If a person explicitly asks (multiple times) that they not receive things promoting a certain agenda, then isn’t it possible that they might not be too thrilled when they receive an invitation for someone who supports that agenda? Isn’t it possible that the person might want to scream when they continue to get invitations for conservative causes despite publicly announcing that they do not support conservative causes.
I got an invitation from a woman I’ve known since right after my mom joined our ward when I was 10. This invitation was for the Grand Opening of Mo Brooks’ Campaign Headquarters. This was after I had reminded people on my facebook page that I do not support a conservative agenda. So, I sent the following:
******, I love and adore you, but please don’t send me invitations for Mo Brooks’ campaign. I’m not conservative and I’ve never been conservative. I understand and respect that you are, and I love that you’re politically involved, but I don’t share your political opinions.
Respectful, no? To which, I received:
Oh I don’t mind that you’re a liberal. God loves us all, dear. You can get an invitation and then not accept it– no problem. However, if you gave Mo Brooks a listen you might find yourself agreeing with him. I love his stance on keeping our borders closed to illegals. Ever since our friend Tad was brutally murdered by that drunk illegal last year, I’ve had a personal desire to keep this country safe. He not only killed Tad and his girlfriend, he’s also wanted in North Carolina for kidnapping a 12 year old girl. I want scum like him kept OUT. End of free rides at our expense. People can come here legally or they can stay home. No more destroying our children. By the way, I volunteer as a nurse at the HSV Free Clinic. Just got home from there a few minutes ago, in fact. So you see, Conservatism does NOT mean a lack of compassion. Anything but!
Love you too, and thanks for writing!
I know that God loves me. I have no doubt about that. I also know that people can be conservative and can be compassionate. I also know that I have not heard any legitimate confirmation of the North Carolina kidnapping case, unless it was on the news sometime when I was asleep.
I was about to send a fuming response. Something that would have severed all ties with this woman for all eternity. Instead, I wrote:
Thank you for your response, but please don’t send me things for his campaign. I don’t feel that it respects my wishes, since I have explicitly asked on my profile that I not receive these kinds of things. I do not send people who I know differ in beliefs invitations to pro-choice causes or rallies, and I don’t send things promoting gay marriage to people who I know are opposed to it.
I know that people can be conservative and compassionate, and I know you are a very compassionate and loving person. However, I also know that on political matters, we’re not going to agree…even on illegal immigration. (I adored Tad, but I’m not going to change my views on illegal immigration because of a personal tragedy.)
I know that she wants to punish people because of a loss, but it doesn’t seem right. Sure, there are bad guys who come across the border illegally. There are also bad guys who come in legally, and there are bad people born in this country. Bad people are going to exist no matter what. There are also good people who come illegally, legally, and are born here. What if we ban all illegals and we end up doing something detrimental to someone who is good? Are we legally culpable for that person’s problems because we changed our immigration policies to a harsher stance? No. We wouldn’t be, but we should be morally culpable. A lot of people leave their native lands illegally looking for something better. Some might even be considered refugees. However, if you look at the policies towards refugee status and, in many cases, legal immigration, the standards can be so difficult that a person might think that there is no hope.
It is odd that our country is made up of a bunch of people who believe we have a right to this land, a manifest destiny. We have this belief that if it looks like it could be ours, then it is ours. But this doesn’t mean that we are the owners of this land. It doesn’t give us a right to it that supercedes another person’s safety.
Update: The issues continue to go back and forth between us. To my latest statement:
Just ignore the invitation. You don’t have to go. An invitation is an opportunity a friend offers to another friend. I would never ask an enemy to an event.
I didn’t know you knew Tad. It’s been a hard 10 months on his mom and dad and his little brother and sister. I know– I’ve been there for them every day. I hope you and I will never lose a child, as it’s UNBELIEVABLE to see the pain the parents and family goes through. The sad thing is that when I sat in court at Ortega’s arraignment, I doubted very much if he even remembered what he’d done. As a nurse I’ve discovered that is often the way of a drunk– they take lives but they themselves are rarely harmed. [A very descriptive statement on the deaths of Tad and Leigh Anna.] No, you don’t have to change the way you think about illegal immigration, if such is your cause. Until you’ve stood in the middle of it and have tried to comfort someone who cannot be comforted, you will never understand the enormity. It is not your fault. I pray you will never have to stand in such a place.
I am really starting to feel disrespected, but I continue to feel like I’m responding somewhat politely.
Yes, I knew Tad. He had been at Break the Fast with me. I understand that the Mattle family has been through a horrific loss, and I can understand how that kind of grief can motivate you to feel such a way, but what if Ortega had been a legal citizen of this country? Would you feel that he is scum? Would you want the same level of justice lobbied at him? I don’t look at people and see their nationalities, their legal statuses…I see humans.
I’ve lost people. I’ve had friends who’ve been killed by their parents. I’ve had people killed at their own home by their own son the day after I was there, and have seen the repercussions of violence on the children of those people. I have seen the loss of family members through violence, too. Tragedies are not something that I am unfamiliar with.
I don’t feel like I’m to blame for what happened to Tad and Leigh Anna. I also don’t feel like God doesn’t love me because of how I believe. I don’t feel that I am responsible for the actions of others, since I believe that 1.) God gives us free will and 2.) we can’t circumvent God’s will.
I don’t appreciate having the circumstances of their deaths in my message box. I do know how they died, but I don’t want to have to read about it, in a way that I can only describe as a way to manipulate me into feeling some sort of guilt over what happened. I could sit and describe the reasons why so many people come here illegally. It would only upset you, and I wouldn’t do that to you.
I feel that you want me to be something that I’m not. You’ve invited me to support Mo Brooks twice, once after my request that I not get such things again. You’ve invited me to be a part of a cause supporting being Conservative, after my request. You’ve requested I attend an event supporting someone that I don’t want to support. Is there a reason that you have continued to invite me to these things when I ask that you not do so? I understand how invitations work on here, and I also understand that we choose who we invite. Is it that hard to just not invite me to something that you know I won’t want to be a part of?