I'm espousing civility and decency but my influence isn't rubbing off on others. That's become readily apparent recently.
Yesterday a remote advocate/supporter of mine (I've never met her, don't know her) tied into a detractor of mine at Amazon with such mean-spirited vitriol that I had to email her and ask her to back off. She ultimately deleted what she wrote, while proclaiming her First Amendment right to say anything she darn well pleased!
That might work with public figures (who would go broke suing slanderers every time they were misrepresented), but it doesn't with private citizens. She herself could have been sued for the character assassination she was responsible for, so I'm doubly glad she deleted the posts.
Unfortunately that leaves the detractor's response to her verbal diarrhea, so I had to introduce myself into the circus to defend myself, point by point, against the original writer's accusations/ assumptions/misrepresentations. At the end, I also reminded that lady that she was treading on thin ice and in danger of being sued for defamation of character. (I reported her post to Amazon with the hope that they will require her to retract it. They may be equally-responsible for disseminating the recent slander if they don't. I'm looking into that...)
Had my "defender" let this sleeping dog lie (the detractor's low rating of DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories has been there for years with an occasional diplomatic letter of support for me from others) there would have been no follow-up "defense" of her position... and I would not now be tarred-and-feathered by accusations I feel compelled to counteract point by point.
I'm telling this tawdry story simply to throw a spotlight on the ugly fact that too many people have become absolute monsters to people they don't even know.
They attack others' characters as part of a daily ritual.
The vitriol they contain must make them ill inside physically and mentally.
I just don't understand it.
Why would a person give away their power like that? Why would they allow another's opinion to rile them to a point where they're willing to come across like ogres themselves simply to make the other person look worse than their own words already confirm?
I think much of the world has gone insane. I know we live in a fallen world but it would seem to me that our charge is to get back up and try again with a more level head and a renewed heart. That doesn't seem to be happening.
I don't get any joy in castrating or castigating others, even when I disagree with them. I don't understand how anyone would. Verbal violence is an alien idea to me since I grew up and decided to become an adult. Causing each other spiritual harm is not in my playbook.
I hope those of you who follow and/or support me will do so in ways that reflect well on yourself, on your God, and on me. I don't need the support of people who are going to treat others like pond scum. That only exacerbates an already-festering sore. It heals no one, raises no one, blesses no one.
You reap what you sow. Remember that and this blog post will have done its job.
If you can't defend me with love and diplomacy, don't defend me at all. That's all I ask.
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