Malice… I looked this word up on Wordnet and it gave the following definition: feeling a need to see others suffer.
I’ve noticed several old views rear their ugly heads to spread the notion of us verses them within the community lately.
For some reason, someone I knew told me in a sideways manner that they thought that I thought post-ops were somehow better or more valid than non-ops. Then, I get the definite feeling that some folk feel like I’m trying to force the Thursday night social to meet a Vanity’s.
Some people like to stir shit. In fact, some of these folk are know for it. They like to sew seeds of doubt and mistrust through spreading conjecture based upon hearsay. In other words, they engage in malicious gossip. The folks I’m thinking about have been around in the community for a while now… belching out crap mixed in with some genuine insights – which makes it really hard to separate the crap from the ideas that are beneficial.
Encouraging others to feel like there is some group of post-ops out there who belittle non/pre-ops is divisive and hurts the community. Encouraging others to feel like you have to verbally fight others in the community to get things done is nonsense. It also poisons the minds of the new leaders that are emerging within the community.
All of this gossip, conjecture and… bullshit amounts to nothing more than malice. To inspire infighting and backbiting within your own community is to inspire suffering. Folks who do this are no better – in that moment – than any right-wing nut job.
I hope… I really hope that when new folk hear that this person or that person is power mad, elitist or some other bullshit, they will remember this post and then consider the possibility that the person giving you this piece of information might have a few issues of their own that colors their perspective. Also, beware of folks who try to warn you of elitist clicks within TATS, STAG, HTGA or the social. Again, gossip like that is out-n-out bullshit.
Folks, don’t get sucked into someone else’s psycho drama.