Some people will like you or dislike you based on one thing you did!

Everyone is capable of making mistakes. That doesn't make them bad, a crackpot, or an idiot. That makes them human!

First of all, I want to state that I love this man! And this is not to write anything negative about Joe Elliott or his band. I grew up listening to Def Leppard, which is one of the greatest bands of all times. One of the most talented rock groups of the 1980s and I still rock out to them! That said, this is just to point out that we all make mistakes, and a person should not be criminalized, wrongly labeled, hated, defamed, or demonized for making mistakes. Rather we should try to put things into perspective and encourage ourselves and others to learn from their mistakes, to move forward, and to grow!

I had no idea about this. One city in America, El Paso; banned Joe Elliott & Def Leppard from performing their concerts and removed their music from public radio: All because of one comment made that was taken in a very wrong way by an entire group of people. Could you imagine if the internet existed at this time? It would have been worldwide!

After seeing this, I have come to realize, even the best of people make these types of mistakes. Even famous people. Everyone makes mistakes. Joe Elliott realized his mistake, obviously; and apologized for his said offensive comment publicly. I think that was the right thing for him to do. You can't offend peoples' cultures, and expect them to welcome you with open arms. It won't work. Lesson learned!

They labeled him in every which way possible. Spoke evil of him, put derogatory labels on him, and banned him. Sound familiar?

Everyone is capable of saying or doing something "stupid". That doesn't make them a crack pot, an evil or crazy person, or an idiot. That makes them human.

However, their said "truth" didn't have to be his truth. And he proved it. You don't have any control over what people think of you. But you have control over your decision to learn from your mistakes.

Someone who is stupid or someone who is a fool, on the other hand; is someone who refuses to learn from his/her mistakes, rinses, and repeats the cycle. That describes someone who refuses to take correction or instruction.

Even the scriptures tell us: "He who hates reproof is stupid."

You are not a "fool" if you make mistakes. You are a "fool" if you refuse to learn from it. This guy is no fool in this situation. He proceeded to make things right with the people, and as a result; he was later permitted to start playing concerts in that area again! Keep in mind, this was back in the 80s to early 90s.

Nowadays, with the internet; it's more difficult to keep a good public self-image if you dare step out of line. But if all fails, we know that if people begin to blast you publicly; you can freely brush it off. If God knows you and your heart, that is what ultimately matters!

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My similar story

Before I tell my story here, I want to let my enemies know that I forgive them for what they have done. And yes, this was a very hurtful thing for me to go through. But I learned a valuable lesson from it. So here we go.

I've done the same thing. I've made comments that have offended entire communities as they began to start their witch hunt campaign against me to get me banned from every network I was on. Did they succeed? They were successful at getting me banned from Twitter, Link Tree, and had my old Bandcamp account deleted. Will that stop me? Are you kidding me? No way!

Yes, it's true. Just as Joe Elliott did; I also made a statement that offended other people. Even caused other people to want to come after me and attack my character.

My statement was very different from his, however; it was no less offensive. According to some people. On a Facebook Group called "Justice for Johnny Depp" they posted something about the dude smoking weed and the legalization of it. What does this have to with the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial?

What I said was truth but it was taken very wrongly. My approach was branded as "stupid" and "ignorant". Why? What I stated was the truth! My statement on FB was:

"You know it's really not about medicine or medical benefits for most of these people. They just want cannabis to be legalized because they want to smoke it."

If only I had some guidance telling me: "Sonya, its not worth it."

This was something I had to learn the hard way. Because, right away; they wanted to start comparing me to Amber Heard while telling me ((You must be as dumb as she is)), (Meant to attack your character), ((You're against natural cures and for big pharma's pill push)) (yeah, as if they know me and what my personal beliefs are about medicine and big pharma), ((You're a want-to-be dictator who wishes to control people's lives and get into other people's business)) (When? Where? And how?), and other straw-man arguments slapped on people who wish to use their brains and make use of the intelligence God gave them.

((You need to educate yourself,))

What part of that comment did they not understand? It was now 1 against the entire group. Oh boy. They went so far as to treat me like some sort of deviant who is judgemental and self-righteous.

((I'm on medical marijuana, and it saved my life!! You must be against all natural cures and must be for big pharma's pill push!)).

Excuse me? What a straw man. My mother had brain cancer years ago and she managed to get through it using cannabis. She is still alive today and I believe it is because she used it. Nobody is saying that there is no benefit to cannabis. I simply pointed out the motive behind most of this push to legalize marijuana. And you know it's true.

((People use it for medical purposes and they should have the right to do so. Even if they decide to smoke it, that is none of your business!!))

You are missing the point only to make another straw-man statement. The point has also been proven by your statement as well. You want to be allowed to smoke it. Admit it! You want to be allowed to smoke it freely. Am I right? Or am I right?

These pro-weed people.... dismissing the truth because they don't like it? Because they know it's true. This is exactly what happens. Many of them flocked to me to attack my character in the most hateful way. Grown adults! Seems these people are already on weed, and it shows.

My original statement still stands And it's time to make use of the block button.

