The Out-Crowd

I was in class today when someone who reminded me an awful lot of Matt (more on that later) said that he didn't see anything special about the way the writer we were reading was treated, that her captives (she had been kidnapped by Indians) did not treat her badly, may even have treated her well, and the language she used to describe her experience he described as a little extreme and not really in accordance with what she told had happened to her. This is probably a bad example, but I'm going with it anyway. The rest of the class most emphatically disagreed, and they made sure he knew it, discrediting his statements and even going so far as to laugh at him when he had gotten a (admittedly, pretty important) fact wrong.

I was pretty indignant at this point. I never said anything, but someday, I will. I can't stand when people laugh or otherwise ridicule another person because their opinions differ or the person says something wrong. Just because I made a mistake in my speech doesn't mean the rest of what I had to say is now meaningless and easily discarded. Just because I switched words two doesn't mean you no longer have to listen to me or take what I say into consideration. And, yes, I did that on purpose.

The same thing with Youtube comments. Yes, I am going to harp on Youtube again, because this is important to me, and it really should be important to more people. I feel like bolding this, and underlining it, so I'm going to, but don't take this as anger at any of you readers (this is frustration): Just because you don't agree with someone does not mean he or she is no longer a person or that you can now harass her or him online or anywhere else.

I've discovered my biggest pet peeve in this post. I am annoyed, frustrated, even outraged, by people who refuse to acknowledge that the person they are laughing at, making fun of, and generally degrading is a person just like them with feelings that are easily hurt. And even if they're not easily hurt, even if they're really tough and can handle the abuse, people should care about other people enough not to want to hurt them.

Maybe I have a skewed view on the world, too high expectations. But maybe that's what we've been missing all along. Maybe what this nation really needs is for everyone to have compassion for one another and for people from other countries. Maybe world peace is seen as unattainable only because no one has shown the care for others that is needed to provide peace. Maybe I'm completely delusional and there never will be world peace for some other reason. But can you really say that it couldn't help?

Now, back to Matt! I haven't seen him a lot lately, and I really miss him. I never really know how much until I'm confronted by something that reminds me I don't see him a lot. Until I get all hot and bothered by people laughing at someone I don't even know (this statement does not mean I didn't mean everything else I said). So when this boy in my class started talking just like Matty (even wiggling his head and using his hands, even the words and contemplation of the words) I started paying attention. And suddenly I felt all teary and girly. It was kind of gross. Especially since, as I said earlier, I have no idea who this guy is. But he made me miss him. And maybe that's why I reacted the way I did, with this post. But I do still feel the things I've said. So...