If you walked down your local high street and saw a thug verbally and hatefully abusing a friend – actually, no, not even a friend, anyone – would you just look the other way, and keep on walking, pretending that it wasn’t happening, and that if you ignored it, that it would just go away?
Okay, you say 43Things is not real life, and you’re here to better yourselves and make this a better place for you, and your friends. Don’t you think that speaking out against such hatred here on 43Things will make a difference? 43Things is real life. You are all real people here. You form virtual friendships, which occasionally become reality. Even if you never meet your virtual friend, why would that stop you from speaking out against an assailant. I’d do it for any of my friends, real or virtual.
“Stop making a fuss, Cookie,” was the basic reaction I got here for trying to protect my wife and family. “You’re causing divisions within our harmonic group”. You wrote to me, not Enore. Are you people for real? Well, I’ll tell you what, you can keep your harmonic group and continue to ignore the hatred, and continue to look the other way, ignoring controversial, inflammatory posts on this site, whilst campaigning for your noble causes, which, no doubt make you all think that you’ve actually done something good for the world.
Have any of you who choose to ignore such filth, because it doesn’t really affect your lives, ever stopped to think about the actual people it may hurt? Wouldn’t you like to think that if such hatred were directed your way, that someone would be there for you? I suggest that you start clearing up your own community, first, before trying to save the world. It is not a nice place for all, especially if you’re Muslim, or from any place in the Middle East. But maybe, just maybe, you don’t actually care about these people. I’m sure that if someone came on the site talking about being a homophobe or a paedophile that the whole site would rise up as one in disgust. I guess Muslims are fair game though. I suppose they are just more different than the rest of us? Not worth defending. Sorry if I’m boring you all with my “self righteous” drivel, but I’m trying to make you all understand exactly how much my wife has been hurt by all of this. But I guess that’s just not your problem, is it?
Thank you each and every one of you who had the courage and dared to speak out against something so disgusting, and so inherently wrong, yet apparently completely acceptable to the majority on the site. Sure, I could have just blocked Enore and looked the other way, but then I wouldn’t have been true to my Iranian wife, would I? And I really hope that Hippiechick, who was a completely innocent casualty in all of this, comes back (if she actually wants to). I also hope that Artemis comes back. She’s a human being with feelings, too, she told us all before leaving. I hope she remembers in future that there are millions of other human beings with feelings out there, too, should she ever decide to play her games again.
I just want to get up, tomorrow morning, and get on with my work, and not have to worry about coming on here to see what all the arseholes are up to. So I’m leaving, for now. I have better places to be.
A few personal notes before I finish:
Ember: You had the guts to quietly call us names on another thread, and jump in condemning me on another, but didn’t have the guts to actually respond to my wife’s direct question to you. Probably because you realized she was Iranian. I accepted my responsibility in the matter. Did your friend, Enore, accept his? You puzzle me more than the others; you are all for telling us all how the brave souls in Iran are doing, yet when you have the chance to do something in your own world, you stumble, and, what’s worse, you complain about someone else trying to do something. Double standards. I hope you accept your responsibility in this matter, but I think you’re too much of a coward and too much of a hypocrite.
Cessie: I really like you and am sorry that we shan’t get to interact more on here. Flirt knows how to reach me, if you want to stay in touch.
Flirt, Denises, LL, Benji (better late than never;)) and several others: Love to you all. Please keep in touch. You should all be proud of yourselves, regardless of what anyone else says.
Nudey: You’re completely crazy, but I love ya. You have more integrity in your little finger than most of these people will ever have. And fuck ‘em if they don’t like me using that word. They seem to be more concerned about the use of the word integrity than they do “Muslim.” I’m sorry to leave you pretty much alone in the good fight, but being here is becoming a serious energy drain for both Roxi and I.
Heaveemetal: You’ve made assumptions, and chosen to privately mail your thoughts to other people, without bothering to ask us. You’ve then sat on the sidelines taking your cheap shots. Sure, you’ll probably deny it, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of your recent posts were directed at my wife and I. In my opinion, if you meet someone from the virtual world, they become real. My wife thought you were her friend; she would have defended you to the last, had she heard someone badmouth you. And another thing, for one against taking sides in such matters, you certainly show up in plenty of Enore’s anti-Muslim rants.
Todd: Sorry, but I guess the meet-up’s off. You know Heavee was talking about Roxi in his posts (who else would you be meeting soon?). In your own words, you said, “You know my thoughts on this. It amazes me how people react sometimes, and I fully agree with you that you and I are both better off not wasting our time on people like that.” Sorry, but we wouldn’t want to waste our time, either. Would you like me to apologise for the fact that Roxi and I both reacted to an attack on Roxi and our family? It’s not going to happen, and I’m sure you’d protect your own family with the same vigour.
Matty: We’ll see you and LL some other time, sorry.
Uncle Enore: Do you mind if I call you Gregory, it seems so much less sinister. Anyway, Gregory, please wipe that smug grin off your face. Please don’t think of this as a victory, it’s just that I don’t have the time to deal with this at the moment, or have the patience to put up with those who think it’s okay to look away from something so ugly. Sure, some are just weak, but some are cowards. I’m not deleting; I’m leaving my words here for all to see and remember. This is unfinished business.
