Yesterday I was a tad worried about my post. Apparently I shouldn’t have been, and that’s all well and good but it does bring to mind a pet hate of mine.
I don’t think I have EVER posted something that was deliberately inflammatory or overly opinionated. Now that’s mainly because it’s just not in my nature but also because, frankly, I don’t see the point. It may sound awfully “right-on” but life really IS too short to waste any of my time and energy trying to berate and antagonise others. Don’t get me wrong, I have had fallings out with people, and have been asked not to comment on certain blogs but that is usually down to my (mis)use of sarcasm.
This is not to say I don’t have opinions, nor that I will not express them if I see a need or opportunity to contribute to a discussion, and I can certainly point you to several occasions when I’ve been a little hot under the collar about a particular topic. However, I’d challenge you to find anything I’ve written that deliberately sets out to shock and I’d warrant it harder to find proof of me ignoring a well reasoned argument/comment. I’m a tolerant guy but even the most laid-back person can be provoked.
My dislike of the loud and arrogant, issuing forth their proclamations and shouting down others, is not limited to blogs. That kind of loathsome individual may think they are ‘winning the argument’ because they made the most noise and that may be true in the political sense but as far as I’m concerned it spanks of insecurity. The worst mix is the overly intelligent which, when coupled with a presumption that they are correct and their opinion SHOULD be held by others because (after all) they’ve spent years studying the topic (which makes the rest of us no better than uneducated oinks), can lead to an obnoxious mix of overbearing pomposity from which I rarely hide my displeasure.
And of course the single most annoying thing about the overly opinionated is that they remain so blinkered to others views that they don’t even realise how disgustingly gross their company can be.
The simple fact is that no-one is right all the time.
Not even me.