Can we disagree with courtesy?

Prairie dogs.

Recently one of our local TV stations wrote a Facebook post about 500 prairie dogs being in danger of a new transportation project. The station asked for people's opinions on whether or not people cared about the plight of the prairie dogs that would be affected.

Holy cow.

Maybe I have not been paying attention, but when did it become OK to write such disgusting things about people you happen to disagree with?

I honestly couldn't believe some of the responses. As I read them, I realized that any conversation around prairie dogs had long been dismissed.

I wonder how often this happens. I wonder how this became acceptable.

Because it's not. It's certainly not how I ever want to be, and how I hope people who try to be a voice for the voiceless are not either. There is no good that comes out of disrespect towards other people simply because they have an opinion that is different than mine, or our.

So how can we change? Or can we? I definitely believe that we can change this. I believe that if we kindly call folks on their responses and always be a beacon of courteous comments, even when we disagree.

Please understand that I am not saying that we become passive with our beliefs and around what we fight for. I'm simply saying that we can disagree with people and honor our cause or whoever we are fighting for. Being mean in a public forum does no good for the voiceless we are trying to be the voice for.

This is something I continually work on. Simply put, discourse can by polite. Who knows, people's minds have changed over much less than being greeted with kindness.

Thanks for reading!

A little respect

Before you get too excited, let me tell you that this post is not about one of my all-time favorite songs by Erasure. Sorry.

This post is about basic respect of each other, especially online

There are two words I don't need to read from a communication from someone. One is the "F" word as in "F___ you" and the other is the "F" word used to dehumanize, threaten or attack a gay male.

Don't get me wrong, I have been known to use the first one, especially like "What the ___". What I am writing about today is the use of offensive words, offensive to me, in communicating any type of message via the web. Especially if you have not personally met me.

Both of these words, when coming from someone I do not know, are violent.

Being an out, gay blog, I have gotten the latter of the words many times, usually in an email. I have gotten called that at protests and at hearings. It's a disgusting word, one that tells me right away what the person saying is like.

Yesterday I posted a tweet about liking what President Obama said in regards to gay people. As far as I know it was the first time this was done in an inauguration speech. I loved it. I am aware that many do not like President Obama, his person, his policies, his beliefs, and my tweet was about this one part of one speech.

Of the hundreds of comments, emails, and feedback items that I get, it's always the one or two negative ones that get to me. When someone responded telling me to get some "f___ dignity" I was honestly blown away.

Does everything I post have to sit well with you? We all know the answer to that, especially if you are reading this blog. My blog posts are all over the place and many times include topics that many disagree on.

Can we all simply respect each other online? Can we debate or discuss without throwing out offensive language?

And if we openly support a cause or a belief, what do actions like this do for our cause?

As you know I was recently laid off and I am in day 12 of my job search. I at first thought that the reaction I was having was due to being a little more sensitive these days. That lasted for a couple of seconds before I realized that I simply felt disrespected. From someone who does not know me. At all. A second person communicated with me a similar position about my tweet, and this person isn't even connected with me anywhere!

Respect. It can be so easy.

And please, unless you have read it on my blog or interact with me in my personal life, do not assume you know me. My husband has been with me for years and years and is still learning things about me.

Thank you for reading!