Striking a nerve

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues....

OK, this entry isn't going to be focusing on rocketry, per se, but instead reflects a reaction that  "just occurred."

I think most people recognize that this blog is a bit of a personal entry that primarily focuses on how to save money, take short cuts, and share tips on how to enter and continue in this hobby.  Primarily.

But this blog is not a political blog, and I will resist any attempts to drag it into the political arena. 



Last week, someone took offense to my quoting or paraphrasing my daughter's distain for me shopping at HL. I don't think it comes as any surprise that the chain now has a reputation, deserved or not, of having an ultra conservative approach to their employees.  So be it.

So when I use a line from her frequent tirades whenever I walk in with a shopping sack from said chain,  I'm trying to be clever without explaining the whole nine yards.  See, I don't care much about what his personal politics are...  I just want to pick up my low power motors, a kit and some spare balsa and get on with my hobby.  As I frequently respond to her distress, "It's the only place in town where I can find this, hun.."  She generally stomps off, and there's a frost in the house until the next meal or whenever she gets over it.

So when someone posted a comment to my short blog entry about "giving aide to the enemy", it's only with half a heart that I can act shocked about their response.  Part of the idea was to provoke some interest with the title, "sleeping with the enemy"....  which as I recall was a very, very negative thing back in World War II and would get your head shaved when the Allies come and liberate your country...or get you shot for collaborating with enemy forces.





So, I'm not terribly surprised that someone remarked.  However, it's been more than a week since the blog entry posted, and I must admit, I don't see the responses on Blogger until/unless I go back in to log another entry.   So, I didn't see it until just today.

Side note:  Someone did post a comment on Facebook. about me being "emotionally immature", which I did see, and I immediately invited him to explain further.  He simply stated, "I doubt that you'd really want me to get into that."   At the time, it didn't make sense, and I went back over the last several entries, looking for someplace that I might have shown my feelings unwisely.  I couldn't find anything... but now it's looking like he may also have taken offense where none was intended.

Back to the original response:  The respondent says he's been following and enjoying the blog for some time (THANK YOU) but that he really took exception to my claiming that "conservatives were the enemy".   As a conservative, he somehow broadened that to think that he would be unwelcome at a club launch or something.  He objects to splitting the hobby into conservatives and non-conservatives when it should be about enjoying rockets without regard to politics.

I completely agree.

Which is why his reaction took me by surprise.

Look folks, in my end of the country, I have long recognized that most of the population in my region are very conservative, and most of the participants in the hobby are conservative males.  But I never took notice of any animosity until the last 8 years or so, when it suddenly became obvious to me that camps were being drawn.  I began to notice more and more openly insulting comments being made by people who I thought would have been more tactful to keep their personal politics hidden.

In fact, I remember one launch where someone made a comment about one presidential candidate that made me raise an eyebrow. It was the first word I had EVER heard in the hobby one way or another.  I checked with the club president at that time, and he remarked under his breath, "He should know better than to shoot his mouth off."   It was a while before I even took note that they both might be of the same persuasion.

So, what does all this mean?

Just this.


I don't intend for this to be a political arena, and if you think you know my point of view on politics...  you're wrong.  Cause if there's one thing that I learned from my late father, it was to never discuss sex, religion or politics.  And so far, I'm good on at least two out of three. That ain't bad. 

This has been the Thrifty Rocketeer saying, "Let's get back to flying rockets and not taking offense with each other."

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