It is Really Very Simple

It is really very simple.  In this country we all have freedom of speech.  We can say whatever we want.  We do not have the freedom to choose the consequences of our speech.  We can't be arrested for saying the better part of anything, but that isn't the only possible consequence.  Often, people have forgotten that are other consequences to exercising their freedom of speech.

If you poke the bear, you are going to get bit, or pull back a bloody stump.  Not everyone is a bear, but you have be aware that some are.  If you say something, you better be aware of all possible consequences, and be ready to live with them.  If you didn't foresee a consequence, that doesn't mean you don't have to live with it.

One of the things that social media has given us, is the ability to talk crap, be rude, and treat people poorly because they can't see us, they can't reach us, and they don't know how to find us.  In many cases this means that there are no longer social consequences for mistreating others.  Does that make mistreating others OK?  Hell no, but it does mean that more are doing it because there is no punishment, and for them limited, if any consequences.

All of that being said, a bully is a bully, an asshole is an asshole, and only an ignorant fool thinks that if they hide behind the internet that they can act like a bully or an asshole and it is all OK.  You can hide behind the internet, but hiding doesn't change who you are.  You can pretend, but at the end of the day, your hiding and pretending changes nothing.  Your glutton free, paleo diet, and beach ready body, aren't going to save you from the venom you spread.  You MIT degree, and perfect family with 2.5 kids and picket fenced yard, are not what make you a good person.  Your actions, no matter how well they are hidden, are your actions.

The only person you can control in this world is you.  If more people focused as hard on actually being a good person as they do on their exercise regimen, their career, and making sure they had all the right clothes, and the right car, then this world wold be a better place.  You think you can say what you want, and hide behind the internet to say it, when you should be worrying about you, and making improvements to you.   You treat others who have different political views as stupid, and accuse them of being close-minded when they don't immediately switch opinions after you post your thoughts on the matter on Facebook.  You are anti-racism, but stereotypes are OK as long as they are political and not racial.  You can put whoever you want in a box, but anyone who tries to put you in a box is misogynistic person in a wife beater.

Just stop folks.  Look in the mirror.  Fix you.  Think about consequences.  Stop pretending to be smart, and be smart.