A Skewed View

I've been seeing people embrace and celebrate the phrase "Ok, boomer" lately. I've found that this disturbs me. I've realized it's because I believe people shouldn't be PROUD of being disrespectful. You may think you had cause to disrespect someone else. Perhaps you even feel they disrespected you first. But showing anyone disrespect should not be something you take pride in. It should be something that you look back on, when you look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day, and say "Well. I could have handled that one better." Especially if your argument is they deserved it by disrespecting you first. Because then you're saying it's wrong when others do it to you, but it's something you take pride in when you do it to others. And if there's one thing I abhor even more than disrespect, it's hypocrisy.

I don't dislike Don Cherry. But let's face it, his patriotism has always bled into the "anti-foreigner" camp. Usually anti-Europeans. Mostly the ones in the NHL. Again, that doesn’t mean that I dislike him. It means that I disagree with the way that his mind seems to work. He is a voice from another time. A voice from when we didn’t know better. And that voice has profited him well, as it has many people who, like him, speak their minds regardless of consequence. That’s not a bad thing, being honest about one’s opinion. Not staying silent because of who might react. It’s admirable on its face. But this adds a different dimension which is less admirable: perpetuating stereotypes that have no basis in fact. Stereotypes which form the basis of knee-jerk, us-vs-them rhetoric. We know better now than to foster that rhetoric. So, I think moving on from Don Cherry was just a matter of time. That isn’t what has captured my attention about this situation, though. What capti...

If you want a recap, that is. Years ago, my last post set off a reaction that is inexplicable to me to this day. How my statement that I was going to listen to myself above all others could have been interpreted as anything except empowering my own choices remains beyond me. Ironically, it put me off sharing my thoughts and feelings any more. I decided that being honest about where I was emotionally wasn't worth it if I had to labour under other people's reactions to that honesty. I decided it was best to keep it all to myself. Quite the opposite of empowering, you might say. And you'd be right. What's changed since then? Events since that post have proven to me that getting my thoughts and feelings outside of myself is much less damaging to my physical and mental health than damming them up inside in an attempt to protect other's thoughts and feelings.  If my choice is between chancing someone else's negative opinions or my own health, I'm going...

Yes.