I will tolerate -- or overlook -- quite a lot for the sake of getting along.
Things I won't put up with? Racism. Religious intolerance. Attempts to intimidate me. And blatant lies.
If you write it, own it. Don't come back later, and with your previous comment hanging right there on the screen, maintain, "I wrote no such thing." Don't claim purple is green.
Wrong? Well, okay, everyone is sometimes. Mistaken? Sure, who hasn't made mistakes? Overly-partisan? Indeed, we all get so fond of or loathe so intensely some idea or person that we start shading facts to agree with our feelings -- and an honest person keeps watch for this and tries to correct it.* But don't stand there in front of four lights, insist there are five of them and demand others agree with you.
I will not tolerate it.
(Also, show your work. Cite sources. Provide links. I will check.)
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* This is one of the main reasons I stopped using nicknames for all living and most dead politicians. It gets in the way of seeing clearly who they are and what they are doing, have done and are promising to do, for good or for ill. Tiny-handed, dried-up, turtle-like, air-headed Instagrammer? So what; let's hear about their policy positions, let's see what legislation or Executive actions they support; let's learn if they're lousy tippers, careful drivers, considerate or rude. I don't care what they look like or what their fashion choices are. I'll give them their proper name and title, if any. It is no more than factual.
I've never understood the emotional need of a commenter to prove a blogger wrong in the comments. Is it like proselytizing? I don't come from a "convert em" religion, so I can't say.
ReplyDeleteI continue to enjoy the blog and your no-nonsense analysis of life and the world. Please keep it up.
(But a new Far Edge story would also be appreciated)
I don't much mind being *proven* wrong, other than the normal discomfort we all have when that happens. I mind airy assertions without proof, sloppy attribution and stretched conclusions. I mind having to do other people's homework for them because they couldn't be arsed to support their claims. And I really mind people getting peeved because I won't just accept whatever they claim without checking.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do for a living isn't writing, it's technical work of a kind in which using BS in place of facts costs money, makes extra work and can endanger people. It makes me less tolerant of going along to get along.