To exist in this space, is to accept you are going to be called a lot of silly names. Incel, pick-me, misogynist, bigot, neckbeard, toxic, virgin, pig, simp, and so on, and so forth. The merry-go-round of yawn-inducing insults is a ride I’ve been on for many years now, and it remains as boring and ineffective as it ever was. The babies stomp their feet, and point their podgy fingers, tweeting themselves into a senseless stupor. But fear not – Such a tirade of verbal abuse continues to act as a teacher of two valuable lessons. The first is that personal attacks and insults are only used when a person has no other way of contending with what you’re saying. It is the death rattle of intelligent and thoughtful discourse; civility has abandoned this person, and the only thing that remains is a long list of ad hominems. The second lesson is that such bigotry teaches us how *not* to behave. An “anti-role model” to how we should conduct ourselves when talking with people with whom we disagree. A chance to be better - to be the adults in the room. To respond not with our own arsenal of insults, but to choose the path of grown up questions and civil discourse, and to set a better example. For they have already lost the argument, and you should not join them in the festering stench of their own failure. Being insulted is okay. And you should not allow those who unfairly use such a weapon, to quieten your voice. So what is to be learnt from the bigoteers, and what price will you pay to speak truthfully? What do you think? ~ Images by Miguel Burn, Allesandro Bellone

2024-01-07