I have recently (i.e. within the past few hours) developed my own way of differentiating a friend from an acquaintance. IMO, it has nothing to do with shared interests, goals, beliefs, senses of humour, the ability to keep up a decent conversation, the frequency of contact, or how much you like/respect that person. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe those things are relevant, but I think what really matters is how you feel about interacting with them. A friend is someone to whom you can freely express your opinions, without fear of being censured. They might disagree with you, but you won’t be afraid of that.

Vaguely related, people can be so... bellicose sometimes, and it really upsets me. I simply do not see the point of being aggressive towards someone for expressing their opinion, particularly with regard to criticism. I’m sure I do it as well, but why must people become so caustic if someone disagrees with, criticises or in any way annoys/offends them? I’m not aiming this at anyone in particular, but a lot of people do it, including some of my friends. It’s really sad, because a lot of those who do it are those who champion freedom of thought, speech and expression, and they’re undermining their own ideals, seemingly without realising it. Come on guys, since when did a question like “Is he white?” warrant a diatribe against racism, small-mindedness and discrimination? Why must the doctrine of “freedom of thought” have, “as long as your thoughts don’t offend or marginalise one single person in the entire world”, appended to it? By instantly condemning someone for thinking homosexuality is wrong, are we really promoting understanding and intelligent thought?

And as for criticism, my God some people can be childishly oversensitive. If someone says something about you that you don’t necessarily agree with or like, perhaps take it with a little grace? If you genuinely think it’s unwarranted abuse, turning the other cheek now and then wouldn’t go astray either. Isn’t that better than degeneration into petty arguments? Often the outcome is even worse than that, particularly if the critic isn’t ready to fight back (I’m looking at you, Aaron) and cops a load from the person they weren’t trying to offend. I think it really is a particularly imperceptible form of bullying, and it’s quite disgusting. And there are so many people I could name who do it. So many. Half of them are friends (or, perhaps, acquaintances) of mine.

Hmmm... I wonder how many people will hate me for my opinions in one week’s time.

P.S: if you think you know to whom I’m referring, please don’t mention their names in a comment.