Sunday, November 1, 2009

Live and Let Live, Damn it!

I have a very simple philosophy about life. I think people should be able to do whatever they want, with whomever they want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else or infringe upon another person's right to do the same. Seems simple to me. Seems logical to me. So why is it that people, who are in no way affected by the actions of another person or group simply must go out of their way just to get pissed off about it?!

Whether it's homosexuality, clothing, hairstyle, sexual kinks, theology or any other personal decision, there are always way too many people who've gotta stick their noses in just so they can declare that it's 'wrong'.  I was just skimming an article about Chaz Bono, formerly Chastity, who is in the midst of a sex change from female to male. I didn't think too much about it aside from wishing 'him' well. I noted that the site had comments available and couldn't resist taking a peek. The first comment I see starts off, "I am not judging anyone here. Whatever blows your hair back. If she thinks she is a man more power to her . The fact still remains though, she is not a man, she is a woman who mutilated her body." What the hell?! First, why did this person seem to feel the need to read an article about something they obviously aren't comfortable with and then go out of their way to say how wrong this was?  Look, if you don't like the idea of sex changes, may I suggest that you don't read stories about them? What Chaz is doing has no effect on this person. Why do they feel the need to get involved and spout their opinion?

I have a very short fuse with people who can't just let others live their lives as they see fit. Life is screwy enough without having strangers tell you that you're doing it all wrong. Take gay marriage. I have no clue why anyone feels the need to oppose this. Nobody's trying to force anyone to marry a homosexual. Don't approve of gay marriage? Then don't get married to a homosexual! It's as simple as that. Otherwise, shut up and worry about your own life. How can two people loving each other POSSIBLY be bad?! Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? The only reasons I've ever heard to oppose gay marriage are either theological or vague 'it's not right' blather. I listened to Mike Huckabee try to explain why gay marriage was wrong for 5-10 minutes on The Daily Show one night. He couldn't come up with anything other than vague biblical references and that it was 'unnatural'. As to the biblical side, if there is a God, then He/She will certainly weigh in directly at some point before or after death. He/She certainly doesn't need some self righteous ass pretending to speak for Him/Her! And the 'natural' debate is nothing but hypocritical clap-trap. Women voting was considered 'unnatural' for a while too, as I recall. Natural is whatever is considered by society, at the time, as the status quo. It has no connection with what is right, wrong or natural.

We all have a right to be upset by whatever bothers us. I'm not arguing that. And if we're debating societal or political ideas, then by all means, get involved. But if we're dealing with personal, sometimes intimate, issues that have nothing to do with us we should just keep our mouths shut and walk away. The First Amendment may give us the right to babble incoherently about things that aren't any of our concern, but common sense and basic good manners should inspire us with the wisdom to shut the hell up.

2 comments:

  1. I spent the day in the company of judges. Look at that person...what was she thinking, blah, blah, blah. When something like this happens, if it is fairly harmless, I try to let it flow by. But after a while, it simply drains me. I find myself getting really irritable. Today, I finally had to say "Okay, let's let go of the running editorial on everyone else and do what we need to."
    I don't know. Maybe other people have a lot more energy than I do. I simply don't have the energy to be assessing and labeling every thing and one I see. And besides, who died and made me judge? A position I so don't want. I have a lot of other things that really need my attention.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BRILLIANT!!! Exactly! THANK you!!!

    ReplyDelete

Please let me know what you think, even if it's to disagree.