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Some time ago I instituted a rule for my LJ that I don't bring up very much. No bashing religion. I am an atheist and proud of it, and for a while I perhaps brought it up more than it warranted, but it's not like I can safely talk about it anywhere else. But I kept noticing that when people bashed atheism (and there are a few that can't mention us without saying something bad about us) it in no way improved my view of religion. And I decided that such things might work the other way too, and that picking fights was unproductive.
I decided that I was going to stick to positive stuff. If I want to say something good about atheism I don't need to make it look better than something else, I just need to say "it did this good thing, which I like." Period full stop. And I have stuck to that, and I feel good about it.
But now I've been accused of being prejudiced (and it turns out I was *exactly* right about what I thought might be going on, by the way) and the urge to bash is just... much much greater than usual. Because there's no way to tell what happened or give my side without saying something negative.
Sometimes being the better person sucks. And there is no being the better person award. But there totally *ought* to be.
I decided that I was going to stick to positive stuff. If I want to say something good about atheism I don't need to make it look better than something else, I just need to say "it did this good thing, which I like." Period full stop. And I have stuck to that, and I feel good about it.
But now I've been accused of being prejudiced (and it turns out I was *exactly* right about what I thought might be going on, by the way) and the urge to bash is just... much much greater than usual. Because there's no way to tell what happened or give my side without saying something negative.
Sometimes being the better person sucks. And there is no being the better person award. But there totally *ought* to be.
