Theoretically I should be able to say what I think on a personal site even if I am an agent, but apparently it bothers some people and if I have offended any of you with my comments I apologize. I shall refrain from doing that further if it is going to reflect on me professionally or on the agency. I certainly don't want that.
I suppose I should have known better. I was a chamber of commerce manager for 30 years and could not be vocal about personal opinions because it was necessary for me to work with both parties. That's one reason why I am a lifelong independent and have never been affiliated with a political party. I guess I should have realized I am still working with people on both sides of the aisle and nothing has changed. I would have never done it on this Hartline site, of course, but now it is clear to me that I should not do it there either.
If you have agreed with me, thank you, and if you have not I have realized the error of my ways. I shall now go back to being a full time literary agent and not a political pundit.
9 comments:
I think I'm more offended that you feel compelled to apologize. People ought to be ashamed of themselves. It is okay to disagree with someone, but it is never okay to be opposed to someone expressing their opinion. I have many friends I disagree with. I may tell them why I believe they are wrong, but I fully support their right to believe differently than I do.
Terry, as I told you before, you are truly a man of character. But what happens if someone is offended by our comments about Christ? There will always be folks who don't like another individual's right to speak their opinions, particularly when they don't line up with their own. Then the pressure, ah, the pressure to stifle the unwanted opinions.
Thank you guys, and Linda I would never hold back on speaking up about my faith. Given the character of this agency any reflection there would be one we would be glad to shoulder. But on political opinions as I said it was the same in chamber of commerce work. No matter how many disclaimers I might make that an opinion was personal it would still be taken as a statement from the organization. It's been that way most of my life and I was foolish to think it was different now. I can't let my opinions reflect on the agency.
I totally understand and in keeping with that, will have to rethink a lot of my opinion posts on my own FB. Think maybe it's time to start a professional fb vs. the friend and family one. That might solve it all!
I have a "professional" Facebook page and a personal account. I seldom use the professional one. But I also have a page that I maintain for our church. There's a big difference between the two. If I'm speaking on behalf of the church, there are things I won't say that I would say on my personal account. As for my own professional page, I really don't see much that I wouldn't also say there, if I were better about posting to my personal and my professional page. I might say a little more about my writing on the professional page than I would on the personal page. However, since both represent me, me is what you'll find.
I appreciate where you are coming from but it is sure a shame that you have to stifle your opinion on your personal page. It's a sad day when freedom of speech doesn't truly exist, and those who are most critical are the ones who don't truly appreciate WHY our founding fathers fought so hard for that freedom. They have become the ones who would TAKE freedoms away because they find other peoples' opinions intolerable.
It's still the USA and we still have freedom of speech. It's a shame that if you had been spouting ungodly, irreverent, or perverted philosophies, people might not have complained. But it seems that you are taking the stance that our pastor has - not to be obviously on one side of the political ticket more than the other. "With more responsibility comes less freedom," he always says regarding personal opinion, etc.
I admire your sensitivity to the "public," but I also appreciate that you are enough of a cowboy to stand up for what you believe.
You are a very wise man Terry Burns. This election cycle has become very heated, and in our small CBA community there are many people on both sides of the aisle. It's smart not to alienate people you might need to pitch clients to because this cycle with thankfully be complete in less than 90 days, but perceived offenses have a way of lingering on.
I like Davalyne's Pastor's response: "With more responsibility comes less freedom."
It's the same as it was in chamber of commerce work, not sure why I thought it would be otherwise. Mom and dad always cancelled each others votes so even as a kid at home I learned to not take sides.I suppose I was an independent even then. I guess at this point I'm not an 'undecided independent' they keep talking about but I am mostly decided and have strong opinions on where our country is and what needs to happen to turn it around. I am pleased to see the convention turning from personalities to issues and I hope the next convention does the same. Watching it, it is hard to keep my mouth shut . . . but I am.
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