Never ever let strangers validate your opinions or damn them
Never listen to the opinion of anyone who wouldn’t show up at your funeral
Stop posting your intent or personal beliefs on line.
Make your own decisions and only ever look for counsel or validation from people you respect who have your best interests at heart
There is an awful lot in what you say there.
I used to take a lot of things to heart, and it really impacted on me and how I felt about myself and life in general. That was before the internet too. It took me such a long time to learn how to self validate rather than looking for validation externally, from people who may not even have my best interests at heart.
These days I'll take opinions on board and decide for myself. How I feel isn't dependent on what others think now. The people I really listen to are those who I respect. Life's too short to take other people's hate onto your shoulders and carry it around. We can always learn by listening to others, but sometimes all we learn from some is that they aren't worth listening to. I cut them out and move on.
Anyway, I'm not a royalist. I'm not a patriot. I have no particular pride in being randomly born in this country. Despite that, I have no problem with others who are, so long as they also respect me and don't try to force me to join in with their thing.
I don't hate this country either. It's a beautiful place. I do, however, have an issue with some of its more corrosive and divisive culture. It's the establishment, its abuses and the culture around it that I have a problem with, not the country itself. Protesting against that is fair in my eyes. In fact, it's exercising a right this country says it holds dear. Freedom of speech and expression. Freedoms those who went before us fought against fascism for at great cost to themselves.
We should cherish that freedom. I had no desire to go down to London to protest yesterday. It's their day for their people. I hope they enjoyed it too. That's their choice and they are thankfully free to make that choice. I felt free to completely ignore the whole thing, just like I ignore any other royal event.
Unfortunately, Anfield was forced to endure the anthem of the establishment that conspired to cover up the blame for the deaths of 97 of our loved ones. People many of us knew from our communities. People we knew from school or work. People from our own families. To many, that's rubbing salt into a still weeping and very raw wound. Many exercised their right to protest. To exercise freedom of speech and expression. Values this country maintains it holds dear.
Those in the establishment who are whinging need to get over themselves. They can't cry off just because they disagree with that expression of free speech and expression. They can't only hold those principles dear when it suits them, but abandon them when they don't like or agree with what's being said.
If the establishment is so concerned, maybe it needs to look at itself for answers as to why this resentment exists. Treat people with dignity and respect and you get it in return the vast majority of the time. Treat them with contempt and the same applies. We reap what we sow, so sow wisely.
Anyway, Redric. You always come over as a solid, really decent fella to me. We have different outlooks on some things, but I hold no animosity towards you over it. There will be haters out there no matter who we are or what we believe in. The decent people need to give each other some respect and consideration whilst binning off the haters.
One of my best friends is a Tory. I despise the Tory party. She's a lovely woman though, and a fantastic, loyal friend who harms no one in her life. We all have to get on, don't we? So long as we have respect for each other we can do just that. It cuts both ways. Haters though? I have no space in my life for them. I know it's not easy to do, but maybe try to give them less room in yours too.
