Common Courtesy

I know that not everyone agrees with me all of the time. I don't understand it -- I'm so reasonable and, you know, RIGHT -- but I get it. When I'm all "ranty angsty agggghhhhh you're wrong I'm right I need to vennnnt"I come here and get it out.

This, you see, is a reasonable place for that kind of discourse. If you come here and disagree with me, you can do so and we can have a conversation in a space that I feel is safer and less fraught than face to face angry shoutyness.

Plus -- and this is the point of this -- I'm okay with the fact that people have dissenting opinions? And I want to be respectful of those around me, who's opinions I might not be aware of. You see, my momma raised me right, and one of the things she was very insistent on was that you need to be polite and courteous, and one of the things that is the opposite of those is telling someone you don't know very well that you think they're stupid.

To their face.

Which may or may not have happened to me today when I politely and quietly disagreed with a blowhard who was going off about the President (who I admire) and a couple of candidates (who I support) and a particular religious group AND the sanctity of Christmas.

Y'all, I bit my tongue. I BIT THROUGH MY TONGUE. And then there could be no more biting and I had to say something, though it hurt because my tongue was bleeding.

And the something I said was this: "I think you are being unkind. I support your right to have your beliefs, though I do not share them, but you are presenting them in a way that doesn't allow for thoughtful debate, and you are presenting them in an environment that has clearly defined power lines so that some people don't feel empowered to stand up to you. Perhaps, if you'd like to continue this conversation, it could be taken off site? Because this is not the time or the place."

This is not what I wanted to say.

What I wanted to say was: DON'T BE A DICK. STOP BEING SUCH A DICK.

But my momma raised me right.

Still.

DON'T BE A DICK.