F*** Putin?

 

On Putin and Poutine

If you want to start a discussion or an argument, using a colorful photo is a great place to start so I will start my blog with the original post's picture as well.  This small business owner managed to start a bit of a tussle posting on Reddit which resulted in 174 posts some of which were removed and ultimately the post was locked by moderators. 

Apparently, a couple of days ago, a struggling food cart owner in Portland, OR by name of u/cucumberconundrum  arrived at work to find their window broken and graffitied. Out of frustration, they began the conversation with the following title.  

"You’re not wrong, but I’m just not sure how breaking the window of a small business is supposed to help."

u/cucumberconundrum's first mistake was posting in haste which the author regretted soon after and tried to back-peddle by apologizing to their community with the graphic details of what a rotten few months they have been having.  

The soliloquy on their bad luck led to mostly pats on the back. Runnerd6 posted what seemed like an innocuous statement of "It seems shitty now, but I want you to know whatever happens, and whatever life throws your way, you can handle it." The post had 11 likes but led to a small uproar for Runnerd6's insensitivity. I'm not sure how, but this led to a response by Newbdesigner, "No. Clearly your (sic) the facist (sic) here because all those bad things happened to you and instead of keeping quiet you decided to vent on a public forum /s.   Stay strong my dude. Someway, somehow, it's going to get better."  I'm pretty sure that Newbdesigner was being sarcastic while trying to be supportive, but since I'm not good with sarcasm, I can't say for sure.  However, the upshot is that the replies to this post must have devolved enough that they got removed by the moderator.  The point being that not everyone will understand and follow what you are thinking especially if it is oddly phrased and out of context; the poor spelling didn't help either.

Another post down the line mycleanreddit79 said "Idiots like this will target all sorts... That food cart on Holgate that sells the Canadian national dish should be careful..."  this led to 13 posts about food carts that sell poutine.   Say what???  Where did that come from? What do Putin and poutine have in common? I mean I get that Canadians are known for their poutine, but maybe Putin is Russian so he must like potatoes?

Silent_engineering97 decided to bring Black Lives Matter into the conversation and enlichened responded with serious overshare by way of about 8 links to how Proud Boys are posing as leftists to subvert progressives' agendas. I can't say exactly what the mistake here is because all the links were to reputable news outlets, but I sure didn't want to fall down that rabbit hole.  

This is giving me a serious HEADACHE!  

Do people really do this for FUN?  

Lee Lynn's five rules for arguing online correctly: 

1. Make sure you aren't posting in haste.

2. Maybe an anonymous forum isn't the best place to overshare your woes

3. Assume that a person means well and just isn't blasting for no reason at least until they are clearer on their intentions.

4. Stick to the topic.

5. Less is more when you trying to convince someone with links. 

and a bonus personal rule just for me 

6. Don't engage; just don't do it; it won't end well

If you don't believe me and I know I wouldn't, here's the link...

You’re not wrong, but I’m just not sure how breaking the window of a small business is supposed to help. : Portland (reddit.com)