Be careful when you judge and make sure you are judging each person as an individual without regard to their politics. Judge others by their actions, not their words. If you can not accept, except in extreme circumstnaces, that there are people who see the world differently than you, you are on the verge of becoming what you hate. To everything there is a season. The season of war against our brothers and sisters is not now on the horizon. It may well come down to that but until then keep your powder dry.

But whatever your intent, you conveyed something quite different, and it wasn’t just about my closest relatives, it was about me, too, prior to my change.

I think your last comment is the closest I’ll get to an apology from you. Since you are a long-time commenter here, I have no desire to ban you. But saying to me things like “get a grip” in that snarky way isn’t such a hot idea either, when it is you who were going over the top in your comments.

The reason I’m harping on this isn’t just the “don’t insult my loved ones” part. It’s that we gain absolutely nothing by demonizing those who disagree with us. The Democrat and liberal side contains a broad spectrum of people, not just the stereotypes I’ve read about so often. Yes, there are the irrational, the uninformed, the overly emotional, the illogical, and those who lack judgment. But some of my friends and relatives who are liberals are highly informed, highly rational, highly thoughtful, and highly moral people who have simply come to different conclusions about the meaning of history and the dangers facing us, as well as their best solutions.

The right is not a bunch of saints who have all the answers, either, as I’m sure you know. And cutting off the conversation with liberals and demonizing them is the best way to sound like an irrational hothead, only one on the right. I’m sure you know that they exist, too.

And by the way, if you think it’s okay to come onto a blog and insult and revile the blogger’s closest and dearest relatives, sight unseen, when you know next to nothing about them except that they are Democrats, then I think you need to reconsider that approach.

Let me make it even more clear then, so there’s no misunderstanding: you certainly can make judgments all you want, whether they’re correct or not. I am free to disagree with them, which I do on this thread. I give out opinions all the time, and judgments too—I have never been one of those people who say we shouldn’t make judgments. Nor am I saying you should not make judgments, or any other commenter—blogs are all about judgments and opinions, as well as facts.

What I am condemning you for is making a judgment about the morality of my friends and family who are liberals (although one based on lack of knowledge of what my friends and family actually think, and why) and then claiming you are just “questioning” their morality. That is disingenuous of you.

Here is your quote:

I was pointing out that your “good and moral” friends are in fact not good and moral

And then you wrote:

Neo’ lashing out at posters who question the goodness and morality of her “friends of a lifetime, and her closest relatives” is off the mark.

And I wrote here: “you didn’t question their morality. You judged it.”

Let me repeat: I have no problem with judgments. I have a problem with judgments based on ignorance, and I especially have a problem based with judgments that a person calls questions rather than judgments.

I also have an increasing problem with your snarky tone–“get a grip” and all the rest. You are a long-time commenter here, and I have cut you a lot of slack so far, but that will not continue indefinitely if the snark continues.