If you don't have anything good to say

I am listening to Linsday Ellis's video apology to Stephenie Meyer. There is really something to her comment about "we all hate teenage girls," especially because she acknowledges at some point that the "we" is really other women and that most guys are just indifferent, but that's not why I'm blogging. When she mentioned about the vitriol surrounding Twilight, before she even got there I thought about my own disdain for the Transformers live-action movies or the Fast and the Furious. I think that's because Twilight wasn't aimed at me, but those movies were. I saw the first movie in each series, and then decided I'd had enough. I did express my surprise that the Fast and the Furious spawned so many sequels, but that's about as far as I've gone in my commentary. I've realized for a long time that I normally keep negative critiques to myself, but only today did I connect that to what my mother taught me when I was a child, "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all."

It's not that I avoid saying anything remotely negative, but there needs to be a reason for me doing so besides that I don't like a thing. Because most of the vitriol that proliferates the Internet these days can be boiled down to just that, somebody doesn't like something. If I don't like something, I will say, "I don't like that," or "I don't care for that," and leave it at that. Because at the end of the day, it really is just like, my opinion man. Constructive criticism is different, but it isn't something that I practice and I don't feel like I'm that good at it. But if I am offering criticism, it is probably constructive.

I think there's also a thing with me about NOT wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Especially if it can be hurtful or demeaning to another person. Even if I feel that the public critique of a thing is valid, there's no reason for me to add to it.

I don't see myself as an activist. I do see myself as a person interested in justice, but I don't see myself as a dispenser of justice or a person that is usually involved in making justice happen. Not unless the issue is something that I'm involved in directly. At certain points in my life, I've been interested in law enforcement and criminal justice, but I've never employed in a position where I'm actively involved in the law enforcement or criminal justice process.

So much of what I see today in the world of both political and religious activism is so divisive, and that is very antithetical to who I am as a person. I am a bridge builder, a peace maker. I am the person who always wants to be a mediator. I am the person who is always trying to reconcile two points of view.