Friday, May 26, 2017

Offended


I put no restrictions on who reads my writing because a) how could I? People will share as they please, this is the digital age, shit gets passed around b) someone could come across my blog online and c) why would I want to? I bring this up because recently I received an email from someone who stated they were offended by something I wrote. Now my first reaction was to think “well fuck you, I can easily remove you from the email list, why are you on there anyway, asshole.”  (I know pretty extreme, probably should talk to someone about that rage) However, I do in fact care what people think of my posts. Well to the extent that it’s relevant to what I’ve written. I share my ideas, views and opinions as entertainment but also for discussion, so why be pissed off if someone doesn’t like something I've shared. At the same time, just because you’re offended doesn’t necessarily make you right, so let’s talk about it. And to be clear what the person objected to is irrelevant and has been discussed in full by myself and the complainer uh, person who addressed the issue.

I have at times been brutally honest and emotional in my writing as I’m never ashamed of the feelings I set to words. I find it somewhat cathartic to express my feelings by putting them to paper or to be more accurate to Microsoft Word…this being the Millennium and all. Alternately, I find it dishonest and restrictive to have to consider the feelings of others when I write. When I’m putting thoughts to Word (see above), I can’t fully express myself if I have to take into account the feelings of every possible reader. I’m not saying your feelings are invalid but they are only to the extent that they don’t hinder the conversation. To be honest, based on the topics of the majority of my posts someone is bound to be offended or will choose to be, so it may be unavoidable. After all, isn’t offense a subjective term? I for one am offended by grown men in Rompers…seriously whose idea was this?

If my honesty or my opinion offends you, I apologize but I won’t stop. So when you read something I’ve written which you may find objectionable or offensive, I encourage you to discuss. We don’t have to agree in order to have a conversation. By the way, there is no shame in asking to be removed from my blog list…no one will know but you and me. And contrary to my initial reaction in the first paragraph, I promise I won’t go all Incredible Hulk on you and curse you out.