As you know I am part of the cadre of people who are blogging every day throughout November. Some refer to it as Nablopomo but I don’t because every time I hear/read that I want to get a shot of penicillin or lecture someone on why they should practice safe sex.
A short while ago someone sent me a note in which they cried crocodile tears about how I made them look stupid online and asked me to apologize. I said no.
They hoisted themselves on their own petard and I didn’t see the need to help them come down from the tree they climbed up. When you throw rocks at me you can’t complain if I set a fire at the base of the tree or use a chainsaw to saw through your perch.
I am a curmudgeon with attitude and if you poke me with a stick I will take it from you and give it back to you in a manner befitting your station.
Anyhoo, you made yourself look stupid. You challenged something I said and when I cited my sources you threw mud at me and called me names. It didn’t have to be like that.
You could have taken a moment to look at the link I provided and you would have learned I didn’t make up any of the things I said. They are facts that are taught in high school civics. Maybe you slept through that particular week of instruction or spent that time working as a circus clown.
I really don’t know and I don’t care. I just know that it is never smart to start a fight with someone you don’t know for the sole purpose of trying to make yourself look better.
If you contact me again with this sort of ranting nonsense and demand for apology I will share the contents of the email and the chronology of this event with all of my readers and upon all of my social media channels.
That is a promise and not a threat. I don’t want to do it because I am bored with this topic and would prefer that we agree to disagree about what happened. That is the mature thing to do and it is perfectly fine to agree to disagree.
What is not fine is wasting my time because you are an ignorant ass who is either illiterate or too lazy to Google the information you should have read before telling me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I did, you didn’t and now you made yourself look stupid.
Aren’t you a real peach.
Isn’t it a shame we get so worked up about ‘looking stupid’? We’re all so hung up on the need for approval.
Not sure if you’re familiar with Anthony De Mello – he liked to turn the “I’m OK You’re OK” mantra on its head and delighted in saying “I’m an ass, you’re an ass”. There’s something liberating in that.
I think you were right not to apologize – your accuser had dug their own hole and was foolish enough to go right on digging, probably in a desperate and futile attempt to salvage their self-esteem. Sad.
Sue
Hi Sue,
I am not sure if I am familiar with Mr. De Mello, it sounds vaguely familiar but…I’ll have to Google him and see what I find.
Ego gets us all into trouble, myself included. The best part about not being 20 anymore is that I don’t mind admitting I am wrong.
I loved this! I admire you for writing it.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you. I bet you could write a post like this. Sometimes it is fun to let it all hang out.
Great post Jack. As what they always say, “what you do is what you get!”.
There is a lot of truth in that.
I liked this post, especially the bit about “befitting your station”. It was delightfully written and it is easy to imagine the expression on the face of the reader to whom it was intended. Well played, sir!
Hi Brian,
Thank you. Sadly I doubt the person will understand that this was directed at him/her, but that is ok. I am good with it either way.
It was kind of fun to write and sometimes that is all the excuse we need.
A lawyer taught me this trick “Deny. Deny. Accuse.”. Sigh.
I tried NaBloPoMo once and it requires a lot of discipline. My husband said that he’d be happy if it were NaBloJoMo…
Your husband is a smart man. I think quite a few of us would advocate for such thing.