I'm sorry

[PixieStix]

I think many people including me at times forget common courtesy. The internet has done 2 things. It has brought us together only to bring us apart.
Sad.

Jim. I like your forum. You run it the way you see fit.

At least you don't have a bunch of assholes running roughshod over the entire forum. Trolls are at a minimum.

There are certain words I may say in private, but most people will never hear me say them publicly. It is just how I roll. My Daddy would have backhanded me if he heard me say some of the words used on forums. I don't necessarily see that here

[Gunny]

A lot of people are in favor of freedom of speech. Until someone says something that offends them. Then they get upset.
Like if someone came on this board today and said "I was so happy to hear about those military people dying in a chopper crash. I hope they all went to hell."
Or perhaps "The more Jews and Christians killed by ISIS, the better. They all need to die!"
Hate is created by those who hate.

Not me. They can say what they want. Therein lies the conundrum. People want to say what they want without suffering the consequences of their words. The internet has made it all the more easy because the weak can hide in their basements and post their e-balls.

Just a microcosm of our society. The weak have been brainwashed to think they don't have to suffer the consequences of their actions. "I drove into a light pole so I'm suing the light pole company". Never mind I was drunk and had one eye closed. It was the light pole's fault.

[Gunny]

"freedom of speech"

If anyone makes it to this post, and thinks that my OP was about censorship, or freedom of speech being denied or any of that, please read it again. I'm asking others to look at the big picture, and to think twice before hitting the reply button. If one wants to ignore what I said, and post whatever they will within the rules, so be it, no one is going to stop you.

Okay.

So ... what you are saying is freedom of speech is limited to the scope of your rules. That's easy. Your board, your rules. However, there is no parallel with your rules and the First Amendment.

And I'm not poking at you. Everyone who has a board does it. They draw a line somewhere. I did it. Your rules have to reflect your enforcement.

[tailfins]

Dang, Gabby, you had me until the bolded part. There is a huge difference between the two. The former belief/attitude goes against the teachings of the Bible, as you have pointed out. The latter is actually right in tune with the Bible (and many other religious works), but not as being "superior".

My religion is not superior, as we are not in a contest. It is my belief, as the Bible tells us, that Jesus actually is THE way, THE truth and THE life, and no one goes to the Father but through Him. If we believe that all religions are the same, then Jesus was a liar. He was quite clear on the subject. That does not mean we are superior. That is the wrong way to frame it. It is, however, a way of being pejorative.

I would say a soul-saving religion IS superior.

[Gunny]

I think many people including me at times forget common courtesy. The internet has done 2 things. It has brought us together only to bring us apart.
Sad.

Jim. I like your forum. You run it the way you see fit.

At least you don't have a bunch of assholes running roughshod over the entire forum. Trolls are at a minimum.

There are certain words I may say in private, but most people will never hear me say them publicly. It is just how I roll. My Daddy would have backhanded me if he heard me say some of the words used on forums. I don't necessarily see that here

[gabosaurus]

Not me. They can say what they want. Therein lies the conundrum. People want to say what they want without suffering the consequences of their words. The internet has made it all the more easy because the weak can hide in their basements and post their e-balls.

Just a microcosm of our society. The weak have been brainwashed to think they don't have to suffer the consequences of their actions. "I drove into a light pole so I'm suing the light pole company". Never mind I was drunk and had one eye closed. It was the light pole's fault.

You are 100 percent correct. People need to learn that the internet is a double-edged sword. Yes, you can hide behind an anonymous veil. But it will eventually catch up with you. Look at the frat guys who got caught doing racist chants and wanting black people hung from a tree. It's fine until you get caught. You have the right to say what you want. The school (or any organization) has the right to remove you.
It's all about personal responsibility. You can lawyer up all you want, but eventually you have to pay the price for your misdeeds.

I have always preached the Golden Rule on internet message boards. Jim's board, Jim's rules. You do NOT have the right to free speech here. Or on any privately owned message board. One person decides what is acceptable to post here, and who has the right to post anything. And unless you are Jim, it's not you.

That is why I always post what I think. I'm not here to agree with you. I'm not here to piss you off (regardless of what you might think). I am here to express my opinion. Since I am the only liberal here, most of you are not going to agree with the majority of what I say.
No need to get upset about it, though. Think about it and move on. Going into a profane, insult-laden rant doesn't help anything. It's all water off a duck's back.
Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I don't like you. Even if you are old and stupid.

