WIP

The Dangers of Loose Lips in Social Situations

This post is inspired by Tina Lynn's ((post)) on whether or not it is a good idea to talk about religion and politics on a social networking site - mainly your blogs, but includes any social networking medium you might be using to get your name out there.

First - I totally agree with her. I babbled something about this several months ago, about how much it bugs me when people use their blogs or whatever to either preach or bash, or otherwise aggressively preach their religious beliefs or their stances on social issues, or politics.

Most of us have been trained to hold our peace when it comes to our deeply felt beliefs and positions. And I'm OK with that. I can see how talking about religion can make people feel uncomfortable - even when there isn't an argument going on.

A friend of mine comes from a different religion that may sometimes be opposed to mine. Actually very opposed to mine. But this isn't a barrier between us and a lot of the time we can work through it and find a common ground. I wouldn't say anything that has any chance of hurting her. More than anything, I know she is a good person and truly believes she is doing the right thing. The way I see it, there are plenty of people out there like my friend who don't really want to be bugged or stressed out by know-it-alls.

And politics? Forget about it. I come from a community where people don't really like being 'owned' by any political party. I hate it how politics is like the new college football game. Everyone has their team that they bleed for and they go all stalker about their STARS. But if they knew any of those STARS in real life, they'd hate them.

Political and social issues....

*puts up a cross to steer away the rabid red-eyed vampires that exist out there*

More than anything I really hate when blogs and websites and tweet feeds suddenly turn into protests and campaigns about X or Y, or whatever else is going on out there. They make me feel like we are all back in high school and everyone has to wear the 'in' style of clothes, or die.

Aside from joking here or there (like saying I'm campaigning for the Tolkien trilogy to get banned from school libraries to keep little kids from trying to be the next Tolkien), I'm not going to really get involved with any of that stuff. It's way too subjective and can turn into fiercely divisive fang-flashing.

Anyway - I think the point of this rambly post was just:

1. I'm a (Catholic) churchy type and I usually vote.

2. I might casually say something about something I'm doing (like a post I did a while back about the weird Lenten fast I do, which is different from what everyone else does). I'm not really going to get any more annoying than somebody talking about training for a marathon. Or going shopping and noticing something funny at the store.

- Case in point, at my church, they just put six new ginormous lighted fans in, because our priest gets uncomfortable when it hits 70 degrees or something. So this past Sunday, I kept getting distracted during the sermon and staring upwards at all of those gleaming fans going whoosh-whoosh-whoosh. I wondered what would happen if the top of the church took flight. Because of all of the ginormous fans going at hyper speed. And then I almost wanted to write something like that. Even though it obviously wouldn't fit into any of my current wips. :P

3. Asking for prayers or posting religious type links - nuh-uh. I think people might feel a little uncomfortable when they go on a website they think is about writing and instead get treated to something about the efficacy of prayer or me talking about a huge religious experience I just had (not that I've had any, but it would be REALLY weird to put that out there for strangers to read).

4. I won't be sprinkling Latin phrases throughout my posts <- This doesn't really apply, but I wanted to throw it out there anyway. It REALLY BUGS ME when people greet each other with a Latin phrase or say stuff in Latin. They wouldn't do it in real life. They just do it online because they think it makes them look smart/holy. It's just putting on airs.

5. I will never put on airs. :P