M Y . S A L T . C I R C L E .
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Engaging with me personally
and guests on my social media pages.
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Since I started in my current business 9 years ago, I have had opportunity to have people personally message me, e-mail me, troll me in groups and on my own social media pages. I’ve had my fair share of proposition from a string of men from India and a collection of American military middle aged men with moustaches and ultra-white smiles. { probably all Bots }. I’ve had a few dick picks and some women hating derogatory remarks from random trolling strangers. Sadly it goes with the territory of being on social media and being a woman on social media and being a feminist woman on social media………. Whatever right!!
Over the past while some people who are facebook friends, have felt entitled to grandstand my facebook posts with opposing points of view. I’m ok with diverse points of view. I usually prefer to be acknowledged for my own point of view and to start with some common ground before a diatribe of ‘alternative – educational’ information, opposing points of view with links and bells and whistles come hurtling across my feed.
What I am absolutely not available for on my page is condescension, sarcasm, disrespectful remarks, aggressive and personal finger pointing, telling me what I should do, name calling and accusations. Once that line is crossed, I am no longer available to listening to anything you have to say, no matter how intelligent or legitimate you think it is.
Put another way: I have less than zero percent tolerance for people running their personal agenda at the cost of civility.
I am up for robust debate at times. Other times I just want to talk about what I want to talk about without having it filibustered by objections and ‘how dare you be so opinionated’ comments, or ‘ tone it down’, ‘ what are you so angry about’ type of comments.
last year there was a raging debate on my page and I was available to all of it, except when it got personal with name calling and angry mob energy about a guest on my post. Then I shut it down.
A few years ago there was another heated debate and someone I have alot of respect for challenged me. Because of the amount of credit she had in our mutual love and care account, I was able to take her cue to learn more, get educated on what I was saying and I learnt a truckload from that experience. It was humbling, but she had already earnt the right to take me on. We had enough mutuality, respect and a common goal in a progressive ideology for me to be open to her stings and she always stayed respectful. She helped me to evolve and I am always grateful for hers and other peoples intelligent debate. {Kr Fretty 
}
This year I have straight up blocked about 5 people, without discussion, because I have zero tolerance to the disrespectful tone that they bring into their sharing in the comments to my posts.
* I’m open to listening, but I’d prefer to be listened to first.
* If you wish to engage and challenge me on issues, please consider why you want to challenge me. Check in why you have a desire to correct me. Are you my fact checker?
* If you would like to open a robust debate about issues that you have a varying point of view, keep it respectful, considered, invitational. Don’t fucking ram it down my throat with your righteous indignation and contempt.
* all my guests and myself have a right to feel safe on my platform as well as a right to civility.
* Staying on topic is always appreciated and not steering the conversation to another agenda.
* caution to well meaning males who wish to comment and mansplain on my posts. I invite you to check yourself before sharing your male centric point of view when I am talking directly about women’s lived and collective experience to a predominantly progressive women audience.
❥ ❥ Remember I am Feminist AF.
* If you feel that I am outrageous in my points of view and social shares, I challenge you to sit on your hands and not comment instead of dumpster diving your alternative narrative all over my yard. I am mostly intentional about what I write about, share, engage with on social media. In other words, I mean it.
* I love engaging on social media to connect with people, to learn from, champion, have my eyes opened and my heart opened. I mostly enjoy the interactions on social media and the global connections that can be made. It has certainly made the world feel much smaller and accessible.
* I have noticed a lot more aggression, polarisation, trolling and disrespectful communication over the past year especially, generally increasing on social media and it saddens me. I am not available to engage, indulge or re-platform that type of toxic communication.
* Please do not send me private messages with petitions I really should sign or issues I must go to a rally and fight against. I can find out for myself and you are always welcome to ask me if I am open to receiving some bulk communications from you before you share. Predominately I will decline being interested and available in your mass messaging.
I have a right to keep a regulated nervous system and to titrate information for myself. I have a right to be free of junk mail in my messaging.
I certainly will reciprocate the same for you.
Play on . play safe . play respectfully
Much Love 
Lotus
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