You don't need to apologize, glad you came back. I was not kind, or respectful to any of you and your feelings because I didn't feel any of you actually took the time to consider the feelings of the poor people, gay people, or minorities that I felt you all denigrated with right wing bigotry. And I won't apologize for fighting fire with fire. That doesn't mean I dislike any of you, I just think you all need to take your thinking deeper on these issues.
Originally Posted by: DakotaT
Be the change you wish to see in the world. If you're not willing to treat others with a basic level of respect even if they're being shitty, then you really have no place demanding that other people respect the people that you deem worthy of respect and they don't. The fact that you believe other people are wrong does not mean that by treating them shittily, you're doing anything to make it more likely for them to come around and realize hey, maybe I should treat EVERYONE (poor, rich, gay, straight, white, black, polkadot) with a basic level of common courtesy and human dignity. Because you're showing them the exact opposite, and they're seeing an advocate for the poor/LGBT/minorities being unapologically rude - and if that's the case, why should they be expected to approach the situation rationally? Why should they listen to someone that's saying that others should act one way, but they're allowed to act another way because they're right? Because back-assward or not, everyone thinks they're right and if you're not prepared to interact with people with a willingness to accept that, you're never going to convince anybody that there's other ways of approaching the world.
See these same problems in society in general where "conservatives" are willing to go wild over someone like Trump (who is far from conservative) because he's "tough" and "speaks his mind" and reflects people's inner anger. Or vote for a shitty member of their own party not because that person has anything in common with their own beliefs, but because they choose to believe that there's no third option or that by voting for someone they don't think has any chance of winning they're somehow wasting a vote. As if having an unpopular opinion means your opinion has no value and you have no business expressing it. Funny thing is, sometimes unpopular opinions are right in the end, or are just ahead of their times. In the end, if you're not willing to take action on your opinion rather than just complaining about other people not following suit, you've got no business complaining about any of it.