Would you confess, "sorry I'm being realistic... I hate realistic attitudes and try not to be that way..." One could equally say, "sorry I'm being a booster... I hate boosterism and try not to be that way..." no, because i don't hate being realistic... nor do i hate being an encourager... but being negative, yes--i must apologize for that... i hate being negative... especially because i cannot back up what i'm feeling... what i'm expressing is just a feeling... i have nothing to back up my negative feelings... therefore, i'm sorry... i hate having a negative attitude and try not to be that way...
i hate your preachiness too... and i don't believe you are really sorry for your preachiness toward me... in fact, i believe you like being preachy... i don't find it helpful in this case... nor do i find your "test for publishing on Free Republic" helpful... if i were claiming fact in a situation, then yes--i ought to back it up... but i am sharing a "feeling... a dreadful feeling" in my opinion, and not only will i not back it up, i simply cannot... which is why i must apologize for my negativity... it's my own feeling... again, sorry i'm being negative... i hate negative attitudes and try not to have one...
Of course I like being preachy-I just don't like being found out when I'm doing it because that makes people defensive and resistant to what I am preaching. I post to persuade people, why do you post? I am not discussing the weather here.
I read posts to gain information. Sometimes it is wonderfully valuable information, sometimes it is really insightful. Sometimes the best it can be taken from it is an understanding that that is how other people think and therefore it might provide clues about how they can be persuaded to my point of view.
If we conservatives are censored by Nancy Pelosi because she has silenced talk radio or she somehow contrives to shut down the Internet, we would all be outraged. But if we do it to ourselves by shouting, "zot" or enforcing a kind of reverse political correctness for insufficient cheerleading, we smugly congratulate ourselves as the whole grand purpose of FreeRepublic is compromised.
Too often on these threads we hear and see people being shouted down because they are insufficiently optimistic (which really means insufficiently doctrinaire) about conservative election chances. If it is our opinion, we should not be intimidated from putting it out there. Let the optimists prove that it is too negative.
We get much the same noise when someone says, "I heard on Olbermann" and 10 posters immediately assault the author for watching Olbermann. What the hell business is it of the theirs what one of our fellow posters watches? Are we afraid of Olbermann?
Please accept my assurances that there is nothing personal in any of my remarks.
I better end the sermon lest you wake up to the fact that I am being preachy.
