I’m just thinking attacks on a group are often a catalyst for personal attacks.
I think it would be very difficult to operationally define
a
prohibited
attack on a group.
Folks with thin skins and chips on their shoulders IN ALL DENOMINATIONAL GROUPS will be inclined to construe all manner of forceful statements as attacks on “the most holy and sanctified group”—THEIRS—of course.
ALL OR NOTHING language like “ALWAYS” “NEVER” ETC. would be a LOT easier to monitor, I’d think.
I suppose one could use those words in conjunction with groups as the criteria.
But isn’t that . . . I don’t know . . . taking the monkey bars out of the playground so Johnny won’t scuff his knees or get a bruised something or other?
Personal attacks . . . We are all big enough to know what a specifically personal, personhood attack is. And, avoiding “You” “Your” etc. words is a huge safety, help.
The request somewhat seems to be saying . . . in effect . . .
we hereon are not big enough to hear something startlingly negative about our sacred group without going ballistic, foaming at the mouth and flailing about with knives and arrows.
Hello? Are we THAT pathetic, immature, insecure, brittle, thin skinned???
God help us when the END TIMES REALLY get going in full force. Kid gloves and 4” foam carpet pads and white gloves everywhere will NOT be the order of the day.
I have not attacked RC-ism tonight. I’ve attacked a human tendency—especially a human group tendency of a particular kind of organized group IN ALL DENOMINATIONS. Yet the reaction on the part of a very few has been AS THOUGH I’d attacked the Virgin Mary in the flesh in her eyeballs with a red hot poker!
Why such a disconnect from the reality? That’s NOT REALLY my doing.
On a personal level, I’m saddened by the whole episode. But I can’t take responsibility for the utter nonsense. At some point, I have to leave others their SHARE of responsibility.
Could I have been more loving? I don’t know. Usually there’s always some way to have been a BIT more loving. But I doubt that I could have said anything close to what was true and important for me to say—without triggering at least a similar response from some folks. That may be sad. But I don’t know HOW MUCH of that is my responsibility.
I’m not exactly a new and novel entity hereon. Folks are welcome to take everything I say with a grain of salt. My motives and even my heart are pretty easily discernable by most folks with a microscopic shred of discernment and perceptiveness.
In some ways, I’m . . . me . . . enough . . . a unique, bird of rare plumage, . . . or as my relatives might say—strange—enough . . . that it’s somewhat easy for a variety of folks to be annoyed to irritated just because I’m breathing and with 1,000 feet of them. Sorry about that.
And, I’ve tried to wash behind my ears better and use mints . . . but at some point, nothing will ever be enough for some people. And I cannot remake myself every 30 seconds into someone else’s image of how I OUGHT to be times even a dozen such individuals’ expectations. Tried that long ago. Talk about CRAZY!
Rolling with the punches without taking personal offense is a sign of emotional, psychological AND spiritual maturity. Is it too much to ask that we behave above a 2-4 year old level on such issues?
Just pondering and thinking out loud . . .
Thanks to you both for your thoughtful inputs.