Keeping my mouth shut is hard
It struck me this evening just how many thoughts I bury. While reading posts at WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, or even Facebook (which I try to stay the hell away from), I often start replying to something, but then think better of it.
I've always believed that as long as nobody is getting hurt, people should be allowed to believe, do, and say whatever they like (within reason). I guess this whole ideology falls apart on the internet though because even the predicate “within reason” varies enormously from person to person.
In the “real” world, we tend to self-sort into peer groupswith similar views, opinions, beliefs, faith, and whatever else. On the internet we have to sort based oncuratedfacadesand very few of us are very good at seeing any further than the words and pictures we share.
We have phrases to describe the moments when the facades fall down, and the ensuing wreckage that resultswe say people have “shown their true colours”, or that “a leopard never changes it's spots”. Kind ways of dressing up the fact that although we might think the best of everybody, some people are assholes, and are always going to be assholes.