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Controversial Topics

I’ve been writing this blog for going on 7 years. My first post was in June 2007, and it was an inane review of the 30 year old comedy movie, A Kentucky Fried Movie by the Zucker brothers. Since then, I’ve posted about daily life as a dad, a Southerner, a gamer geek, and other various and sundry mundane topics. Very rarely have I ever posted on any kind of controversial topic. About as close as I’ve gotten to controversy has been posts like these:

Rustic Tony

Bad Baby’s Daddy

Police Arrest Harvard Professor

The Tuscon Massacre and Armed Citizens

Is My Son Gay?

This avoiding controversy in my blog has been intentional. I have opinions on controversial issues, just like everyone else has, but I’ve kept it out of my blog for three main reasons. 1: This isn’t a news or current events blog; this is a daily life and family blog. 2: My opinions on some topics just aren’t strong enough to espouse and push them onto anyone else. 3: I don’t want to turn anyone off of reading this blog if my opinion on a controversial topic differs from theirs.

That is, my opinion on X issue usually isn’t strong enough that I feel a need to throw it out unsolicited especially with the concern that it may drive some folks away from my business.

Through my life, I’ve seen people with an audience — musicians, actors, writers, celebrities, etc. — spout their opinions on subjects completely unrelated to their jobs or reasons for having an audience. I’ve seen comedians include political rants in their routine, movie stars state their diet opinions during interviews, small-time bands go off on a current affair through their My Space page, and tech bloggers rant on some international confrontation. It has always annoyed me when someone like that uses their moment on the spotlight to preach their opinion like they’re enlightening the ignorant masses with their insight. I don’t even care if their opinion matches or opposes my own, it’s stupid how they seem to think their celebrity makes them smarter and their access to an audience gives them the duty to spread their thoughts out of context.

It doesn’t matter that the singer’s thoughts on Things are correct with my own decisions, I’m not at the concert to hear those thoughts repeated back to me — I’m at the concert to hear music. Same with reading a comedy web site or watching a late night celebrity talk show. It’s just annoying to have politics, religion, or cultural issues pop up in unrelated places. Yes, I’m interested in politics, religion, and cultural issues as much as the next person, but when I want to hear/read/learn about them, I’ll go to a person or group who actually has experience and/or education with the subject.

Not only is it annoying to have those topics pop up in places out of the blue, but if the musician, actor, writer, celebrity, etc. has an opinion diametrically opposed to my own, well, to be honest, it can turn me off of liking them. The chances of me actually turning to dislike them depends on how often the person brings up and and how strongly they present their opinion. You understand, it’s the difference between someone answering a question about their opinion and someone taking every opportunity to shout how obviously superior and correct their view is.

“What video gaming platform do I prefer? I like playing on a computer because I can handle a mouse and keyboard better than a control pad.”

versus

“Welcome to my vacation blog. Computers are the objectively superior system for gaming because no console and control pad could ever perform and handle as well as a fully tricked-out desktop with full keyboard and 12 button mouse.”

So this is why I haven’t taken on controversial issues in this blog. I’m rarely moved to bring up such topics. You don’t come here for my opinion on controversial topics. And I don’t want to turn you off if you learn that my opinion is different from yours.

But I’m thinking of taking a chance for a change this year. I’m going to write about controversial topics. I’m going to tell you what I think and how my life experiences have lead me to those thoughts. I won’t say that I am definitely right, that my opinions are objectively correct and wise. I may very well be terribly wrong on every opinion I have. I’m open to hearing from other experiences and points of view. So, my posts on controversial topics isn’t me preaching or teaching to anyone, it’s merely me revealing my thoughts and point of view.

Bullgrit

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