ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Self Evaluation Rather Than Letting Others

Updated on May 4, 2018
Ericdierker profile image

Holding degrees in philosophy and Law. Formal studies or certificates or degrees in business, theology, insurance and security. Ex-preacher.

Leaving a Footprint

Even the wild animal leaves its creation.
Even the wild animal leaves its creation. | Source

Self Reflection

Are you sensitive or a victim of your sensibilities? Do you realize that in today’s world of control on speech you cannot quote parts of the great Samuel Clemons works? Did you know that “do no harm” now means to do not speak in a way that would bother someone else? In other words I cannot disagree with you and voice it. In fact a school teacher walks a fine line when criticizing a student’s work. Pointing out wrong answers could be a teacher bullying a student.

Here is my problem to begin with. I am quite empathetic and somewhat co-dependent. I admit it. When someone tells me that I hurt their feelings it hurts my feelings. You can call me stinky, but if you call me a bully my feelings and sensitivities are surely hurt rather badly. If I stole something and you called me a thief for doing so, it would be shaming me.

These things are simply true. So how do we deal with such intrusions into how we view ourselves? Maybe all that is why I am reclusive and have anxiety over certain social interactions. Perhaps it is OK that I do not let my talents be seen by others out of a fear of criticisms? Unless someone is totally obnoxious we do not notice the fellow on the sidelines but yell at the players. Better not to participate?

The only safe place is a camouflage and a shield from life. I am left pondering the “what if” my wife and I could not speak our mind to each other for fear of hurting each other’s feelings. Now we are not talking about intentional hurting speech. We are not speaking of speech whose sole purpose is to injure. But we are being careful not to rule out honesty that may be hurtful. I stole, I am a thief.

Have we gone so far as making it wrong to accuse and prosecute a criminal because labeling him that is injurious to his sensibilities? Sure we all understand “hate the hate not the hater”.

Now here is the serious problem and it is not to do with what others do to you. If you are an artist you probably lean toward a social adjustment concept. The term liberal is not really accurate. And it is too cliché. So the artist is very likely to self-censor so as not to offend.

That my friends is a huge problem for the growth of a peoples.

Standing Up!

Let Your Art Speak

Offensive or a tribute?
Offensive or a tribute? | Source

Dichotomy

Now the real issue is within us in the artistic community. Most artists are very sensitive and most are sympathetic and at least a touch empathetic. Add this to the need for acceptance of their work. Deny it all you want to, there is at least a part of this in you. Fine stay away from politics and religion and the obvious social debates de jour. Just go with a statement that you have about society and humanity in general.

Now be careful here. I write a lot about love. About a year ago I got some email telling me that it was harsh to speak so much about love as this person admittedly had none, through no fault of her own. That is a problem Houston.

Here is one area of censorship that very few realize is happening. Self-shining is what I call it. I look at my facebook a couple of times a week. And I scoot around looking at “friends” photos mainly. The selfies and the like almost exclusively show folks almost bragging about what a great time they are having and how good they look. Almost a one up manship. Oh then there are the “share this” entries regarding a social ill. But I do not think I have ever seen a selfie about someone helping widows, orphans or homeless out of love. And this happens often daily. Why not show off about such a wonderful showing of love of mankind? For some reason we have censored this out of our society. It is OK to self-aggrandize looks and success but not acts of charity. It is OK to display horrible things but not the touch of love from oneself to another in need.

So what do we see in the day to day? The lousy side of man. We see vanity and we see horror. If people do not display their good works there is a void in our perception of the world. But we routinely shun or mock someone who “brags” about their goodwill and kind actions. What balderdash of censorship.

Perhaps some “religious” folks think, “do not do your good works so that others can see”. But that is incorrect. It means why you did them. It does not mean to put your light under a basket so no one can see it. Careful here so as not to include business stuff. Self-promotion in that case is fully warranted.

So what are we to do?

Again, Tribute or Offensive?

What Must Be Censored

Should I censor who I am?
Should I censor who I am? | Source

Who Are You?

The most obvious way to help people see the light of the world in a more balanced way is to advertise and promote someone else for their good works. But you may just wait a long time for that. People have this innate sense that promoting someone else may lessen their own standing. If we promote a person we are competing with for the promotion it means that we are less likely to be promoted? This can be social or workplace and sadly even family oriented. For sure places like a church or school.

So we simply need to promote ourselves for the betterment of mankind. Hey, if Eric can do that, so can I. Wow, maybe I could even get someone to follow me in real life not just my social media. Can you imagine that I could inspire people to act in love?

So just how sensitive do we need to be to accommodate someone with extreme and almost intentional sensibilities? So just how humble must we be to avoid being called braggadocios? Why is “look at me in my Hollywood house with my new car and wife” OK, but showing good works bad?

Can it all boil down to jealousy? Is it just unacceptable to be strong and not oversensitive and giving rather than receiving? Are these things that most just cannot do, so they are jealous of those who can? We can all go to sleep at night dreaming of the raise but not dreaming of how to raise someone up? Now we come to the censorship of actions. Is it really socially unacceptable to hang out with homeless a couple of hours a week? Admittedly it is for my wife. Not for my children. Perhaps we get filth by association. Perhaps dangerous? Personally I take my chances there more than with the harried soccer mom driving while texting, which although it causes more deaths than DUI driving is still so acceptable it is posted on FB.

Is there a censorship of good? Is there a censorship of thinking? Certainly there are censorships of expression and association. Gandhi was censored for expressing a disdain for British rule and tyranny. Mandela was censored/jailed for expressing disdain for apartheid. Jesus crucified for speaking against Jewish spiritual overlords. JFK and RFK. MLK. Dostoyevsky. And so many as to be too many to count, millions and millions for expressing their faith.

My bleeding heart goes out to those who hate and are fearful of words. My condemnation goes out to those who enforce or demand control of words whether it be self-censor or societal censor.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)