The Ideology of Stupid…

What is it that makes a person say or do stupid things? Better yet, how come there is this need to sensationalize this stupidity by attaching it to social media?

The Problem

I can’t scroll through (insert social media name here) without being inundated with people’s opinions on one topic or another (mostly political these days) and suffer through the plethora of nonsense that was once relegated to private conversations or backdoored drawing rooms*.

I mean, I remember when people would say, “You never talk about politics or religion” when it came to dinner parties and places where you were prone to gather with a large group of individuals.

The Reason

The reason you never did was because everyone has an opinion and everyone’s opinion is probably different than yours. Take any candidate and ask a supporter what they agree with about them, and sure enough, another supporter will pop up and say that’s the thing they don’t like about them, but they love this about them.

So, ultimately, an argument is going to ensue to one degree or another. Now, when you take two people who differ widely, that is going to be a much more heated discussion.

And Multiply

Sadly, when it comes to the interweb** your opinion isn’t just cast to a few individuals. It’s cast to tens or twenties (what? I don’t have a large base, your point?) and those tens or twenties are all of their own opinions and are going to usually share back (with likes, loves, re-twerps, shares… or hates, flames, trolling and indiscriminate loathful rhetoric that would make a stripper blush***).

Now, I’m an advocate for “free press” and the “Don’t Censor Me, Bro” movement, but there is this part of that whole thing that so many people don’t understand. You right to voice your opinion comes at the cost of having people lambast you in return.

The Caveat

The fun part is… if you post a comment in the negative to whatever the stand is, you best be fully aware that people who agree with the original statement that you flamed  are going to rally and strike back.

And Thus

I’m pretty sure this is how gang wars start.

In Conclusion

Do you want to know what’s stupid? People getting upset at other people for having differing opinions. Do you want to know what else is stupid? Telling someone they are wrong for what they believe without actually having any evidence to back it up. Do you want to know what else is stupider****?

Do you want to know what else is stupid? Telling someone they are wrong for what they believe without actually having any evidence to back it up.

Do you want to know what else is stupider****? Thinking that you can convince someone to change their mind by showing them that they are wrong.

Yeah. That last part. That’s really stupid.

So, people of the interweb**, stand up and unite in solidarity against stupidity and recognize that you, yes you, are allowed to have an opinion and you have the right to voice it…

BUT!!!

So does everyone else.

Thank you.

********

*I have no idea what those are, it just sounded really cool…she, just accept it.

**yes, I know it’s the internet, but interweb sounds more fun.

***I have no idea what makes a stripper blush, but I assume it would take a lot… but I could be wrong. If so, choose another profession you think that doesn’t blush very much and insert it into that part.

****shh, I know it’s not a word…

Daily Prompt

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It’s Hot…

It’s going to hit 93 degrees here today. At least that is what one weather report says. Another says 91. I’m not really sure what those 2 degrees really matter in the grand scheme of “HOLY SMOKE IT’S HOT!” but…

The sad part is, we aren’t even into summer yet. I don’t think we are. Are we? No seriously, I live in Florida, it’s like summer here all year long except for those two days in January where it dips into the 50’s and the entire state freaks out in one unanimous voice on social media about how this is Florida and it shouldn’t be this cold.

Hold on a sec, I’m going to enjoy that really long sentence I just wrote, because I can totally see me doing a video to that tirade.

Ok, fantasy over.

Back to the writing.

Anyway, with the heat steadily rising (or steadily staying in the 90’s) over the last few days (and the foreseeable future), it makes me long for the third week in October. Weirdly specific, right? But in the years I have been here in Florida (which is all of them), the third week in October has, in my recollection, always cooled down. It usually drops into the 60’s, a cool wind blows, and at night you actually get to break out a sweater (or in my case, a Member’s Only jacket I have from the 80’s).

Yeah, I rock that bad boy.

Ok, fine, I don’t. But I would if I had one. Seriously.

But only on the third week of October, when the weather cools for a few days.

In Florida.

In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "Turn, Turn, Turn."

I am a horrible person in a crisis. When the world decides to blow up, I tend to blow up with it. I get all freaked out, run around like Kevin from ‘Home Alone’ with my hands waving above my head and screaming at the top of my lungs, because nothing says calm and collected more than hysteria.

And… now that I have stopped laughing at the absurdity of that last bit…

Of all the things in this world, my mind is the thing I miss the most.

It’s an old saying, one that tends to be incredibly apropos to me most days. If its not struggling with an anxiety issue, it’s balancing my school load. At the moment, I am taking 2 classes per each 6 week summer semester. Spanish happens to be one of those two classes and learning a foreign language in a span that short… well, I’m sure you can guess what a watermelon looks like after you shove it through a whole the size of a lemon. It’s kind of the same concept, but instead of a watermelon, it’s language. Lot’s and lot’s of language.

If it’s not that, it’s making sure that I am spending quality time with my wife. That tends to be difficult. Maybe not how you think, but… let me explain. No, that will take too long, let me summarize*.

Wherefore Art Thou, Government…

With the ever-present presence of the United States government looming larger and larger as Keynesian economics takes a more firm grip on the majority of those in ‘power’, I am afraid for our future as a society. The spirit of entrepreneurship that ran rampant through this great country in years past is being squashed by the ever gorging bottomless pit that is Washington D.C.