So I’m Going to Stupidly Weigh in on this…

I guess Melissa Harris-Perry stepped in it when she took issue with President Obama’s seemingly connecting single moms and, in turn, the lack of dads, as one reason for gun violence. I caught that “slip of the tongue” as well and thought at the time, well this won’t be good. The Twitterverse went nuts.

Now it’s time for everyone to take a breath and calm down.  And I know how condescending that sounds.

Do it anyway, and please don’t yell at me for saying so.

The RWNJs of the world immediately went to their favorite targets when Sandy Hook happened and blamed, say it with me now, single moms.  Now I’ve never been a single mom, but for a short time, I was raised by one.  My parents divorced after I graduated from high school, but my brother was 7 years younger than me so it still counts.  I witnessed how difficult it was and how she had to be so careful with everything.  She lived in fear that my father would take my brother away from her…not that he would have because he couldn’t be bothered with a deaf child anyway.

It’s hard to listen to views that are negative about a President whom I dearly love.  It’s hard when I disagree with him.  I’ve had to remind myself that I can adore this man without liking everything he does, particularly when I see cannabis patients affected by his strange policies of, oh we don’t have the time or the resources to go after people following their state laws, except that we actually do and we will.  You get the idea.

The outrage is getting tiresome.  All Melissa did was talk about how the President’s comments felt to her.  Her experiences are as valid as anyone else’s.  If you don’t want to hear her, then don’t watch her show.  I have a tendency to evaluate an argument by trying to understand it.  Sometimes that involves taking an opposing view and restating it in my own terms.  Confuses the crap out of people who think they know me.  Examining opposing views requires that we are able to suspend judgement for a minute and look objectively at an idea.  The funny thing is, you don’t have to adopt an idea to fully understand or even defend it.  Trust me, if you like messing with people..this’ll do it!

So remember to approach the world with love and respect.  It’s easier to get through the day if you do. Take a breath, and if you hold it long enough, you just might lose consciousness long enough so that when you come to, it’ll all be over and you’ll have saved yourself the embarrassment of going ape-shit on someone for simply expressing a viewpoint that you either disagree with or just don’t understand.