Ever happen to you?
Now, I don't care that I have, that's not the point of this post. I've been blocked by several people on this site for this or that reason. Me? I only block spammers, because i don't allow unsolicited advertisement on my blog. I don't know those people, the value of what they're selling or how they do business, so I'm not going to lend my support and space to them when they do so unasked. I don't think that's unfair.
Recently, I've been blocked by two members here at SoulCast, and I'm going to recount my view of the situation here because, well, it's my blog and I feel like it.
The first is Alienated. I wrote that I thought he is a biggoted fool. Now, I don't think that's too harsh after taking his insults for more than a year, not the least of which is the recent statement that I am (to sum up) 'a liberal fool who 'god' laughs at'. A pretty harsh personal insult if you ask me. But you didn't, so I'll go on.
What I found comical about this situation is that we were discussing right and wrong, and free speech at the time. I don't care that Alienated blocked me, because most people know that he is a biggoted fool who is incapable of backing up his fanatically conservative viewpoint with any real facts. To Alienated, free speech is only afforded to those who agree with his viewpoint, so go ahead, block away.
The second, and a much more intricate situation, was HollyGoLightly. This type of situation continues to baffle me whenever I encounter it.
You see, a couple weeks ago, I was drinking beer, feeling fine, and blogging along late saturday night. I happened to be on one of Holly's posts when she started flirting with me. Well, I was in the mood for some harmless fun, so I flirted right back. I'll have to say that I wasn't anywhere near as graphic or overt as she was, but that's beside the point. I was still flirting.
As the conversation progressed, she suggested that we go private with it. Now there's where, in my somewhat inebreated state, I made a mistake. You see, I thought we were just becoming friends. I started telling her about my life and my past, she told me about her life and her past, I thought we were getting along just fine. Then I told her about a particular situation in my life. I noticed an abrupt change in her replies to me. I was a little confused at the time, and also quite sleepy, so I went to bed.
The next day as I was reflecting on what had happened, I came to the realization that we had crossed intentions. Holly was looking for a quick cyber roll in the hay, I was looking for a new friend. I tried to continue the conversation the next day in a friendly manor, but she was very reluctant to talk. I commented on this to her, and she said that she'd just had a very bad day. I offered her a listening ear, and told her allot of my friends appreciate telling me about their troubles. She thanked me, but said she was a 'private person' and didn't talk about personal issues openly. I thought this was rather odd, as I had read many of her posts and comments about the intimate, personal, and sexual details of her life and her mental health in public blogs where anyone in the world with a browser could see. But I said ok and left it at that. I figured, like I said, it was a case of crossed intentions gone wrong. I don't cyber with people I don't know. I've only done it a few times over my life, and that was after I'd known them very well for a long period of time. Apparantly, Holly didn't know that about me.
I was even more surprised to find the next day she had made comments to me calling me a 'slut' and a 'man whore', but I decided it must have been a joke, so I joked back with such things as 'don't tell anyone'. I don't really know why, but she made a very harsh personal statement about me that in the statement she said was 'raw and rude'. I commented that I didn't understand why she would do that, and appologised if I'd overstepped in some manor. This exchange went back and forth a few comments until it was obvious to me that she hadn't been joking, so I exited 'Hollyworld' without further comment. I found two days later, another 'tongue in cheek' poke at me, so I made a 'tongue and cheek' poke back, referencing a subject she had many times talked about on her posts and in comments in the past, and has brought up since. I was subsequently blocked with an accompanying and rather harsh comment, so I had no opportunity to further discuss the situation. I must confess, I was a bit confused and a little pissed about the whole thing at the time, so I put her comments that I found offensive in a post of my own, asking why people thought it was ok to say things like that to someone, and then take such great offense when something was said to them? I was greeted the next day with a very scathingly personal flame post from her, at which point I dropped the matter completely, until now.
I only bring it up at this point, well, first, because it makes me feel better to write these things out sometimes.
Second, to address the point of this post.
You see, one of the standards I try to live by, I can best relate with a quote from the bible. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I see this as having two integral parts. First, treat others the way you want to be treated. Second, and the result of doing that, people will pretty much treat you the way you treat them.
So here's my point. I did nothing to either of these people that they had not done to me numerous times before. That is how they showed me they wanted to be treated, so that is how I treated them.
Neither of them has been blocked from my blog, so they can actually come to this post and describe their viewpoint, vent about my treatment of them, or say whatever they wish, because I do believe in free speech, even when the speaker disagrees with me.
So that's my view on blocking. Not that it really matters to me. I just find that in these particular cases, it makes the people doing so seem immature and self centered, and I wanted to write about it.
How about you? have you been blocked? Was the person justified in doing so? Do you even care?
