The purpose of this blog is in jeopardy. Due to my own blogger OCD, I’ve been fixated on publishing a certain number of posts each week, hoping for a certain number of views each month, ending with a big round number at the end of the year. I should have known that this is the way it would turn out. As soon as I realized that WordPress had a place to view stats – including views, referrals, and clicks on outgoing links – it was all over. The purpose of the blog wasn’t to turn it into work, which is what its turning into.
Instead, this site was meant to be a small release for me. I say small because I can get my thoughts out in a number of ways, whether its ranting to friends over a meal, or talking to myself at work. (Who said that?) But the site was a way to put my thoughts into hard form. Thoughts change when they go from brain, to mouth, to website. As I write things I tend to reword them, edit, and rephrase. I do this a lot. I’m even finding that its changing the way I speak.
This site was also made so that I can share what I have to offer, whatever it may be. I’m no expert in any of the fields I talk about – exercise, music, politics, or life. But I have a bit of experience in each – I’ve trained people and I’m an avid weight lifter. I’ve been a bass player over a decade. I spend a lot of time talking politics with tons of people of all different view points. I also read a lot and think a lot. Hopefully this qualifies me with enough of a relevant voice to attract a reader or two, and hopefully a fan or two. (I know there are more than two of you, obviously.)
So in the end, what’s the goal of this site? Its to share some thoughts that will either help someone else, or provoke someone else to think themselves. I encourage people to disagree with me, to argue with me, and to hate what I have to say. If everyone agreed with everything I said – well that’d be no fun. What’s the point of that? But while I say some things that may offend some people, I try my best (most of the time) to be as inoffensive as possible. I’ll put asterics in words like F**K, just so some people will understand that at least I’m trying to be civil.
That’s the problem with much of the discussions people have nowadays – we’re very blunt, one sided, and crude. I personally don’t have a problem with it – I pride myself on having thick skin. But if someone is trying to convert someone else, being a jerk isn’t the best way to go about it. It doesn’t matter how much sense your argument makes; if you come off as an a**hole people aren’t going to listen to you. I’ve noticed this at work recently.
About half of the guys I work with are conservatives and the other half are liberals. They all vary as far as how extreme they are on certain issues, but generally speaking its about half and half. One liberal guy is unfortunately stuck around a bunch of conservatives all day, and while they all get along, they can’t talk politics. They get too angry. The conservatives used to tease the liberal about his beliefs, and one day he exploded. Since then they no longer listen to talk radio…
On the other hand, I work often with this liberal, and when we get to talking, he’s really not as far left as you’d think. In fact, when I explain policy in a fair minded, common sense way, he agrees with me. I’m just as conservative as the other guys, (if not more) but he doesn’t mind talking politics with me. We can have great conversations without getting angry and without being the least bit sarcastic or rude. We tend to laugh at much of what politicians do, no matter what party they are. You’d think that we voted for the same guy.
This is the way politics should be approached, especially if you want to be effective at bringing people to your side. The same thing can be said many different ways, and when you’re talking with someone who may very well disagree with you, you need to be less abrasive. I’m not necessarily trying to “win” my coworker over, but I enjoy conversations with people who have different perspectives. If the goal is to understand each other, and ultimately work together to make our nation stronger, then the tone of our conversations needs to adjust when talking about subjects that can be so controversial.
Come on, guys, didn’t you ever read Dale Carnegie books?
