Lucidia
August 22nd, 2001, 08:38 AM
I wrote this the other day because of a HUGE amount of discussion about who is a problem, and blah blah blaggedy blah foo
i'm SO tired of all these huge tirades focused towards whoever was unlucky enough to get picked to be the MW scape goat for today, or this week, etc.
well, read on, if you want to:
Seems like we have a scapegoat problem.
everytime someone leaves/gets blocked/banned/etc, the focus turns to someone else, and then everyone rants and raves and picks at everything they do. Until they leave, or they are forced to change their personality to appease the masses
Life is about learning to adapt and deal with people. I know not everyone will always get along, but I think it's time we toughened our skin a bit.
Not everyone is out to attack you. Yes, you are probably in a minority by choice (in regard to your beliefs and lifestyle), and you come here in search of association with open minded, and sometimes like minded folks. Sometimes we all feel alone, and that feeling isn't very pleasant. Here at MW, we find those who we can relate to. People we don't have to be FAKE with. People who will not judge us.
But that's not what is happening. We all at times seem to judge, and convict, and inevitably sentance people just the same way that we ourselves have probably experienced persecution.
I don't understand why it's wrong to persecute someone based on their beliefs, if you are going to persecute people based on their way of expressing themselves, and inevitably, their personality.
You were raised, and that environment forged who you are. Probably during the first 10 years of your life, much of who you are was decided by the people that you were entrusted to. Parents, relatives, older siblings, family friends, teachers, babysitters, tutors, guidance counselors, therapists, and many more people.
Most of us grew up in different surroundings. many of us had religiously zealous parents. some of us had no parents. some of us may have been raised in poor households. some of us have experienced varying levels of trauma and tragedy.
Everyone has a different story. Everyone has a different voice.
So you're thinking... perhaps, as I refuse to assume.... "Gee Lucidia, I don't think you are taking into account how offended I am when -which ever member is currently being spotlighted- makes comments like this or like that. It's just not appropriate."
and perhaps... you're thinking "We don't do that. I give everyone an equal chance, until they push me past my limits. they are just too offensive"
But you know, what offends each person is different. Did you ever think that something YOU said, that you find perfectly justifiable, might have SERIOUSLY offended someone else?
Did you ever realize, that maybe, just maybe, the people that you find intolerable, and can't stop scruitinzing, might just have some deep dark reason as to why they feel so strongly about things, and feel the need to express things that are controversial?
The worst part of all, is that in this constant Big Brother 1984 nightmare of being a moderator, I have to keep watch for the people that are honestly trying to make trouble, but somdtimes I miss out on those posts, cause i'm too busy answering IMs and PMs and e-mails about how horrible this person is, and how offensive they are... when the person in question is guilty of nothing more than having a personality that is unique, and perhaps just not appreciated by most people.
You know, most people don't appreciate pagans.
WE, of all people, as those who live, or respect, alternative (meaning non-mainstream beliefs such as judaism or christianity or something like that) lifestyles and hold pagan, or just non-mainstream, beliefs, should understand what it's like not being understood, being persecuted, being shunned and sometimes abandonded.
I know we have rules, and I know that sometimes people seem to break those rules.
But before you begin to assume that it's an attack on you, remeber that you, and I, and everyone else, expresses themselves different, and it's just not fair to start a war against someone's personality.
If you don't like what someone says, remember that they didn't say it to personaly offend you. They said it because they felt comfortable, and expect everyone to be mature enough, to know when they are being serious, and to accept them for who they are.
Although there is a line to be drawn, and limit to how "free" our speech can really be, I only ask, that you remember that not everyone is out to destroy the "sanctity" of MW, or to bash and offend it's many community members.
Some people, are just different.
On a final note, I have to say... it's the people i judged before I really got to know them, that become my best friends, and often give me the best advice when i need it.
First impressions often lead to what seem to be unstable foundations, and the relationships we forge on those foundations seems likely to fall to peices.
But the leaning tower of pisa (sp?) has been leaning for years. hasn't quite fallen yet. Does this mean we should knock it down cause it seems unstable? Should we destroy a valuable peice of history just because we don't like the way it's tilting. Obviously not.
Although we will not become "best buddies" with everyone on MW, and some of them will ALWAYS rub us the wrong way. Remember that they can still be a valuable asset to our community. If you can just learn to accept people for who they are. It will bring us one step farther away from the mainstream, from the way society judges and persecutes those who don't act the same, from the elitist nature that permeates and ultimately segragates people from each other, just because they are different.
