On The Offensive...

Think Before You Write

One of the greatest and worst things about humanity is the ability to disagree with someone else. It's both a blessing and a curse. Because, let's face it, it'd be a very boring world if we agreed on everything. It'd be no fun!

"I BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD TAKE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY OUT OF THE BRITISH HISTORY CURRICULUM!" "So do I!"

But there are obviously things in which disagreement can turn badly. I know many of you will say that politics generally is like that but I meant at an individual level. And, with your patience, I'd like to explain a couple of recent incidents.

I'm very prone, as are many people, so saying some things that are insensitive without meaning to. And this could be for one of two reasons.

1. I just didn't think

or

2. Some people are over-sensitive.

Sometimes, more often than not, it's a mixture of the two.

The first example happened today when I shared a page for a growing history festival that happens 45 minutes down the road from me. I attended the festival 2 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I attended a lecture on the collapse of Hitler's Germany by one of the most respected experts in the field and it blew my mind.

Anyway. A colleague from work mentioned that he didn't go near anything that had the name "Daily Mail" attached to it. I explained they were only a sponsor. He then replied that he didn't need to go because his dad was, and I quote, "A walking history encyclopedia". I then responded with "Not a bad thing to be! And no disrespect to you dad when I say this, but authors attend and experts in most fields lecture at this."

Little did I know that his dad is an archaeologist. And has been for 30 years...

It was an insensitive comment to make anyway but, quite rightly, he put me in my place by telling me about his dad.

I emailed him later on and apologized explaining I meant do disrespect to him or his father. He understood and we agreed that I didn't know beforehand so it was all laid to rest. 

This is a time when I can be offensive accidentally. This happens more than I'd like but sadly it's something that does happen and I have to deal with it as and when.

HOWEVER. There are times I can be offensive and not care so much. And that normally happens when I get political with someone or when someone gets political with me.

If you've read my letter to "Patrick", you'll know that I try and respect most people even if they don't necessarily respect me. But something else happened tonight which I could really go into an argument about.

A friend of mine from uni shared a link from her friend which was a petition to get the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, to teach in a school for a term in order to get a real idea of what he's doing. I signed and shared it proudly and so did some of my other friends all offering ideas of where he could go to complete his work experience.

I always thought though that Facebook was a bit of a minefield for expressing opinion, Because someone's always going to disagree with something you say or just look to start an argument. However, if tonight has taught me anything, that minefield is actually Twitter. I shared the link to the petition on Twitter with a subtitle which, in hindsight, was likely to attract trouble. And I think it may have.

An old acquaintance from school, who I know is a fervent Conservative after a half hour debate with him over Jacob Rees-Mogg, took me to task on the idea of the petition by suggesting that I believed it was a good idea that he does this, leaving the Department of Education without its boss for a short time. Before suggesting I believed that this would be beneficial to schools.

To try and make a joke out of this, I replied "Yes".

ASKING FOR TROUBLE.

I thought if I tried to make a joke about it the whole thing would be diffused and it would just move on. No such luck. He took me to task once again but asking if I seriously believed that to be true. Saying that "It will stop any important decisions being made".

I eventually responded that it was all a bit of fun and wasn't ever going to happen so there was no point in worrying about it. However, I really wanted to take him on by saying:

"Stop them? He started?!

But I didn't. Because, considering the slur I had earlier, I really didn't want to push anything any further.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, sometimes I may reply to a comment you may leave or I might comment on something you post and it might not sound right or nice. PLEASE believe me when I say that it is not my intention to offend you. The only time I will ever try and offend you is if you try and offend me. Which, considering I probably don't know you all that well, I'd hope you wouldn't try to. 

But if I do say something that does offend or upset you, please tell me so I can do my best to correct it and apologize. I try to be a nice guy generally and I don't like upsetting people so please let me know if I inadvertently upset you?

Thank you.

Until next time!


POST SCRIPT EDIT

I do enjoy political debates with people who don't agree with me. It's nice to have some verbal sparring with someone who's at the complete polar opposite end to the political spectrum. But sometimes it just can descend into more personal arguments.

At the end of the day, I completely disagreed on many things with the person I sparred with and he obviously disagreed with me. (Calling me a lefty at one point). But we still respected each other at the end of the day and that's what makes debating fun.

The joke's on him though. I'm not a lefty. I'm a liberal.

Ha.