I wanted to offer a challenge to anyone who is willing to try it, please read below for more details.
The challenge if you're willing to accept is to try to not insult others.
This challenge is mostly geared towards people who have an issue with this, if you already don't insult people then no need to apply.
After learning more about non violent communication I feel like communication is so much more effective and enjoyable when we speak to each other in non violent ways and non manipulative ways.
When I see people arguing and insulting each other and calling each other names these days, I have to wonder... How would that have turned out if they had been more kind, understanding and respectful?
Communication seems to often break down when people start fighting and people seem to often stop listening to each other when the insulting starts, then the shields go up and it's mostly just time to start fighting...
And... I'm not saying non violent communication is 100% the way you should do things all the time, I think speaking strong certainly has its places...
However, I think it's a good experiment to work on... Especially if you are someone who automatically reacts to others insulting you like I used to and still sometimes struggle with.
If people can make us react automatically like that, they have control over us.
If you can get to the point where someone can insult you in virtually any way and you don't react in a detrimental way or insult them back... But, rather you stay on topic and on subject and focus on the issue at hand... Then I think that is awesome and admirable. :)
One of the main reasons I'm making this post is because I see the rhetoric in the world as extreme and worse than I can ever remember in my lifetime and I feel like the people in power benefit or even "win" when we fight each other too much.
They thrive when we fight too much over politics, religion, science, race, gender and things like sports even, etc etc etc... They thrive the more we fight each other, so... I think it would be helpful if we try to fight each other less and try genuinely communicate with each other more.
Not trying to call anyone out specifically, yet I did want to quickly say that even some of the people I think are the smartest and best advocates for freedom and morality still engage in what I would almost call "school yard name calling", they've learned to avoid infringing on others rights and also to reject rulers and government tyranny and they've learned to not abuse animals with their diet or clothes/etc choices and they've learned all these amazing, great and noble things plus others... Yet, they still often seem to speak and communicate in a way which appears very toxic and full of hate and intolerance for those who disagree.
Let's face it, I think that's one significant reason why ideas like libertarianism, anarchy and veganism don't spread as fast... Many of the most vocal people in these movements are "assholes" and push people away from the message because they act so incredibly intolerant towards people who don't belong to their "group" so to speak.
I know it's wishful thinking and I probably won't reach barely anyone with this... Though, I wanted to say a lil something cause I feel really strongly and passionately about all this!
I think that's it for me for now, thank you for reading if you did and thank you as well if you considered trying to be less violent with your language if you are someone who is still violent with their language.
Seeya later and I hope you have a good day. :) <3
PS... At the lower levels I would suggest just trying to avoid saying mean things to others, and then at the higher levels when you get more confident you can try to avoid even thinking those mean things about them in the first place.
That's kinda where I'm at right now... I'm pretty good at not saying mean things anymore most of the time, yet I still often think those things and I'm doing some deep mental work to try to rework those patterns into less "mean" and reactionary ways of responding to things I disagree with or which upset me for whatever reason.
PSPS... If you do try this I would be really happy to hear back from you about your results and if you had positive or negative results and what it was like for you! For me it's been truly empowering and beneficial in many ways!
:)
is it mean if I call someone communist?
Mostly they aint offended.. even if I'd like them to be offended..
Lol. I think this depends, sometimes you can have a relationship with people where certain words don't mean and it's more of a joke or a friendly thing or even endearment, depending on the culture etc... Also, I think it depends on how you are intending the word... If you're just defining and describing what someone is, that's not offensive... However if you're saying in a way in which you are trying to offend them... Then I think that seems pretty evident that you're using it in malicious ways to try to psychologically upset others or for some reason like that which isn't in "their" best interest.
but it would be in their best interest to realize and stop being a communist :D