I’m going to give myself and those around me two reminders now… (Notice I am totally included here… I am often so very guilty of everything I am about to say.)
First, you know when you get really angry at a group of people that believe something differently than you do and you start cursing their existence, and questioning their intelligence? No? I’ll give you an example:
“I can’t believe people that like blue Gatorade. Blue is not a flavor. Bluers are just a daft lot of wankers.”
What I just said there, is truth and not truth. I personally do not like blue Gatorade. I personally feel like Blue is not a flavor. My personal feelings, however, become slightly irrelevant when I am willing to start pushing those feelings outside of myself, forcing said feelings onto others, and generalizing about an entire group of people. I’m sure that Bluers are actually, in general, perfectly nice people. In fact, I know a few. Although I disagree with their life-choice in calling blue a flavor, I do not in fact find them to be daft wankers.
You get it, right? Okay. Good.
Second, well… this actually is going to be a bit complicated to piece out. So, you know when you start saying mean things about a group of people or a specific person that you do not actually know and posting said things all over the internet? No? I’ll give you an example:
“So-and-so probably likes to eat brains and kill puppies. He’s a terrible human and I wish he would just drop dead.”
What I just said there, well, it’s terrible! It’s mean! It’s something I would never, ever, ever want my children to read about me on accident while surfing the internet with their buddies. People have names, they have families, they have children, and they deserve respect. Even when you greatly disagree with them, they deserve respect. That doesn’t mean their ideas deserve your respect, it doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, it doesn’t even mean that you have to hang out with them. It just means that it’s important to remember these two things… 1) Don’t write things about others online that you wouldn’t want your parents and/or children to read about you. 2) Remember that someone out there feels the same way about the things you think, and then remember that your truth isn’t everyone’s truth and that their truth isn’t yours.
That is pretty much it. I hope you all have a fantastic day full of sunshine and rainbows and Sonic iced tea.
Kristine Hamilton 
This is such a great post and so true. I think the one thing the Internet does is it gives people (horrible people) courage to be bitchy and insulting about someone that they would never normally face.
It’s awful that people are allowed to speak so horribly and personally about others, wishing them dead (which, let’s face it is the worst possible thing you can wish on someone … if you think about it) and that is just allowed. It’s okay because it’s on the Internet so it’s not real, but it is very real and hurtful to those the hatred is directed towards. It cuts.
I would be mortified if someone I knew and loved and valued read something so horrible about me on the Web. Not on.
http://unpublishedworksofme.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks for the comment! It felt like something that needed to be said. People are just so horrible to one another, and it is all because they can be online. There are no consequences for anything that is said.