New Rules

I decided to take my own annual Lenten advice about not giving up epiphanies for Lent -- and had one -- an epiphany -- about comments on this blog this morning.

It was the result of a particularly nasty ... if sadly not unusual ... series of postings in response to a post about marriage equality reaching a majority approval rating in some national polls.

One blog commenter finally said,

"I'm not in favor of censorship, generally, but the cost is that these comment threads are now hijacked by *** and **, as they repeat and repeat their same tired arguments. Most people do not agree with them and they are mad as hell that they've lost. So they want to hurt us as much as they can. We need to stop feeding their anger, and go somewhere else till they burn themselves out."

And that precipitated my epiphany: we are feeding the fire of that anger by giving it oxygen and it's time to cut that off. It's time for some "New Rules" (yes, I'm a Bill Maher fan!) So I wrote:

There is -- in fact -- a distinct difference between dialogue and diatribe ... as I noted in a post a few weeks ago. And at this point I think it's not healthy for the diaologue on this blog OR for the "drive-by diatribers" to keep that pattern going.

So I hearby declare a moratorium on venom and vitriol -- recognizing that there are those who will hear that as "failing to listen to 'the other side.'"

But here's the deal: after a decade or two in the trenches on this work, I guarantee you there isn't a single one of the arguments out there I haven't already heard. And I'm ready for us to move onto some new territory.

If you want to be part of that conversation, then welcome aboard. If not, go in peace.

Since then, I've deleted a few comments. Will probably delete some more before they get bored and go elsewhere. For the record, this is not about not being open to hearing other perspectives. I'm a big fan of honing arguments and rising to challenges.

What I'm not a fan of are those who come to incite and insult rather than dialogue and discuss. A couple of Exhibit A's are these two comments ... received today ... about the new comment policy. One wrote:

There is no fellowship between Believers and Non-believers. Good manners, politeness, and fairness in business dealings yes, fellowship, no. [see Isaac & Abimelech Genesis 26.]

while another wrote simply

Coward

So there you have it. Welcome to my New Rules.