Can't Think of a Catchy Title...

"I would disagree with that. I think you are a genuinely nice person, with a very low tolerance for bullshit." Brent Saturday night.

I don't remember what we were talking about exactly but right before that I had said something about not being a nice person and that was Brent's response.

Fast forward to Sunday as we were watching Meet the Press and I was yelling at the TV over and over again, "YOU KNOW THAT'S WRONG! YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT'S WRONG! YOU ARE THE FUCKING HEAD OF THE EPA I CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW MORE THAN YOU!" And I thought, Brent has a very high tolerance for my low tolerance.

Because trust me when I tell you, you all get a watered down version of me. Even if you read my blog, and follow my status updates, you aren't getting the full force of what happens when I think someone is full of shit. Brent sees it. C sees it. They argue or agree appropriately but they get the full brunt of it. Well them and the TV, of course.

What happens here and on Facebook and even in conversations with people who don't have to love me because they married me or I gave birth to them is that I polish. I back space. I weigh. I consider if you can handle what I'm about to say. And most of the time that makes for a better more open discussion than me yelling at you that you are so fucking full of shit it's amazing that Cousin Eddie isn't emptying you into the street drain...

(deep breath)

But it's still filtered. Usually. Sometimes the filter falls off. A few years ago I was having an online conversation with a conservative friend of mine who wrote something that made me realize they were a birther. And that was my response, "Oh you are a birther." Which made them ask what I meant by that and for some reason I filter free told them. "It means that no matter what from now on I will know that you are a birther. That no matter how well reasoned my argument is, no matter what facts you are presented with, no matter how ridiculous your stance is you will hold it because facts and logic don't mean anything to you." He responded that he now knew that I was judgmental and he was surprised that I didn't call him racist. Which I said, "Well that's pretty much implied in the birther argument so I didn't have to call you racist, you called it yourself."

He didn't defriend me that day, it took him about 3 which I assumed was the amount of time he stewed on the fact that I called him an ignorant racist before he couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't defriend him right away because I called him an ignorant racist and at that point expected the trash to take itself out. Which it did.

The good thing about low tolerance for bullshit is that it gives me lots of blog posts. Ranty ones, but posts. The bad thing about low tolerance for bullshit is that it gets in the way of fiction writing when my head is full of "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" moments. The good thing is that it keeps me honest. I even recognize my own bullshit most of the time.

When you start to give someone a pass because you agree with them that you would never give someone you disagree with the same pass? That's bullshit and it's actually fairly rare for me, I do get people who want to say I do it more than I really do. But I show them where it's different. Where the examples they are trying to use as the same aren't the same at all. The differences are important. It's not that I'm being a hypocrite it's that you aren't using good examples. Be smarter. (And then I wait for them to unfriend me because I did just call them stupid.)


But honestly, be smarter. I get it, I read about more issues than most people do just because I have more time to do so. If I see something quoted that rings false to me I do a little research. I discount partisan sites from both sides when doing that research, by the way. So if you want me to see your brilliant proof and it's the same article posted on 5 different conservative blogs with absolutely nothing else out there, it's bullshit. The same thing if it's a liberal ideology and you can't show my anyplace that it's talked about that isn't a propaganda machine. Bullshit is bullshit. No matter how much you want it to be true.

I've railed for years about this, but do some fact checking before you post something. Question the things that REALLY ring true to you as much as you do the things that REALLY ring false. Use past experience to judge current posts. For instance if the source has proven to be dishonest multiple times in the past you probably shouldn't be surprised if they are lying now. (See Trump's Twitter)

Yeah, he lies. You know he lies. He lies a lot. By bald faced lies or just manipulating the truth lies. He misrepresented what the Mayor of London said just to try and make a political point of some sort. I'm not sure what the point was he was trying to make because all I got out of it was him looking like an asshole and being embarrassed that this is who we have representing us...but you know...some point was being made. And it's horrific that he lies. Because we have people in this country who believe him just because he's the president. Not that they believed that other guy when he was president because you know...reasons...but now they want us all to believe Trump because he's president.

And to that I say, bullshit.