Many, many years ago, there was an unwritten rule that you don't talk religion or politics with family or close friends. It seems that this the popularity of social media has completely blown this unwritten rule out of the water. Not only do we constantly TALK about it but some have the idea that if they post something to their page, they are immune to discussion on the topic. Even worse, some feel that if a friend or family member likes a different political candidate or practices a different religion (or no religion at all) that they simply cannot exist in such a parallel. They are pushy, rude and belittling if you don't agree with their candidate. If your opinion differs, you must be an idiot. The same exists for those that say, "You can't be a good Christian if you do/don't do....." This post is directed at these people. This post is just a friendly post of advice.
First of all, let me say this: I love your passion. It's so hard to find people with real true passion for something important anymore instead of passion for "The Walking Dead" (which, by the way, is an incredible show). I admire your desire to want to change the world with whatever it is that you love and choose to represent. I admire your dedication to representing a cause. I admire all of these things because it makes you an individual. It makes you who you are and I love that we all get a change to be unique and wonderful with so much variety in our beautiful world. I love the fact that our founding fathers believed the same. They believed that we can all love different things and believe different things and we can still be united in wanting our country to be great. I still believe this today.
Freedom of speech, often, seems an invitation to just say whatever dumbass thing pops out of one's mouth. Ironically enough, I still believe in freedom of speech. I don't have to agree with Kanye West (and, most of the time, I don't) but I support his right to say it. I don't have to desire to listen to Hillary Clinton but I support her right to represent what she believes in. I believe in the Constitution and I believe in the way that the founding fathers chose to set up a way to modify it. It's not that they never thought that rules or ideas would evolve. They knew that they would. What they ALSO knew was that it was necessary to put a chain of events into effect to modify the Constitution where needed....to create new amendments.
So you see, I support your right to say whatever it is that you desire about your political candidate or your religion (or lack thereof). On a personal level, however, I think you're acting like a real schmuck. On a managerial level, I can't understand why you think bullying people will cause anyone to jump over to your cause. It's as if you think that if you post enough negative bull crap about another candidate or enough memes on why God must not exist, you will somehow sway the opinions of those around you. It's either that or you're just trying to get a rise out of people. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, though.
Let me give you a little nugget to munch on here.... what if someone believed something different from you and that was okay? What if you could support Ted Cruz and she could support Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders and that was okay? What if you could believe that no God exists and someone else could believe in God and another could believe in Buddhist practices and that was okay too? What if we could be allowed to be individuals and still be "right" in our own practices? What if, instead of belittling, bullying and obnoxiously pushing people to believe what you believe, you could listen to their point of view and appreciate what it is that they love about their religion or their political candidate? What if it was okay for us to be different?
You see, the reason that generations before us made the unwritten rule was because they knew that what is happening right now would happen. Rather than turn against each other over our differences, they wanted to remain united as a nation and as friends/family. Our elders were so much more intelligent than our current generations and we just don't seem to see it. Our grandparents and great grandparents had more insight than every psychological study can give right now just by observing what was going on around them. It wasn't just an effort to be polite, it was an effort to not cause unnecessary arguments. It was the wisdom to know that sometimes it's not worth it to cause a hubbub. It was the knowledge that bullying never achieves true change.
With all of that said, if you're truly interested in "educating people" on your beliefs (be it political or religious), try something new. Listen to them explain why they like their candidate or why they believe what they believe religiously. Then DO NOT give them negative facts about their beliefs. Instead, tell them the positives of why you love your candidate or why you believe a particular religious belief. Instead of putting them down, give them something to think about. The expression "you get more flies with honey than vinegar" is definitely true. Use "honey." Let them decide on their own with facts that you provide to inspire them to educate themselves. They may not end up agreeing with you or changing their mind on what they think but they have the information now to look into things further.
In short, stop telling your kids not to bully in school and then bullying others with your beliefs. Variety is the spice of life and an overpowering spice just makes the dish taste like crap.
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