Divisive Discourse Must End.

Through the past decade, I have used social media to proselytize my thoughts on discourse among people with differing viewpoints and proffering my perspective of bringing people together in peace and harmony. In doing so, I also maintained an electronic file containing some of my comments as quotations (some with dates, some without dates) which I place below as a compilation serving as my commentary for this entry of Roland Hansen Commentary.

"I find it somewhat disconcerting that some people totally lack civility in their political discourse with others when there is a difference of political opinion. Sad. Why cannot people be respectful of one another in expressing opposing views? Why do some folks find it necessary to personally attack the messenger (the individual person with whom they have a difference of opinion) becoming verbally abusive in a bullying manner rather than providing an intelligent point-counterpoint dialog based on facts as opposed to hearsay." ~ Roland Louis Hansen, November 1, 2012.

"I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and that each person should be able to feel free to express his/her own opinion without fear of retaliation, reprisal, or retribution. Disagreements happen; that is part of life. In my humble opinion, friends do not have to share the same opinion in order to remain friends. The key to me is expressing differences in opinions and perspectives in a polite, courteous, intelligent, and respectful manner, and to allow true communication to take place. Communication is a two-way process. It takes all parties involved to be willing receive the message being sent as well as sending one's own message in order to be effective. I love to learn whether it be from sitting in a lecture hall, from reading, from watching a documentary, or from a good honest debate such as can be had from a respectful, intelligent verbal or written exchange of differing opinions and perspectives." ~ Roland Louis Hansen, December 3, 2013.

"The name-calling needs to stop. The personal attacks and belittling of individuals based solely on different political perspective needs to stop. All Americans need to pull together. Divisiveness will not accomplish anything positive. It is time for what I call some real D.I.R.T., i.e. Democrats, Independents, (and) Republicans (working) Together. If we, the American people, set aside the distrust, if we set aside the hostility, if we set aside the verbal tirades, if we set aside the casting of stones, if we set aside pointing out blame, if we set aside pettiness, we just might be able to work together for the mutual benefit of all Americans." ~ Roland Louis Hansen

"I am constantly amazed at the amount of negativism spewed by so many people!!! You know to whom I refer; I refer to the folks who bash others, who promote prejudice and hatred and xenophobia, who accentuate what they dislike but never propose an alternative, who dispute opinions put forth by others that are based on facts and doing that soley based on their own biased opinions rather than citing factual information that support their position, etc., etc, etc." ~ Roland Louis Hansen, June 18, 2015. (The following meme was attached with original comment.)

"Keep your thoughts on a positive path. Negative thoughts create negative energy which creates negative results. Positive thoughts create positive energy which creates positive results." ~ Roland Louis Hansen

"May the future bring everyone everywhere together as one people united in love, understanding, mutual respect, harmony, and honesty of purpose." ~ Roland Louis Hansen