certainty than they can justify. I think I can write authoritatively on a few areas where I really do know more than most people -- the Middle East, basic science -- but in most areas I have to be cautious.
If she hadn't been active on the internet at all during this time, the possibility of her internet being down is the first explanation I'd go for, but as I mentioned to Paula above, she's been posting on her blog. Knowing this person as I do, the more I think about it, the more plausible it seems that she simply decided she didn't want to go on interacting with somebody who didn't have the same political views in even some areas.
It's very odd when someone just cuts you dead and you have no idea what the trigger was. One of my long-standing blogmates who had known me for the best part of 20 years suddenly decided I "lacked empathy" and gave me the cold shoulder. I still have no idea what she was referring to, as she had never accused me of lacking empathy before. Hopefully your blogmate may come back to you.
I have some FB friends that I've been online friends with for more than 20 years that cut me off when they realized that I wasn't Republican. There are others that say if you don't agree with them and their views, unfriend them. I am not political at all on FB for these kinds of reasons. People who have differing opinions should still be able to be friends.
I've had instances like that. Time will eventually heal the hurt.
I'm relieved on your behalf. I've lost more than one friend over political commentary, my own mother in law (well, it's his step mom, so whatever) dumped me from social media. Long story. I shouldn't care, but I do, a bit. I think we all want to be liked.
Anyway, glad to hear this particular situation was resolved.
Everyone, I appreciate the support. The number of people here who have had experiences of actually being ghosted or cut off over political differences shows that it does sometimes happen. I sympathize.
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