Friday, November 12, 2010
Not Saying A Word
People tend to say a lot of stupid things on a pretty regular basis. Most of the time, I hardly have the privilege of listening to the stupid things they say and I try not to let too many people listen to the stupid things I say as well (and I do say some ridiculous things). But thanks to our favourite social media tools like Facebook status updates and Twitter, the floodgates of stupidity have broken and it's been quite entertaining. Oh, how beautifully entertaining it has been.
There are a lot of things people say that Don't Make Sense. Right up there at the top with "It doesn't hurt at all." and "It tastes like chicken." is the, now too often used, saying "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."
God I hate it when people say that.
I don't find anything wrong with saying something that isn't nice, especially when it's a comment related to whatever it is the person you're aiming it at is talking about. If everyone listened to whoever came up with that phrase, no one would have an opinion and we'd all be stuck using a square wheel.
Some people seem quite unable to cope with negative criticism or comments and their only defense is to keep chanting "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." over and over again with their hands firmly clapped over their ears (ocassionally accompanied by random "La la la la la la" and head shaking). It's even worse when people get their friends/die-hard supporters to mindlessly chime in and say the same thing too. If people say your face resembles the rear end of an elephant, well what can you do?
If you put something out in public and expect the whole world to agree 100% with anything you say, you might want to go back to Pleasantville and go back to sleep. People have an opinion and they're entitled to tell you about it whether you like it or not (it's usually more fun if you don't like it). I don't see anything wrong with having an opinion. What's wrong is that a lot of people are being mollycoddled by other people who blindly agree with everything they say and when one fine day, some brave soul dares to comment otherwise, worlds are shaken, eyeballs pop out of heads, pillars crumble, veins throb, plates are smashed and complete and utter denial of an opinion other than theirs makes someone look like a Very Ignorant Person.
Of course, this applies only to comments/opinons that are related to the topic at hand. A comment of "Your face!" to a blog post about "Why rabbits are better for cooking in stews than badgers" doesn't really help anyone and is pretty unnecessary. So really, don't say anything at all if you don't have anything that remotely makes sense to add to the conversation.
Perhaps the phrase should be changed to "If you don't have anything constructive/makes sense/related to the topic, don't say anything at all." It's a mouthful and may challenge the intelligence levels of some, but it would do the world a whole lot of good.
And maybe people can stop using that damn phrase again.
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