Okay, I'm going to take advantage of having my own blog space and self-indulgently vent about something that's really upsetting me.

I am -- or was, until I chose to sign off tonight -- part of a discussion list of friends who talked about astronomy, science fiction, politics, and whatever else came up. We've had the occasional flame war to liven things up every now and then, but, for the most part, common sense and reason would win out, and anyone who relied on personal attacks instead of respectful debate eventually found themselves unwelcome. During these flame wars, I tended to take on the role of mediator, trying to show merits of the various sides and bring everyone back to discussion.

Lately, though, someone on the list has decided that I'm an Evil Liberal Enemy. I'll admit that his views are far to the right of mine, but give me a break. It's like he twists everything I say to provide evidence that I'm just a knee-jerk commie robot who refuses to admit that a Republican might be right about something just because that person is A Republican.

Excuse me?

What hurts is that I used to think this person was a friend. We've known each other for over ten years, and for a time, we were very close. I'd like to think that sometime over the past decade he might have gotten half a clue about who I am and what my values are, such as respecting individuals and listening to what they have to say because I believe that there truly is a little bit of truth in everything.

Anyway, it's been a difficult week for me, and life's too short to put up with this shit.

</RANT>