There is no universal answer as to what is right or what is wrong. Except, of course, what society determines in order to maintain peace, order, and civility amongst the citizens.
Last night I witnessed something that disturbed me to no end. Was it a murder? No. Was it a carjacking? No. Was it someone insulting others and calling them “retards” for attending school within the public education system? Yes, it most certainly was.
This particular family in question are musicians from Pennsylvania. Over the short time I learned more about them and their music, I enjoyed what I was learning and thought they were your average bubbly family – always with smiles on their faces and always sweet, kind, and seemingly innocent.
But last night in a chat forum during one of their performances, someone questioned why they had already placed Christmas decorations as their performance backdrop. This user who asked the question stated that, “Christmas is still about two months away.” Technically, Christmas is far less than two months away, and the family promptly took to the chat and the video stream to belittle the person for asking the question and not being specific in his calculations as to when Christmas was. They stated that he, “probably attends a public education school” and then went on to blast how poor the American school system is. They used the words, “retarded” and then even went so far as to claim the person didn’t have the same support from their family in life that they had.
I interjected shortly thereafter with one simple comment, which said, “the only thing that I would say is that there is no universally right method that works for all people. Some value public education, some do not.” That was all I said, and they took great offense to it. They responded by saying, “your comments do not deserve a response from us. It’s not our problem if you take offense to our beliefs.”
The terms of service for this particular community in which they perform clearly state that “drama should be handled appropriately, either by blocking the offensive member or reporting them.” It does not condone belittling them for having differing views or calling them retards for attending a public school.
We somewhat made amends after I was able to explain that it was not an attack on them, just a reminder to be open to other people’s viewpoints if you are going to preach your own. But then I got to thinking – these people are asking for tips in exchange for their music performances. And they’ve made a great deal of money in tips from myself and others over the last several days, perhaps even longer before I discovered them. I just find it strange that they would ask for tips and then belittle those who supported them. I promptly notified the community that sponsors their performances and hopefully it will be dealt with soon.
Truthfully, I admire their “unschooled” ways of life. I feel there is much more experience and knowledge to be had in the real world rather than in a classroom, but how they conveyed that message to their supporters is not winning any brownie points from me.
I may continue to watch, but I will no longer support them via way of financial tips. This is the perfect example of when to speak with your wallet and not your mouth.
