witzend
Well-Known Member
I have very strong feelings about politics. I like to think that I am an educated person and that I make balanced decisions. When I was younger, I felt comfortable talking about my beliefs, and even debating in the spirit of keeping an open mind. In my opinion, those days are gone for now. I hope that they will return. I think that for now, my opinion matters in the ballot box, in my donations, and in my charitable donations/public service.
I feel that there is a lot of hyperbolic meanness surrounding politics in the past 15 - 20 years. When I hear or see this type of stuff, I generally do my best to ignore it, and consider the source.
I may have written about this neighbor the last election period. We are part of a neighborhood watch, and I am in charge of the telephone/e-mail tree. She's a serial e-mail forwarder. She never writes anything herself, it's always something forwarded, and often supportive of the polar opposite of my religious or political view. I've mentioned it to her personally, to no avail. I usually delete whatever she sends, but feel that I can't tell her that I have a different e-mail address because everyone else on the block - neighborhood watch list - uses my real e-mail. I can't really block her for safety reasons. If something were to be going on in her end of the block, since I am the watch captain, I need to know.
Yesterday morning I got into my e-mail to find the usual 5 forwarded messages from D. Once in a great while they're funny, so since they open up as I delete them I generally look at the first sentence. One of the notes she sent yesterday was absolutely the most racist ignorant religiously bigoted sexist idiotic things I had ever seen. I would call it hate mail. I wrote back and said "D- I haven't made up my mind yet, but I do know I am not voting for X (the one she supports)." She wrote back "Well, none of them are worth voting for." Huh? Then why slander the one?
Since I really have no workable option to block her, I decided to do my best to tell her to leave me off of her forwarding list without offending her. I'm not in a position to offend her without causing conflict for a lot of other people as collateral damage. This is what I wrote to her. Is it snotty? I always worry when I write things that aren't what people might want to hear, I'll come across as aggressive. I don't think I was, but I'd like your opinions as to the tone of the letter. I am comfortable with that I am not lying to her about or blocking her from my e-mail, so if you disagree with that, I don't need to know.
D~
I do wish that the choices were different, but they are what they are and one of them will be our President. That being said, I think that you and I have different opinions on what we would like to see happen. I have pretty strong opinions about the country's current politics and about religious freedoms. Once I get started I can be pretty blunt, so I make a point of not sending out those types of e-mails, and I try very hard to not respond to them. I prefer to let my ballot and campaign contributions do the talking. Otherwise, I would probably offend people when that's really not necessary or productive. I would be much more comfortable if you didn't include me in these types of mailings. I hope you will understand.
husband and I are going to Mexico beginning Monday and returning late on the 7th of April. K and R will be watching the dogs, and I may have a friend staying at the house. If Ms. M does stay, there will be a green Subaru Outback around. Otherwise, no "moving sales" or "taking things to the dump for husband and Witzend" if you know what I mean!
Have a great Easter!
Witzend
That's not rude, is it? Just doing my best to set the rules, right?
I feel that there is a lot of hyperbolic meanness surrounding politics in the past 15 - 20 years. When I hear or see this type of stuff, I generally do my best to ignore it, and consider the source.
I may have written about this neighbor the last election period. We are part of a neighborhood watch, and I am in charge of the telephone/e-mail tree. She's a serial e-mail forwarder. She never writes anything herself, it's always something forwarded, and often supportive of the polar opposite of my religious or political view. I've mentioned it to her personally, to no avail. I usually delete whatever she sends, but feel that I can't tell her that I have a different e-mail address because everyone else on the block - neighborhood watch list - uses my real e-mail. I can't really block her for safety reasons. If something were to be going on in her end of the block, since I am the watch captain, I need to know.
Yesterday morning I got into my e-mail to find the usual 5 forwarded messages from D. Once in a great while they're funny, so since they open up as I delete them I generally look at the first sentence. One of the notes she sent yesterday was absolutely the most racist ignorant religiously bigoted sexist idiotic things I had ever seen. I would call it hate mail. I wrote back and said "D- I haven't made up my mind yet, but I do know I am not voting for X (the one she supports)." She wrote back "Well, none of them are worth voting for." Huh? Then why slander the one?
Since I really have no workable option to block her, I decided to do my best to tell her to leave me off of her forwarding list without offending her. I'm not in a position to offend her without causing conflict for a lot of other people as collateral damage. This is what I wrote to her. Is it snotty? I always worry when I write things that aren't what people might want to hear, I'll come across as aggressive. I don't think I was, but I'd like your opinions as to the tone of the letter. I am comfortable with that I am not lying to her about or blocking her from my e-mail, so if you disagree with that, I don't need to know.
D~
I do wish that the choices were different, but they are what they are and one of them will be our President. That being said, I think that you and I have different opinions on what we would like to see happen. I have pretty strong opinions about the country's current politics and about religious freedoms. Once I get started I can be pretty blunt, so I make a point of not sending out those types of e-mails, and I try very hard to not respond to them. I prefer to let my ballot and campaign contributions do the talking. Otherwise, I would probably offend people when that's really not necessary or productive. I would be much more comfortable if you didn't include me in these types of mailings. I hope you will understand.
husband and I are going to Mexico beginning Monday and returning late on the 7th of April. K and R will be watching the dogs, and I may have a friend staying at the house. If Ms. M does stay, there will be a green Subaru Outback around. Otherwise, no "moving sales" or "taking things to the dump for husband and Witzend" if you know what I mean!
Have a great Easter!
Witzend
That's not rude, is it? Just doing my best to set the rules, right?
