Since 1996, I've been on an e-mail list of moms who were all due to have babies during the same month of 1997. We've been through all kinds of flame wars and insanity: breast or bottle, cloth or disposable, co-sleep or crib, spank or not, etc., etc. We've had list break-ups - a couple of very funny, smart, witty women left the list because they were tired of the more sensitive souls getting offended by bad language or sex talk. I've had some abuse heaped on me over the years because I am always willing to talk politics, and those who disagree with me hate discussing anything political with me because I will not concede them any of their points.
Anyway, we've been having a dust-up in the past week over religious issues. One of the moms, who happens to be a lesbian who belongs to a progressive and gay friendly Catholic parish, mentioned that baptisms are wonderful photo ops. A Catholic mom got hugely offended that anyone would refer to what she believes to be a sacred and deeply meaningful sacrament as a photo op - she saw the comment as a nasty jab. I did get involved at that point, and suggested that it was important that we be generous when interpreting the comments of others and not immediately leap to the conclusion that they were deliberately trying to insult us. I eventually got on the subject of Purity Balls, and once again, we were almost all in agreement that these events are creepy, so everything was good.
Then someone posted a link to a t-shirt that made a joke at Joseph Smith's expense (founder of the Mormon church). And everything got all hot and ugly again.
So today, I'm bothered by the Easily Offended; by the people who have no sense of humor about themselves or the things they believe in; to the folks who seem to get some kind of enjoyment from wearing twisted knickers.
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