First of all, I am a person who has a wide range of preferences and is NOT very picky, so any postcard chosen by the sender is welcome. Nevertheless, I have inevitably received some postcards that made me uncomfortable.
For example, I received a politically charged postcard last year. I’m not a big fan of politics, but what she has written had a frantic, aggressive tone, which is really disturbing. Like using all the capital letters to write her love of Trump and hatred of Democrats and Communism, like “DEMOCRATS WERE SCARED OF TRUMP!” “HANG IN THERE!”, which feels like to be shouted. And also using “CCP Virus” to refer to COVID. It’s not her political views that bother me. It’s the aggressive tone of her yelling that I find offensive, especially when the people she supports do affect me negatively in real life. And I don’t understand the need to use politically charged terms associated with the common enemy of humanity, disease. Moreover, the words she used are not only controversial, but also related to the region and race.
For another example, I have attended an RR, and a lady sent me a redecorated used postcard. That alone was unpleasant enough. When I happened to see everyone else except me receiving not just a lovely postcard according to the wishlist, but sweet or chocolate as an extra, I felt singled out. Of course, I’m not unhappy about the few sweets I didn’t have😂 I just deeply feel that I’m being treated like a trash can. This kind of implicit discrimination and microaggression really annoys me.
In addition, I have been wondering whether it is necessary to let the lady know what she has done, which makes me really uncomfortable, but I fear it also seems impolite.
I’m NOT here to denounce anyone. I just want to use two examples to discuss how you can handle postcards that you don’t like or, furthermore, make you uncomfortable. And is it necessary to inform the other person of their actions?
Personally I don’t have experiences with this as it has never happend to me. But if you receive a message that makes you feel really uncomfortable I would report it. For official cards to the Postcrossing team and for RR to the host of that RR. It might be a misunderstanding or not, but often it helps when another person helps with the communication rather than contacting the sender by your own.
If it’s just a minor annoyance, I would directly mention it to the sender in a side note.
Oh well, it’s not really offensive if someone writes they hate their own president, is it? I also hate our government, and while I would rather write about some of the bad things they do than just state it so bluntly - I’m not really making a secret of it either…
And as for “hating communism”, the author migth also just have “American communism” in mind, which means
We all receive postcards we don’t like at times. Sometimes it might be the card itself, sometimes it might be what is written on it.
I don’t take any of those cards personally. People are in all kinds of moods & life circumstances that I know nothing about, so the card is really about them, not me.
I have no control of what people send me, so I don’t worry about it unless it was a direct threat or something like harassment that violated the community guidelines. In which case I would report it.
I find people assume too much direct intent from other people who send them cards and most of the time, it’s not about you personally it’s about what’s going on in their lives. So don’t let it bother you, shrug it off & go onto cards & exchanges that please you & make your day brighter.
If you don’t like a card you receive, you don’t have to keep it once you register it. That’s what the recycling bin is for eh?
Oh right, that probably means he or she doesn’t believe in science, right?
Though what does “CCP” actually stand for???
Anyway, I’d say that goes under religious freedom
That actually doesn’t mean anything, or does it???
Everybody who has ever been fighting for anything in this world has been “fighting for freedom”. That’s just an empty phrase, I’d say.
For instance, I once had a (quite friendly) discussion with a nationalist, for whom, it turned out, “freedom” meant first of all “the freedom of the nation to make everybody live according to national traditions and the one true faith”… We agreed to disagree But it certainly goes to show just how vague the term “freedom” is…
I write on my profile that I accept any kind of postcard including religious & political one, so far I haven’t had postcard that I consider offensive
But since I open an “invitation” to any kind of card, I would be aware of chances getting some of sensitive topics on the cards. But like @LC-Canada said :
If someone on the postcard expressing their political opinion (without an attack / harassment), I won’t mind it. I take it like some religious postcrossers praising certain God they believe in and wrote to me as if I believe in the same God
Differences among postcrossers make our postcards unique
The writer sounds frustrated and a bit petulant. That’s not on you, the recipient. That is their issue.
In my thank you message I would wish them well and hope they find joy where they can.
There are always going to be people who are a bit cranky, and even sometimes downright nasty.
But, I believe there are actually many more people who are kind and considerate. And that makes up the majority of Postcrossers.
I am going to send you a PM asking for your address. As I’d like to send you a happy card.
I have to say what you have is a little history.
I got a postcard that talked about the president that passed away. At first it upset my kid but I made him think about it as history you have someone thoughts down People got to remember your dealing with children and, mental health, and mental challenge people.
I wrote about my father passing about who he was what he did for a living. I was grieving. It helped to tell someone about him mean so much to me. You have someone thoughts about the president we have now.
To be honest, I would say to myself: “Life is too short to be upset about every A**h**** you meet”.
Trash it, forget it! Life goes on! Be happy about the beautiful connections you made, this is what counts!
Hello @zhangjianing I have removed the picture of the backside of the card, because it is not allowed to make it public.
If you feel that a card design or the text on the back is inappropriate, you can always contact the support Contact us or, if it is an RR card, the host of the RR.
I don’t think it was a nice card, more like a weird, a bit fanatic tone.
I wouldn’t mind, but I really understand it can feel uncomfortable, even offensive.
It seemed to be a grown up person writing it.
I would perhaps report it to postcrossing team, as it can be they write “worse” messages to some others. But still I would register it, and ask something about it as there was something I didn’t understand.
I personally haven’t experienced something like that but on fb I red someone who’s vegan received a card with meat on it she didn’t want to register the card which I think is childish maybe even more pathetic than sending this meat card. I don’t know what was written on it so I can’t completely judge but maybe this person was on a carnivore diet…
In cases like this, it can be the sender didn’t even read the whole profile, so I would not take it so personally either. Or it can part of the culture, local food etc.
as there was something I didn’t understand.