It appears that I owe quite a few people on AR an apology...
What started out as my seemingly innocuous idea with creating the coffee drinkers network for like-minded folks has resulted in quite a few hurtful jabs thrown in all directions, secret and not-so-secret groups and chats popping up where one is free to throw stones, etc.
Now, I say "seemingly innocuous" when it comes to the intent behind my site because there is probably no such thing as absolutely pure intentions, for one. For another, truth be told, I thought it would be rather fun to laugh at some of the more asinine comments and outbursts by the right-wingers, the tea-drinkers, the birthers et al.
Only, none of it was supposed to be directed at specific people, but rather the sentiments voiced. Nonetheless, personal it turned and spawned ugly offspring on both sides of the political divide, just as angry and hurtful, just as driven by the mob of majority-bully-like thirst for blood.
With all this being said, I am sorry for initiating that which serves no purpose and ultimately makes all of us look and feel like jackasses, or at least, it should...
I was lucky these last few weeks to not have had access to the Internet, so I was forced to take a break from it all. I learned that there are very, very few of you whose words I found myself missing, and fewer still whom I consider my friends, and with whom I'd want to share a non-virtual cup o'joe. None of it is predicated on your politics, or mine. It's simply a feeling of connecting, of knowing you in some way, of being able to read between the lines you share on these pages. These connections, albeit few, are what makes the whole experience of vomiting words into the virtual universe worthwhile... That's it, for me, in a nutshell.
Every once in a while I, too, get caught up in mad Diaghilev's greatest sin - that craving for "not universal love, but to be loved alone..." I suck up your praises or revel in your frustrations at certain arguments. But, at the end of the day, the only thing I can know with any degree of certainty is that none of us have a moral superiority over our fellow men....
There is something to be said for the doctrine of individualism, and it has nothing to do with economic models: one has to only be true to the innermost impulses of one's soul to be worthy of the free will we've all being endowed with. One, in the end, is utterly alone, and when every hurtful word gleefully thrown at someone else stares you in the mirror - it'll darken in silence to you alone. There are no cheerleaders in our hearts, nor bullies. Would we be as brave and callous without the benefit of distance and anonymity of zeros and ones?
To bring this back to the original point of this post - I am sorry to everyone, no matter what side, for being the catalyst for this incessant river of vitriol. I am sorry, too, that so many people found joy in petty insults, in stealthy attacks, in schoolyard-style bullying. I am sorry that I've lost respect for some of you through it all.
My only wish, at this point, is that we can nurse our wounds with some dignity, and if any shots must be fired, we do not aim at the backs of those we disagree with, present company included... That's the least any of us who believe in basic decency can muster.
Thank you for listening.
;)
;)
Inna- This is hard for me but over the last few weeks with all of the tumultous stuff going on I have learned one big thing- I respect you.