Anonymous (An apparant drama queen) "calls me out."

Every now and then, I am issued a challenge where I have to explain myself so that even the chronically stupid might understand. Well... Today one of those challenges came in.

But first let me explain.

Anonymous left a comment here
http://legallykidnapped.blogspot.com/2009/02/anonymous-left-comment.html
But wasn't satisfied with my response. So today, he/she/it leaves another big long comment on that same post.

Here is the comment:

Oh, I get it, LK. You're incapable of either engaging in any real analysis of or debate about these issues -- much less actually doing something about them -- so you do this clip job, cherrypicking the stories (and parts of stories) that either jibe with your worldview or give you something to snipe at, and you cut and paste them into your blog and pair them with sneering, cynical one-liners that reduce the subject to the level you're comfortable with (approximately the level of an elementary schoolyard fight). And when someone calls you out on it, you respond the only way you know how: "Who cares what you think?" Nyaah, nyaah, nyaah.

As for being judgmental: The only thing I'm being judgmental about is the behavior I've described above. Of COURSE there are parents who have been mistreated by CPS. Of COURSE there are children who have been taken from their homes for the wrong reasons. And of course that is a tragedy.

But I am equally certain that there are good social workers out there, and good foster parents, and good adoptive parents, and a lot of people -- like myself -- who have a genuine interest in improving the way the whole system works, from one end to the other, so that the children who really have suffered from abuse get the protection they need while families (all of them: biological, foster, and adoptive) get the support and services they need to thrive.

What I am being judgmental about is this site's unwillingness to acknowledge the complexity of these issues, to participate in any meaningful debate about them, to do anything at all that might actually advance people's understanding and spur positive action toward change. All that LK does is stoke people's bitterness and anger (including his/her/its own), which does nobody any good -- and may even cause further harm.

My point from my earlier comment remains the same: it's a lot easier to vent one's anger at the situation in the way that LK does than to channel it into doing something productive to change the situation. Not firebombing social workers' cars, not harassing foster parents on the Internet, not throwing up one's hands and saying "the system will always suck and some people will never get it." Something genuinely productive. Organizing people to work for change. Running for office. Lobbying lawmakers to pay attention to these issues. Or even just writing a blog that takes on these issues with some degree of intellectual honesty, subtlety, and candor.

My question to LK -- and anyone who reads this blog -- is not "who cares what you think?", but "do you have the guts to really try?"

Sigh. Why I waste my time arguing with these people is beyond me. Perhaps it's an effort to entertain my loyal readers, (and you know I love you all), or perhaps I just have nothing better to do, right?

Every now and then a foster contractor might say something on their blog that I feel is worthy of your attention so I link to it and make a comment. Or God forbid, I might leave a comment on their blog which they get all worked up over. How dare I put some dark stain on their all wise and knowing, holier then thou, self-glorification blogs. I simply want you to know how you are all perceived by people such as this. And I know what they think of me.

So here we go with my response to anonymous's comment.
----
How, if I might ask, does one expect to bring about change;

1. when one refuses to identify the issues that need to change?
2. or sugar coats it so that it doesn't offend people like you?
3. or phrases it in a way that may not be beneficial to people like you?

You can't. There are many sides to this issue. Some people only want to see their side of it and they accuse me of being the same way. So... What are you gonna do? You do your best to point out the problems within the system that are often overshadowed by the stories glorifying the same people. Perhaps that's cherry picking. BFD. Believe me, everybody has heard your side of it.

And I know what some of you people think of me and this blog. I also know that others think the opposite. But hey, you can't please everybody, right?