[LongTermGuy]

​Good thread....

[hjmick]

Huh...

[Gunny]

You are 100 percent correct. People need to learn that the internet is a double-edged sword. Yes, you can hide behind an anonymous veil. But it will eventually catch up with you. Look at the frat guys who got caught doing racist chants and wanting black people hung from a tree. It's fine until you get caught. You have the right to say what you want. The school (or any organization) has the right to remove you.
It's all about personal responsibility. You can lawyer up all you want, but eventually you have to pay the price for your misdeeds.

I have always preached the Golden Rule on internet message boards. Jim's board, Jim's rules. You do NOT have the right to free speech here. Or on any privately owned message board. One person decides what is acceptable to post here, and who has the right to post anything. And unless you are Jim, it's not you.

That is why I always post what I think. I'm not here to agree with you. I'm not here to piss you off (regardless of what you might think). I am here to express my opinion. Since I am the only liberal here, most of you are not going to agree with the majority of what I say.
No need to get upset about it, though. Think about it and move on. Going into a profane, insult-laden rant doesn't help anything. It's all water off a duck's back.
Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I don't like you. Even if you are old and stupid.

Okay. What.s your point? Mine's simple and ALWAYS ignored. I'm a Southerner. Half my family's from Texas, the other half from Alabama. Yankees are more prejudiced than any Southerner I know. You want equality? Hold your scientifically identified ethnic minorities to the same standard you hold white men to instead of explaining them away with victimization status.

They ALL (ethnic minorities) claim this is the land of opportunity, Then use that opportunity instead if signing up for welfare and claiming to be a victim. They don't want opportunity. They want a handout.

Meanwhile back at the ranch .... you can be a half crippled vet and not get shit. Food for thought.

[fj1200]

If I'm that way off base, you are free to ignore me, or politely explain how this is a wrong request.

I'm not sure why you're sorry, facebook is more appropriate for some posters here. They would prefer to rant to those of like mind and recoil at the pressure of having to debate their positions.

[jimnyc]

I'm not sure why you're sorry, facebook is more appropriate for some posters here. They would prefer to rant to those of like mind and recoil at the pressure of having to debate their positions.

My sorry portion was based solely on my own posts. I'll take responsibility for my actions/words. I'm no angel. If I'm to ask others to think 2x before they hit the submit button, then I have to be a part of that. And I would be hypocritical if I acted like I was better than others in some manner. That's just me, describing me, 100% for and by me, and speaking for no one and describing no one and such.

[jimnyc]

Huh...

Sometimes those who say the least, say the most. I'm almost afraid to ask you what the one word reply means? Be gentle!

[hjmick]

Sometimes those who say the least, say the most. I'm almost afraid to ask you what the one word reply means? Be gentle!

Well...

I've been giving this thread, your OP in particular, quite a bit of thought since my initial reading of it the other day... I almost posted some thoughts earlier this evening but opted to skip pressing the submit button for one reason or another...

I'll start by saying that, while I admittedly do not read every post submitted, I cannot remember having ever read one of yours, Jim, and thinking to myself, "Christ, what a bigot." I cannot say the same of a few others... Let me also say that part of the appeal DP holds for me is the slower pace, the friendlier less adversarial atmosphere.

I have, on more than one occasion, been... Shocked? Surprised? Disappointed by what I would consider to be ugly, bigoted posts by members here at DP. Members who, up until then, I had not seen in that light. It seems to be happening more frequently these days, for whatever that is worth... Perhaps the most disconcerting part of this observation for me is, I tend to look at DP as family, at least those of us who have been around here a few years. As you well know, DP, in the world of message boards, is small. We have less traffic than most, fewer regularly active posters, and it's generally a much calmer atmosphere compared to, say your old place. It is there that I would fully expect to see, and I do, the sort of bigotry that disappointed me here.

Why?

Maybe because I thought I knew the persons in question? Because we are a smaller community, closer knit, almost like a family, and you don't want to think someone in your family thinks that way? The truth is, I have only myself to blame for the disappointment I felt. I expected more where I shouldn't have.

So, where does this get us? I'm of the opinion that bigotry, of any kind, has no place in polite, informed society. I am also of the opinion that free speech should not be infringed, though the free speech thing doesn't apply, necessarily, to a privately owned message board...

Boy, what a rambling mess...

