I Was Blocked or Why 280 Characters Isn’t Enough Sometimes
I’m usually pretty cool as a cucumber. I’ve learned that I don’t really give a shit about what people think of me. But this one… This one bothers me. It bothers me not because I was blocked but because of why I was blocked.
It’s because the person that blocked me seems like a genuinely nice person with a good attitude and I’d hate to have them believe I wrote something to hurt them. Whether they read this or not, whether they reach out to me or not, whether they unblock me or not, it doesn’t matter. I hope they’re doing well and continue to do so.
First and foremost: Do not try and track this person down to harass them.
Secondly: See the first point.
Let me natter on about myself for a few moments.
One thing I am is a smart-ass. One thing I’m not is a jackass. These two descriptors seem the same but there’s a huge difference: As a smart-ass, I like to make jokes whereas a jackass is akin to being a jerk. When push comes to shove and it’s time to stop making jokes, I stop. Sometimes I miss the mark but people usually tell me I’ve kept going when I should’ve stopped at which point I apologize and stop.
I’ve never been racist, homophobic, transphobic or anything along those lines. My parents raised me to treat people equally and respect the diversity across the world. I’m not naive. I know that there are assholes out there. I know that some people are racist, homophobic, transphobic and anything along those lines.
This person I follow on Twitter made a post about a colleague of theirs (former, I think) who made a sexist remark. To show some support to this person, I posted a small smart-ass meme and then followed it up with this:
I don’t get how hard it is to understand that people are… Y’know… People. Gay. Straight. Trans. Black. White. Green. Whatever. Treat people nicely. It’s not hard.
This is where 280 characters wasn’t enough. This is where you can’t hear what people’s inflections are in a text post. This is what got me blocked.
At first, I didn’t notice that I was blocked but after not seeing them post for a while, I thought I’d check their profile to see how they were doing. It was at this point I found out they had blocked me. Curiosity got to me. What had I done that could’ve been so bad that they would block me?
I checked their profile from another browser and found that they had referenced the terminology from my aforementioned Tweet about how negative the sentiment was. It was, unfortunately, misunderstood or misconstrued.
I’m not a stalker. I didn’t create a bunch of sock accounts to follow this person. I had my answer and that was all I needed to learn.
You see… Like the fine line (but huge difference) between being a smart-ass and a jackass, there’s the exact same line between these two statements:
People. Gay. Straight. Trans. Black. White. Green. Whatever. Treat people nicely. It’s not hard.
and
I don’t see colours. Gay. Straight. Trans. Black. White. Green. Whatever. It’s all the same to me.
The first statement, the one I posted, refers to treating everyone nicely. That’s it. Nothing more implied.
The second statement says that I wouldn’t care about the plight and struggles others have gone through and are still going through.
I do care.
I do my part by standing-up when I see or hear racist/sexist/*phobic comments. I do my part by not being an asshole. I do my part by trying to add humour to conversations to cheer people up, even just a bit.
I really don’t have a way to end this story so I’m going to pull a penguinz0 and say: That’s it. See ya’.
