Eagle-eyed readers of Meerkat Musings may recall this post, where I remarked upon a couple of very aggressive comments someone had left me. Someone – presumably the same individual – left me a few remarks via the Bluesky social media platform, and judging from their username, along with the email address originally associated with the comments here, I believe them to be the same person.

The long-and-short of it all is that they are unhappy I would choose to speak of American politics, bearing in mind I’m English, and live in England. This person doesn’t like the manner in which I do this either. Fair enough, but what do they expect me to do? This isn’t the first time I’ve had someone tell me I should not speak of overseas matters. One diehard evangelical I know has frequently told me I should not comment on American politics, despite doing so themselves, in circumstances similar to mine (they’re not American either, and live further from the USA than I do). The bottom line is, I have freedom of speech, and I will exercise it. If something relating to US politics comes up that I feel like commenting on, I will do so.

The other element to this anonymous person’s dissatisfaction with me is that I have framed some of my posts around my meerkat fursona. To that, I simply ask ‘why not?’ People can and do use their fursonas for all sorts of reasons. I will use mine as I see fit.

I’m not trying to be insensitive here, but this individual pointed out that they are autistic. OK, I understand, I have family members who are on the spectrum. What does that have to do with my right to self-expression, on my website? I never set out to cause offence, but I am not going to curtail how I express myself. Judge me all you want (I am already ‘judged’ by some in the blogosphere, and I do not care), and if you wish, write rebuttals and posts about me. Others already do, and will continue to do so. I cannot stop you. However, I am not going to stop being me, and saying what I want to say. If you don’t like what I have to say, the easiest solution is not to read it. This person says they follow me via WordPress. Well, click ‘unsubscribe’, and then my posts will not appear to you. That seems like the most straight-forward thing to do.

UPDATE 23/4/24: I have refrained from commenting upon what the radical evangelical has to say about me, but his latest angry riposte deserves correction, for he is, as ever, being misleading. His original stance was that if I am not an American, I should not be commenting on US politics. By his own criteria, he should therefore be silent on US politics, but of course, he is a massive hypocrite, and rarely believes the rules he arrogantly presumes to set should apply to him. He referenced having friends and family in the US; did he ever stop to consider that I might have friends and family in the US?

Of course he didn’t. The fundie never stops to consider details like that. Besides, even if that’s not a factor, I still have every right to speak of matters that take place around the world, including the USA. US political activities tend to have an impact on the rest of the world, but even if they didn’t, guess what? I still have freedom of speech! Others may bitterly complain and whinge about this, but I am not going to be silent just for their benefit. They need to learn to deal with it in a mature fashion. It remains to be seen if they are even capable of this, or indeed any form of self-reflection.

UPDATE 24/4/24: The fundie has removed his remarks about me from the post in question, perhaps demonstrating the very reflection I had hoped he could show.