Don't get me wrong; most of the time I am just about the nicest person you've ever met. The UU first principle, to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, is central to my world view. Most of the time. But now and then, -- have you ever seen the old Disney cartoon when mild-mannered Goofy becomes a "motormaniac" behind the wheel? (Linked below) That's me when I consume too much partisan political media. Twitter, Facebook, Huffington Post, Time's Swampland -- all my favorite haunts are danger zones for me these days. Information is good; in fact, reliable information is essential to forming an intelligent opinion. Intelligent opinion, likewise, is awesome. Sadly, reliable information and intelligent opinion do not have the entertainment value of opinions full of snark, satire and bile, especially when I agree with those opinions. It can be even more delightful to add my own sarcastic zinger to a re-post or comment thread.
But I am growing tired of their bitter aftertaste. I feel the need, more and more these days, to mind my acid tongue, to pause and edit, to delete that mean-spirited tweet. I am trying to generate a more reasonable ambiance, even in my own little corner of the internet. Later on today, I am going to split my "political" list on Twitter into two groups: the sane and the snarky. Then, I plan to make every effort to maximize my consumption of good information and rational opinion and moderate my exposure to political venom. I will try VERY, VERY hard to pass along only what is constructive, especially in the broadcast spaces of Twitter, Facebook and blogging.
Because keeping the "Nice" alive is important.
I don't want to be like Mr. Wheeler:
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Our collective road to progress will require of all of us such humility and courage as this. -Z
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