I couldn't figure out what I had just done until I framed it in this manner. Otherwise, it didn't make much sense. I had alienated someone I like, as a matter of conviction, because of something they said. Why would I do that?
I just dropped someone as a friend on FaceBook. It was not out of anger or antipathy. He's a hell of a nice guy. I did it because I have to. It was too much for me to take. The realization came to me that his basic world view is completely antithetical to my own and that my interacting with his expression of that philosophy, and his circle of friends that share it, was wholly inconsistent with my life style and my circle of friends on FaceBook. What's worse, reading posts like his triggered a reaction from me that raised my blood pressure and made me less happy. I hoped my comment would foster a more enlightened dialogue, and thereby raise everyone's consciousness, including my own. Instead, I got a flip remark from him that insulted one of the great religious and moral leaders of our time and countenanced the hate-filled, psychotic behavior of a rightfully reviled public figure. Here's the exchange, which is now expunged from my wall here because I de-friended him. I left the capitalization, punctuation and grammar as they were.
W: Please copy and paste this to your status if you know someone, or have been affected by someone, who needs a smack upside the head. People who need a smack upside the head affect the lives of many. There is still no known cure for someone who deserves a smack upside the head, except a smack upside the head, but we can ...raise awareness. Many won't copy and paste this. I did. Will you?
M: i am right with you W, ..let's start smackin
W: ok, except , away from home . cause your a nice guy and you do that at home and i'll have to be atending your funeral. Hey ! lets go to the ... ! theres sure to be some good smakin' there!
DC: I don't agree with your premise; it's flawed and fosters a culture culture of violent brutishness. Everyone has the urge to "smack heads" from time to time. It's when someone doesn't agree with you and advocates that contrary view with passion and conviction. Should you do it, ever? I would say, "No." What will you do when some other self-righteous jackass smacks yours? In the end, it comes down to whom you take as a role model. Is it the Dalai Lama, or Mel Gibson?
W: ive never been fond of lamas , dalai or otherwise , they spit, so I'm going with Mel .
The Dalai Lama came to mind as a positive role model simply because a friend likes him and had just tagged the affinity page on FaceBook. I like him too, and her action reminded me of that. I tried to think of the antithesis of that beautiful, serene personage, and Mel Gibson came to mind. What more polar opposites could there be? On the one hand, you have a Nobel-Prize-winning humanitarian respected the world around, and on the other you have a violent, mentally unhinged, bigoted fool that used to be a decent actor before he became a tabloid newspaper joke.
So, with W banished from my FaceBook domain, nothing remains but harmony and spiritual enlightenment. S likes the Dalai Lama. B comments about synchronicity in the universe, or something like that, which I didn't fully understand, but it made me feel good. R posts visual images that remind us that there is beauty in ordinary things when they are viewed with an artist's eye. Other friends, whose political, social or religious views may differ from mine, share details that may or may not interest me, but do not offend me. The incredible arrogance of this "head smacking" idea really irked me and disrupted the ambiance on my wall. I will not countenance the idea of violence, even if it is cloaked in humor. I abhor all self-righteous violence and shun it, be it in the form of "head smacking", vigilantism or lynch mobs.
I urge all of you who feel similarly to always confront those who foster hatred and not shrink away from correcting their anti-humanist posturing. It's fine, and much safer, to preach to the righteous, but you get more spiritual advancement from bringing heathens into the light, even if they do so reluctantly, kicking and screaming all the way. (Aaaauuuuuuooooooommmmmmmmm...)
You don't have to emulate my practice of starting political arguments in redneck bars. It can be physically dangerous. You don't have to amuse yourself writing contradictory comments on Republican propaganda forums, which I also do. You don't even have to preach to the choir as I am doing here. However, it does the soul good to stand up for good and take a moral stand against evil. My disassociation from W on FaceBook doesn't qualify as such. I was just doing some housecleaning to get ideas that I find repugnant off my page. What I do that does qualify as a moral stand is to never back down to blustering hate talk or let anti-humanist sentiments go by unchallenged. You may lose some friends over it, but those you keep will respect you more.