The first casualty.

I defriended someone on Facebook today. We had a difference of opinion about my opinion.

I can understand why they felt like they had to say something, I guess. I've often wanted to shake someone so hard that their ignorance sloughs off like a snake's skin... but I wasn't being ignorant, nor was I being disrespectful or insensitive. I expressed my opinion on a matter that I have had glancing experience with, on my personal page in a string of comments stemming from a status update about a TV show.

Yes, Strictly Come Dancing has a lot to answer for, apparently.

Their thoughts on the matter were that, unless I have had direct experience on the matter, I should voice no opinion at all.

So... does this mean that the politicians who campaign about winter fuel allowance, or about child poverty, that they should have no opinion? Does it mean that straight people can't support gay rights? That men can't support women's rights? Does it mean that people in one country can't despair over the treatment of people in another, simply because they've not lived it personally?

Of course it bloody doesn't.

As with anything, if you don't like what you are reading (or seeing, in general), feel free to stop. Do something else. Divert your attention with a wholesome activity that distracts you from your target's apparent naivete. Don't go off on one at them about how self-centered they are and transfer your personal anguish on them as if it is as a direct result of what they have said that you are hurting.  Just go away and breathe, grab your kid or your pet or your other half or your pillow and wail your heart out if you need to, but don't try and make someone else feel like shit because of something that you drew from whatever it was that they said. You and only you are responsible for your own personal happiness or sadness and you take responsibility of this by choosing what to read, what to watch, and in some cases, what to hear.

I don't have Sky News or BBC News tabs up on my browser, only a local news feed for my region, and that is a decision I made for my own sanity and my own happiness.

Unfortunately, the person in question kept responding to my initially apologetic (for I am not without empathy) and then increasingly neutral (for I am, however, limited in patience) responses, and it essentially ended up with name-calling. Apparently, at 32 I am far too young to have any opinions on anything, and apparently I am being self-centered to boot! Well, there you have it, folks. Apparently I've not outgrown the persona of "child" in the eyes of someone who considers herself to be an "adult" and thus "superior" to me. THIRTY-TWO. /facepalm 

I fully accept that my opinions may change over time, much like a scientific hypothesis. I even said to her opinions are often coloured by experience, but that doesn't make one any less valid than another. but apparently that was not good enough for her to just let things lie, so she ended up blocked as well.

Because, you see, I am responsible for my own personal happiness, and no-one gets to try and make me feel like shit because of their issues.

Here endeth the rant.

Points if you can correctly guess the topic of my opinion that caused such melodrama.