Mean People

This post is the same one I put up on Empty Nest for today which is day 10 of NaBloPoMo. Sharing your thoughts is welcomed but hate-filled comments will be deleted.

Stop it. This is getting ridiculous and you're showing you asses.

The election is over (thank God!) and that's the best news that I've heard. This is not a post about my opinion about the results (some of you already know that anyway and the rest of you don't need to) this post is about what I find more disgusting than the election: the aftermath of hatred.

I have not 'unfriended' one single person during the campaign (though, in all honesty, I have chosen to 'see less' from a few). We all have our own opinions and, while I do not feel that social media is a place to spout those opinions and many friends do, I do not see the logic in 'unfriending' someone over an opinion. You don't have to agree with me to be my friend. I believe that having only friends who share my opinions would be lacking in thought-provoking conversations to say the least. Not to mention I appreciate and enjoy a good debate between friends as long as it's a real debate not a slathering of insults. Sharing thoughts and ideas is healthy, thought provoking and, I think, a learning experience. It can expose you to how others see the world allowing you to be empathetic. It can remind you that people from different walks of life and those who have had different life experiences see things differently from you. It can foster an appreciation and respect for the perspective of other people. I have always appreciated new ideas and sharing thoughts with others. I'm not sure where having differing opinions took a very wrong, very sad, very frightening turn. But it did.

And here we are.

I've heard and read things in just a couple of days that are making my skin crawl. And some of these things have come out of the minds of people I know PERSONALLY. I'm not sure how the spreading of fear and hatred is going to help anyone with anything. I've never seen either of those things help anyone or a situation. I've seen fear and hatred to just the opposite. Is this really the way people want to be? Besides, how can people be this crazy over an election and not have the slightest upset over the course the campaigns took? But that's another post altogether.

Just yesterday I saw a post that referred to the people who said they would leave the US if Trump won and the person who posted told those people, emphatically, to "start packing we don't need you here in this country." And that's one of the mildest posts. I'm not even going to tell y'all about a comment (that was based on an assumption) a teacher friend got. Then there's my friend who commented on a post showing youth protesting (this is what they do, they protest and that's better than sitting down not being heard at all) and my friend commented that these were the people who voted for her and how they were not Americans that she wanted to be associated with. Listen, friend, that's just like me saying that the Americans who voted for Trump are uneducated, white males...white supremacists...and the like. I take offense to anyone who lumps all who voted for one candidate or the other into one category of 'types' of Americans. Get over yourself.

These people are not speaking for me. I want you all here in this country. The people are what make this country great and we are still, because we've never stopped being, great.

Spouting comments like the ones above is a form of bullying. It's like telling someone who has fallen into such despair they feel like suicide is their only way out to go ahead and do it. That's not the way, y'all. That's what bullies do.

So today, I am considering 'unfriending' a few people who are posting bully-like remarks. I'm not going to support that behavior no matter who you are. Spreading hate is a good way to set us back decades and that's awful especially since we aren't there yet. We have a long, hard road to travel but I think it would be easier with the love and support of our fellow human beings.

This is not the first time an election has left people either upset or gloating. I'm pretty sure it happens about every four years. Not everyone gets their way every time there's an election. But this is the first time I recall everyone being so hateful about it. Let's not be sore 'losers' or worse 'winners.' Regardless of whether or not your candidate won, we're in this together so, take the high road.

I do not mean to sit there and let things happen to you. It is of the utmost importance that we pay close attention to what is going on in the form of FACTS. What I am talking about is not dragging others down. Our words carry a lot of weight. Choose them to lift people up instead of trying to destroy them.

My question: What in the actual hell is wrong with people?