Today's discourse reduced to "Aha I got you moments"

I tend to make this mistake over and over again. By now I should know better, but I'm always putting my proverbial foot in my mouth. I mean, the way discourse seems to work, specially online, has less to do with the content being discussed, with context, facts and a lot more to do with those special opportunities to scream - "I GOT YOU".

I've been using twitter lately quite a bit. The plan, or at least my original plan here was to use it to promote Steem in a very slick way. Basically, instead of talking about how awesome Steem is, I would simply share some of the articles I'm working on, or possibly some others I find valuable as well.

However, since one of my main goals in life is to not live inside an echo chamber, I follow some very toxic individuals on twitter. I should say more accurately, that I deem them toxic. Maybe to their followers they are guardians of the truth, but to me they are talking heads that know how to work the predictable crowds.

In one of those moments of mental weakness, I decided to make a comment on Ann Coulter's tweet. Boy was that a mistake. Everything I said was taken out of context. It seemed as if no one could understand the nuances I was trying to bring up and of course I was made into a virtual punching bag for the evening's entertainment.

I'm sure there are some people out there that are not familiar with Ann Coulter, and well I would say to them, and I mean this sincerely, that you are lucky. Almost since the first time I heard her talk, I've found almost nothing about her that is redeemable and that is putting it lightly. She is known for being very vocal about her anti immigration stance, writing many books on the subject, including one that depicts a dystopian America, simply because of "our immigration problem".

Before anyone makes any assumptions of my stance on the matter, it might be enough for me to say that I don't subscribe to any extreme views, regardless of what wing of the magic bird you've chosen to seek shelter under.

So to me the demonizing of the political left is as productive and ridiculous as the left wing calling the Republicans Nazis. Are there some people on both sides of the political spectrum with extreme views? Yes, of course. But Painting people with a broad brush is unfair, and completely unproductive. If we can't depart from that common ground, even this article will be seen as an attack, and it's just an observation from my point of view.

The way this whole thing played out was so predictable, I'm seriously a bit disappointed with myself. Ann had shared an article that stated correctly, that the legal age for sexual consent in Mexico is 12 years of age. Before you hold both your hands in front of your mouth, the way the article framed this, had an obvious intent behind it. If you feel compelled to demonize the Mexican government for such law, know that in America the age is 14 years old before screaming out of moral outrage.

In my view a 12 year old and a 14 year old are babies just the same. But my personal opinion, at least on this somewhat heard spinning fact, is probably not as relevant to the conversation. My intention behind the comment, was simply to say that Ann's intentions behind sharing the article were obviously painful, and that people should be a little more skeptic about her seeming "America/God loving ways".

What was the message she was trying to convey? - It's simple and disgusting. "We don't want pedophilic Mexicans coming into America" - with the idea of painting all Mexicans, because of this law as pedophiles. This is basically saying that because the law says these things, that because the law says a 12 year old can consent to someone under 18, mind you, that all Mexicans are pedophiles.

Now, if you did not read that last bit correctly, that is the key distinction the article fails to point out. Also, that is how the law works in America as well. A child (because that's what it is) of 16 could have consensual sex with a 14 year old, and no one would go to jail. What do you know? That sounds..... uncomfortable, yet realistic.

However, my comment was taken out of context and I was called a pedophile, a defender of the perverts, and everything else you can imagine. In other words: Attempting to bring some balance to a blatantly biased and manipulative publication, I became the target of their hate.



My attempts to point out that the existence of this law, does not automatically make all Mexicans pedophiles, and that we have a very similar code here in the US, means for these "would be defenders of the ultimate morality", that I'm a criminal myself, and that I should probably go back to my country, Mexico. (I got called Mexican too)

After answering the third or fourth attacker, I decided to quit that conversation, and once again remind myself of what I already knew very well. Most people on the internet, specially when it comes to the political spectrum, are just simply trying to find reasons to be outraged. A reason to masturbate (excuse the word) their egos standing in a podium of self righteousness. I have no interest in aiding their self defeating process.

It's a bit sad to me however. Because, Its not about learning nuanced arguments, its not about having healthy discussions, its about finding someone who in their minds "fucked up!" and deserves to be punished for standing on the wrong side of history. And, How pathetic is that?