Interpersonal Clubfootedness and Duchess Dimwit

Pics were taken by Michael Horan at yesterday's Justice for Trayvon Martin Rally in Roxbury.

How un-evolved, feeble minded and flat out clueless does a person need to be before they’ll post incoherent, dim bulbed, flouncingly angry comments in response to a grieving person’s Facebook post?

I posted a snippet from Obama’s speech to us -- the broken hearted by the jury’s decision in Florida. Sometime during the night, a woman -- one of my Facebook ‘friends’* left a comment that had nothing to do with Trayvon and the injustice of the jury’s decision and everything to do with her hatred of our Kenyon/Muslim/Socialist Overlord (snark!).

Her, seemingly, casually tossed off bit of venom went beyond ill-advised, cruising well into Callous Creepy-ville.

Posting an asinine, I-Hate-Obama barb, when your dear Obama voting friend is clearly mourning, does nothing but highlight in fluorescent orange neon, 72 point Franklin Gothic Heavy the insulter’s inability to think rationally, reason and/or engage in civil discussions.

Is there a sliding scale for acceptable levels of interpersonal stupidity? I think so. We all have friends who have made rash comments to us at sensitive times. Hell, ALL of us have done this ourselves. We belatedly recognize our own social cock-ups and strive to NEVER do that again. OR we have the decency to be abashed, embarrassed and contrite when our pals point our out our shit comment(s) or behavior(s).

We learn and grow.

There’s a time and place when it’s fine and dandy to present opposing viewpoints. This Duchess of Dimwittedness has actually presented her opinions (which she invariably confuses with fact) at appropriate junctures in the past. Sadly, though a college graduate, her grasp of verifiable truth is no better than that of a Koch lie fed Tea Bagger.

This is the featured snippet of Obama’s speech which this, now, ex-friend thought insensible:

"The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin."

 What’s my takeaway on this? I CAN have friends who don't share my beliefs. I can have appreciated acquaintances who don’t espouse my views on the environment or social justice HOWEVER we both/all need to do the Nimble Diplomacy dance when we talk. Yeah, I’ll never change a hard core right winger’s mind and vice versa BUT, as Michal The Balm of Idaho says, ‘if you share your thoughts and I share mine we each have more info than we started with.’ If nothing else, we come to know more about the folks around us.

*you know, the sort you’d never spend time with in real life. You’re not really sure why you accepted her friend request but figure ‘hey, who knows, maybe she’s grown since high school.' In this case...NOPE.