This wasn't about promoting anti-cannabis propaganda. I am NOT anti-natural cures, either! Neither am I for big pharma's pill push. This was to point out how the pro-weed movement wants to legalize marijuana for the purpose of enjoyment and re-creation: to smoke it freely in other words. Meanwhile, certain jobs won't or can't hire people with marijuana cards because they need sober people to operate their machinery and equipment safely. It would be an unwise decision to hire someone who is high all the time as it can effect brain function just as any other abused substance can. Even medical marijuana effects your brain. So how am I being unreasonable, here? At this point, you might as well call employers and doctors "stupid" too. Because you believe we are all wrong for thinking it an unwise thing to abuse it!

Here are some fun facts about how Marijuana effects your brain.

Those labels they wished to smear me holds no water in light of truth. Some very offensive and untrue things were said about me which were meant to be very disrespectful, derogatory, and hurtful. This says nothing about me, of course; and everything about their character. I was in disbelief as I had to block them to put a stop to a whole lot of bullying and hate mail flooding my notifications, defamation, and possible doxing. I realized, these were bullies set out to publicly smear me, my reputation, and image. All because I said the truth about the pro-weed movement and their motives. They disagreed with what was true and right in the first place.

If it were any other drug or herb that had been abused which had side effects of the brain, I would equally be against abusing it. As Christians, as Christ followers, as God's peculiar treasure, we are to reject drug abuse and addiction of any kind.

And if you find yourself being addicted to substances, you need to get delivered. So am I apologizing for this one comment? Absolutely not! These people have no idea who I am or what I actually stand for. And it shows.

However, I realized from that point forward: that's not how you're going to get through to these people. Even though what I said was spot on.

And from Joe Elliott's perspective, even though he didn't purpose in his heart to do or say something that would offend an entire group of people, he discovered that you can't continue to offend peoples' culture and expect to reach them. That won't work, either. Lesson learned.

Again, I forgive those who have hurt me. This story was to illustrate the lesson I learned from my own personal experience, so I hope it to help someone else who has either gone through the same thing or someone who is considering speaking on subject matter that may be sensitive. Keep this in mind.

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My little cousin Halie nailed this! It goes like this!

Hey, here's something to read as you're scrolling through your news-feed. Why are we so quick to judge? Why are we so quick to write people off? Label them. We might have no clue what someone is going through. But if they do anything that isn't portrayed as normal we think they're crazy. We JUDGE them. We label them. Call them names. Names and labels that are hard to escape. Things that are hurtful... But why? To make ourselves feel better? Does it make us feel better? Not really... So why... Why..?

Everyone has a bad day. And everyone is capable of doing something stupid. But we make mistakes and we LEARN.

People will like you or dislike you based on one thing you did.

No one wants to confront the problem, I mean after all, you can actually solve the problem going behind someone's back and gossiping? Right? No, but we still do it. All of us.

Even people with depression, or people simply having a hard time, we label them attention seekers, but it only hurts them worse. Everyone is made for a purpose, and no ones is to make other people feel bad about themselves or just feel bad in general. No one was created to bring people down or stick labels on them that could likely last most of their life.

If someone does well in school they're a nerd. If they don't do well they're stupid or a ditz.

If someone is doing something we don't understand we think they're crazy, but are we not the ones that don't understand?

Is there no way we could support someone even if we are not sure exactly what they're doing? And even if something they are doing is wrong why just talk about it to where they can't hear, what if they don't know it's wrong? Then it is REALLY not helping to be a jerk.

We are getting to a place, in my generation anyway where you can talk on the phone or text constantly, but in person it's like you've never met and it's completely awkward. That's not okay.

We are to love everyone whether we disagree with something they do or not.

A person can make themselves feel bad enough about themselves without the assist of others. Be careful of what you say, it will follow you, but also make sure you're not a person making someone else's words follow them.

Hope everyone has a great day! Stand strong. And love. Genuinely love. Make someone feel good about themselves!!!

-Halie

And I would like to add something to this. Before trying to judge someone's motives as "evil" try getting to know the person and what they are saying. Try to at least understand from their point of view. If you would be so kind as to read and understand the context, you could be better equipped to put things into perspective. Because it seems that people are too quick to paint someone as an evil terrible person over misunderstandings. It's happened way too often. I have been heavily misunderstood by many people who have never taken the time to get to know what I am saying.

((Well Sonya, you seem to be getting on the defensive side way too much.))

You better believe I am. If I don't defend myself, who will? And who stood in my defense when these things happened? No one. Absolutely no one. This is why I have kindly stepped down from speaking on controversial topics like this at this point as it works to put a target on my back for bullies and attract people who would wish me harm for it. Mistakes happen. Lesson learned!

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I propose a solution

(("But Sonya, I am doing all the right things and they are still speaking evil of me falsely or demonizing me for something I said years ago!"))

Many people, including Christians; live with the fear of man in their hearts. They want to be accepted. The fear of not being accepted speaks to ego. I could care less who accepts me or not. If God is good with me, then I'm good.

People want to go along to get along. People are afraid of public ridicule. I was just thinking about this today and realized what I've been guilty of. It's time, as a born children of God; to learn to have and maintain focus. It doesn't matter where I'm going in the world.

So if you have Christ, keep your head up. Have and maintain focus, not on what people think of you; but on what God thinks of you and his purpose for your life!

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