I agree with you, Jim, racist and bigoted comments don't look good to folks looking to join a community of any type. How to temper such comments on the board? I don't know. My first instinct was to say, "What would your kids think of what you just typed? Would you want them to think that way?" But the answer to that question, for a bigot, is obvious... Then I thought, "What would your parents think of what you just typed?" But it occurred to me that a person has to learn to think that way somewhere...

There is no real answer to the problem, bud. There are some here who will weigh your words and, after some reflection and soul searching, will temper their posts because they want to, because that is who they are. Others will not.


I shouldn't have had those Double Bocks... Rambling...


Dude, get your ass down here and give an old man an excuse to get out of the house...

[jimnyc]

I'll start by saying that, while I admittedly do not read every post submitted, I cannot remember having ever read one of yours, Jim, and thinking to myself, "Christ, what a bigot." I cannot say the same of a few others... Let me also say that part of the appeal DP holds for me is the slower pace, the friendlier less adversarial atmosphere.

I won't claim to be an angel. I have in fact made some posts in the past that weren't very nice. When I get passionate and angry, that happens.

I have, on more than one occasion, been... Shocked? Surprised? Disappointed by what I would consider to be ugly, bigoted posts by members here at DP. Members who, up until then, I had not seen in that light. It seems to be happening more frequently these days, for whatever that is worth... Perhaps the most disconcerting part of this observation for me is, I tend to look at DP as family, at least those of us who have been around here a few years. As you well know, DP, in the world of message boards, is small. We have less traffic than most, fewer regularly active posters, and it's generally a much calmer atmosphere compared to, say your old place. It is there that I would fully expect to see, and I do, the sort of bigotry that disappointed me here.

Well said, and more or less exactly why this thread was made. As you know, I see us as a family too. I would like more family members too. And I don't want to lose any family members.

Maybe because I thought I knew the persons in question? Because we are a smaller community, closer knit, almost like a family, and you don't want to think someone in your family thinks that way? The truth is, I have only myself to blame for the disappointment I felt. I expected more where I shouldn't have.

I think in the smaller communities you will see certain things stand out more. I think we all know one another very well here. Any changes in personality, or when folks are agitated, the community sees it, where it might not be as bad in a larger community. And of course, when we see things as a family, the disappointment is less expected.

So, where does this get us? I'm of the opinion that bigotry, of any kind, has no place in polite, informed society. I am also of the opinion that free speech should not be infringed, though the free speech thing doesn't apply, necessarily, to a privately owned message board...

It doesn't apply here, but I try my best to extend it anyway. So rather than go crazy with rules, that's when I make threads like this and try to explain to the community how I see it harms us, and how we can get back on track.

I agree with you, Jim, racist and bigoted comments don't look good to folks looking to join a community of any type. How to temper such comments on the board? I don't know. My first instinct was to say, "What would your kids think of what you just typed? Would you want them to think that way?" But the answer to that question, for a bigot, is obvious... Then I thought, "What would your parents think of what you just typed?" But it occurred to me that a person has to learn to think that way somewhere...

Well stated. I know when sitting at the dinner table, in front of my son, there is no doubt I temper the way I speak, and get rid of the foul language and such. I don't expect folks here to drop the foul language, but the thinking can be similar. We do have some younger folks, but of age. We have women here too. We also have folks who just don't go for that language. Just 5 seconds of thinking prior to posting can make a huge difference. And even then, sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. But if it's not daily, and every other thread, it's not something that changes the complexion of the community.

There is no real answer to the problem, bud. There are some here who will weigh your words and, after some reflection and soul searching, will temper their posts because they want to, because that is who they are. Others will not.

Yep, and that's cool. I don't expect perfection. But if folks try, I think as a family we can be a little bit better.

I shouldn't have had those Double Bocks... Rambling...

The Germans make a damn good lager!! Oktoberfest in March!!

Dude, get your ass down here and give an old man an excuse to get out of the house...

I so want to. My friend Chuck lives in Charleston and was angry I didn't reach out to him last time. Also, being with the entire family limits your time and destinations. Man, I would love to come down and get a few nights at a hotel right in town. My sister works for a huge hotel chain and can generally get me discounts. (and when Jeff reads this he will tell me I need to come there in Georgia. Dad is then another 10 hours south of there. I need to sneak out so them bastards don't know about it!!)

[Abbey Marie]

I would say a soul-saving religion IS superior.

I think I explained my pov quite well. If you want to couch Christianity as superior to other religions, go right ahead. I will go on preferring to simply say it is the only way to the Father, and leave it at that.