WE are all different. Understanding and accepting this, will be the key to peace, within ourselves, and within our community.
That is all.
i'm SO tired of all these huge tirades focused towards whoever was unlucky enough to get picked to be the MW scape goat for today, or this week, etc.
well, read on, if you want to:
Seems like we have a scapegoat problem.
everytime someone leaves/gets blocked/banned/etc, the focus turns to someone else, and then everyone rants and raves and picks at everything they do. Until they leave, or they are forced to change their personality to appease the masses
Life is about learning to adapt and deal with people. I know not everyone will always get along, but I think it's time we toughened our skin a bit.
Not everyone is out to attack you. Yes, you are probably in a minority by choice (in regard to your beliefs and lifestyle), and you come here in search of association with open minded, and sometimes like minded folks. Sometimes we all feel alone, and that feeling isn't very pleasant. Here at MW, we find those who we can relate to. People we don't have to be FAKE with. People who will not judge us.
But that's not what is happening. We all at times seem to judge, and convict, and inevitably sentance people just the same way that we ourselves have probably experienced persecution.
I don't understand why it's wrong to persecute someone based on their beliefs, if you are going to persecute people based on their way of expressing themselves, and inevitably, their personality.
You were raised, and that environment forged who you are. Probably during the first 10 years of your life, much of who you are was decided by the people that you were entrusted to. Parents, relatives, older siblings, family friends, teachers, babysitters, tutors, guidance counselors, therapists, and many more people.
Most of us grew up in different surroundings. many of us had religiously zealous parents. some of us had no parents. some of us may have been raised in poor households. some of us have experienced varying levels of trauma and tragedy.
Everyone has a different story. Everyone has a different voice.
So you're thinking... perhaps, as I refuse to assume.... "Gee Lucidia, I don't think you are taking into account how offended I am when -which ever member is currently being spotlighted- makes comments like this or like that. It's just not appropriate."
and perhaps... you're thinking "We don't do that. I give everyone an equal chance, until they push me past my limits. they are just too offensive"
But you know, what offends each person is different. Did you ever think that something YOU said, that you find perfectly justifiable, might have SERIOUSLY offended someone else?
Did you ever realize, that maybe, just maybe, the people that you find intolerable, and can't stop scruitinzing, might just have some deep dark reason as to why they feel so strongly about things, and feel the need to express things that are controversial?
The worst part of all, is that in this constant Big Brother 1984 nightmare of being a moderator, I have to keep watch for the people that are honestly trying to make trouble, but somdtimes I miss out on those posts, cause i'm too busy answering IMs and PMs and e-mails about how horrible this person is, and how offensive they are... when the person in question is guilty of nothing more than having a personality that is unique, and perhaps just not appreciated by most people.
You know, most people don't appreciate pagans.
WE, of all people, as those who live, or respect, alternative (meaning non-mainstream beliefs such as judaism or christianity or something like that) lifestyles and hold pagan, or just non-mainstream, beliefs, should understand what it's like not being understood, being persecuted, being shunned and sometimes abandonded.
I know we have rules, and I know that sometimes people seem to break those rules.
But before you begin to assume that it's an attack on you, remeber that you, and I, and everyone else, expresses themselves different, and it's just not fair to start a war against someone's personality.
If you don't like what someone says, remember that they didn't say it to personaly offend you. They said it because they felt comfortable, and expect everyone to be mature enough, to know when they are being serious, and to accept them for who they are.
Although there is a line to be drawn, and limit to how "free" our speech can really be, I only ask, that you remember that not everyone is out to destroy the "sanctity" of MW, or to bash and offend it's many community members.
Some people, are just different.
On a final note, I have to say... it's the people i judged before I really got to know them, that become my best friends, and often give me the best advice when i need it.
First impressions often lead to what seem to be unstable foundations, and the relationships we forge on those foundations seems likely to fall to peices.
But the leaning tower of pisa (sp?) has been leaning for years. hasn't quite fallen yet. Does this mean we should knock it down cause it seems unstable? Should we destroy a valuable peice of history just because we don't like the way it's tilting. Obviously not.
Although we will not become "best buddies" with everyone on MW, and some of them will ALWAYS rub us the wrong way. Remember that they can still be a valuable asset to our community. If you can just learn to accept people for who they are. It will bring us one step farther away from the mainstream, from the way society judges and persecutes those who don't act the same, from the elitist nature that permeates and ultimately segragates people from each other, just because they are different.
WE are all different. Understanding and accepting this, will be the key to peace, within ourselves, and within our community.
That is all.