....It's very vexing to see people repost things with someone who, for all intents and purposes, I should have just written off, DID just write off....
....Only for it to still bother me. To feel uncomfortable in my own skin and demoralized.
Very, very annoying, to be sure.
“No one owes you anything”
YES THEY DO, AND I OWE THEM TOO I've had enough of this capitalist propaganda.
We're human, we live within society, we should be taking care of each other.
For the longest time I was a very hostile person towards people I thought were wrong/evil.
Even if it was online, insulting/demeaning others that I perceived as my moral enemy. Advocating for bullying them.
“Why should I be kind to them? Why should I listen to their horrible ideology and thought process? They don’t deserve it.” I thought.
But eventually I realized none of that matters. It doesn’t matter what I think they do/don’t deserve, it doesn’t matter if they think I’m their enemy, it doesn’t matter how horrible their beliefs are. The only thing that matters is if I can live in harmony with these people and if can I make a positive change.
People will not listen to hostility, even if the hostility is deserved. They’ll dig their heels in and view themselves as the victim, the underdog fighting against “the enemy”.
Even if they don’t deserve it, sincere, cordial conversation is the only way to truly change someone’s mind, it may take hours, days, months, it might never happen. But if you can shift someone’s hateful viewpoint, even a single person. Then you’ve made a positive change and that’s all that matters.
It’s not about “turning the other cheek”, it’s about having the capacity for cruelty and choosing civility.