One-sided hate and it's consequences.
Let's take for example two friends, people who have known each other a while and generally get along. They provide support and encouragement to each other. They have been good friends.
A difference of opinion, a disagreement, an action, comes along and they part ways attempting to move on. Neither side hates the other and nothing mean is said, life goes on and eventually they can distantly view the other with respect and leave it at that.
That sounds perfectly human, and the ideal outcome to an otherwise sad situation. One can hope for such a result under those circumstances.
Now, lets say that as part of that split, even just one side of that is hurt by what happens. They may feel abandoned, let down, offended, etc. These emotions alone won't mean things can't become the first example, but instead let's pretend that one party begins to counter their own emotions by lashing out at the other side.
This is where a one-sided hate becomes a problem.
When one side decides that they want to focus their attention toward the hurt, and not to moving on or doing their own thing, it drags not only the target of their misdirected ire down, but even more so... themselves.
Soon, all you hear from the side feeling the hatred is words that are intended to pull down people. To provide reason and rationalization toward their current hatred, to help reinforce it and to help themselves feel they are right about these feelings. Other people who might have felt that way or who listen to this might start to believe it, regardless of what they might have witnessed themselves. People start adding their voice to the mix, muddying the waters and dragging more people into the muck.
This is not a healthy thing for any group of people to get involved in.
Why am I bringing this up?
Recently, there has been this kind of behavior between a couple groups on Steemit, groups that at one time were connected, were friendly with each other. Who could just as easily have maintained a respect for each other, were it not for the back and forth.
I have personally attempted to sit out of this, as at least one side has been attempting to portray the other as being coerced into pushing an agenda by it's 'leader'. Any attempt to offer an opinion was automatically going to be replied to with: "They wanted you to support their attempt to smear us, you are just doing what they told you to do." I felt that offering up an opinion or viewpoint when one side will attempt to simply discredit it as puppetry wouldn't help. That the best course is to avoid feeding the hatred and just let other's get involved with it if they felt the need.
I did however want to make a few comments, things I believe it's important for the community at large to hear from someone who has no witness, no votes to garner, no reason to get involved beyond offering some insight and possibly sanity to an otherwise insane situation.
Currently, one side is talking a great deal from both personal and official accounts about the behavior of the other side. They are implying that the leader of the 'other side' is coercing or pushing people into having an opinion. That they are somehow controlling the output of that group. Our group. The Minnow Support Project and it's Discord server, PAL. Most of these people were members here, have been present to see how things were run at least some point in the past. I don't understand where they have found the belief that it's run by a single person, or that the single person in question would be able to do as they say, but I did want to correct that notion as much as I can, for those that are willing to listen.
MSP and PAL are run by a team, each with different opinions. Each has their own beliefs, morals, methods and reasoning. Each has an equal vote in processes, and many of those votes even counter and shoot-down the founder in question. Founder, one of many, not leader. The idea that we all bend over backwards to do what one of several founding members tells us what to do is an odd one.
I have never been offended that people who know me, or should know better regardless, think I would take orders or direction from a single person. The majority of the 'other side' have spoken to me in the past, know how I behave, and even have seen me enforcing fair consequences when our community rules and guidelines were broken. I should probably be offended that they think of me as a pushover who wouldn't step up and say, "You can't behave like that, you can't force others to do something, no matter how you personally feel!" I should probably be angry that they have attempted to paint our community in that light, and drag everyone down into the muck of slander and rhetoric, a thing that could just as easily be kept apart from Steemit.
Recently also, it was made to seem by some that several people unvoted their witness team based on the 'bullying' of one of us. I have replied in that post with most of how I feel about it. I just want to re-iterate that even as they say in the post themselves, each person is welcome to vote as they please. I personally suspect the unvotes come more because of the toxicity being presented by their side rather than any shady effort by a single person (who really doesn't have the power or authority to force such behavior) to bring them down and do harm in general.
In closing...hopefully.
I would like to say that the best thing for anyone involved to do is to move on, but hate never makes for rational people. I know at least that internally at MSP, we are saddened and disappointed by what we are hearing, but are trying to meter our reactions and to just move on with our own endeavors. We don't always manage to stay out of the fray, but we are all only human.
Thanks!
