I don't mind speaking about politics with someone if we are face to face. I don't mind looking at different views. I try my hardest to discuss the views and keep it away from being personal. When speaking to someone in person you can't be nearly as mean spirited and cutting as you can when you have the veil of the internet. It's also weird if you say passive aggressive things to a group of people while standing in front of them. You mind your manners a lot more when in front of people.
It is common knowledge that you shouldn't speak about religion or politics in polite company for reasons that I'm sure you will agree with after this campaigning season. People get very emotional and fired up when speaking about these things. My question is when did your facebook friends stop being polite company?
The internet has gone wild wild west. People are going on and sharing their strong opinions with no regard for human life. If you feel like you are going to change someone's mind about politics by updating your status you are going to be sadly mistaken. If anything you will draw people away from your way of thinking.
In the book How To Win Friends And Influence People ( I recommend you purchase this book right now, go home, read it twice) Dale Carnegie talks about how criticizing, condemning, and complaining are three sure fire ways to get people not to respect you. By posting something negative or mean on facebook about politics not only have you not been polite but you have gone a step further and ruined some of your credibility. Even if you have a logical opinion, if you say it in a mean way, nobody will be interested in hearing it.
I am no better then anyone else out there. I have the same feelings about politics as half of you. And being completely honest when I see things that make me angry I have negative thoughts. One difference is that I won't put those things on the internet. It won't do you or I any favors. Also if you say a bunch of mean spirited things and then cap it off with "It doesn't matter because I'm voting for Jesus and Jesus is Lord of all" then I really don't believe you and I wish you wouldn't drag Jesus into your inconsiderate behavior.
It is common knowledge that you shouldn't speak about religion or politics in polite company for reasons that I'm sure you will agree with after this campaigning season. People get very emotional and fired up when speaking about these things. My question is when did your facebook friends stop being polite company?
The internet has gone wild wild west. People are going on and sharing their strong opinions with no regard for human life. If you feel like you are going to change someone's mind about politics by updating your status you are going to be sadly mistaken. If anything you will draw people away from your way of thinking.
In the book How To Win Friends And Influence People ( I recommend you purchase this book right now, go home, read it twice) Dale Carnegie talks about how criticizing, condemning, and complaining are three sure fire ways to get people not to respect you. By posting something negative or mean on facebook about politics not only have you not been polite but you have gone a step further and ruined some of your credibility. Even if you have a logical opinion, if you say it in a mean way, nobody will be interested in hearing it.
I am no better then anyone else out there. I have the same feelings about politics as half of you. And being completely honest when I see things that make me angry I have negative thoughts. One difference is that I won't put those things on the internet. It won't do you or I any favors. Also if you say a bunch of mean spirited things and then cap it off with "It doesn't matter because I'm voting for Jesus and Jesus is Lord of all" then I really don't believe you and I wish you wouldn't drag Jesus into your inconsiderate behavior.
5 comments:
I really like this.
I've flipped through the Carnegie book but haven't read it completely.
Been a while since I've checked in here. Thank you for this. And Carnegie knows his stuff.
Your views are stupid. Let's grab lunch tomorrow.
I don't know if yours was a rhetorical question but, I think that people stopped being polite company on the internet this campaign season when they felt threatened. We all tend to make our worst decisions in fear. When we feel like something is being taken away from us or some right or core belief is being compromised. It turned into an all-out battle that many political commentators have said is more isolated and separated than many other times in history.
All this, of course, only another perspective.
I think there is also a certain amount of defensiveness from both sides. We are usually defensive when we are not 100% confident in what we are saying or what we believe. For example of somebody tells a guy he is ugly and he doesn't believe that to be true he won't have a huge problem with it and he might laugh. But when people get close to our insecurities we battle hard about them almost as we are trying to also convince ourselves. I find I am defensive the most when I am insecure on whether I am right or wrong. This probably doesn't make sense, but it certainly isn't an excuse to belittle someone or their ideas.
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