Pass it on....

Add to this list; "Time for a cull on my friend's list" and it will be complete. Manipulative emotional blackmail for the sheeple. If you want to share it, fine. I'll understand. If you ignore it and scroll on I'll understand even more.

I made the mistake of responding to one of these on a friends post, with whom I'd had conversations about the topic they were 'cut and pasting' as they're not a sheeple, I thought it was safe to comment, making sure it was not personal in any way, shape or form.

Friend responded VERY badly, took offense and reacted with aggression, which was understandable once things were sorted out, as there were mitigating circumstances to their reaction that weren't obvious at the time, however they ARE aware of MY circumstances so reacting and taking offence was a complete surprise to me. But hey, WE ARE NOT MIND READERS.

What WAS absolutely HORRIBLE was the people who were offended for the originator of the post. Without knowing me in any way whatsoever and knowing WHY I MIGHT respond the way I did, ie that I might also be affected by the context of the post, they took upon themselves to berate me, misunderstand my post and attack me PERSONALLY AND VERY NEGATIVELY.

While 'I' thought about my post before responding, I didn't think that my words could be taken so utterly and completely wrong by others, and while I also understand that they were defending their friend, they were totally oblivious to what their reactions would do to me and did NOT consider if there might be any consequences to their very personal attack on me.

What they didn't know was that THEIR reactions were a trigger for my PTSD. What they didn't know was that I spent the whole night in a highly agitated and emotional state, didn't get to sleep until 5am and that I would continue to have reactions into the next day, which almost had unfortunate consequences out in public.

Fortunately there was an upside. My friend did eventually understand my meaning behind my response, assured me that we were okay and stated that the post wasn't exactly what they were trying to promote. I got my entire house clean in the hours until 5am as I'm learning to at least do something with the excess adrenaline caused by panic attacks. The public situation resulted in my being able to get more help for my PTSD as it happened in a professional environment. Later, I was able to research what it was possible to do in the situation I had come to be in and was pleased to know that what I was doing at that point in time was exactly what was needed by me.

In this case there was an upside, which was very fortunate and turned out to be positive for me. This is not always what happens.

So, in future, I WILL NOT be responding to ANY 'pass it on; respond or I'll dump you as a friend; copy and paste' posts. In future, I will wonder why articulate and intelligent people are reacting the way they are and either ignore the post totally and/or endeavour to find out the circumstances personally, not in a public arena. In future I'll be lucky enough to have the tools necessary to handle the whole situation.

And if you've 'read this to the end' perhaps you've learned a little something too. About me, about the effects of actions and reactions may have on others, and about the impact those impersonal and overdone posts can have.