Sorry if I startled you, We had a bit of a massive troll wave happen today.
So I had my hands full checking some things and cross referencing some info.
And then I hid in the furniture:
;-)
Hello PROW,
The Tomahawk, of course, not the hatchet. I've been thinking of two things today, one concerning Freeps and DUmmies vis a vis Democracy (also in light of what I have read in both places) and two, concerning the more important issue of PC.
First, I was startled by our fellow forummer Darksheare "sniffing" and "checking" if I'm okay. I wanted to write him a nasty response, that maybe I was a brand new model of internet connected Fujitsu talking refrigerator. What does it matter in virtual reality? Only thoughts count. But now I understand that you are not here to prove that there is democracy in America, this is more like a club or fraternity that sets its own limits and makes its own rules. It's, as someone indicated, "private property". And maybe it's that way too with the DUmmies.
I am used to arguing on Italian Newspaper Fora, and so there they have to prove that they are democratic. I could go to an Ultra-Conservative Forum and say: "All immigrants should have five years of Welfare Cheques" and though I would be booed, no one would dare kick me out; just as I could go to the Communists (something I have done) and blame them for being tools of Stalin, and once again I would only be insulted, but never kicked out. We are kicked out only for poor behavior but never "poor" thoughts.
Here it is different and perhaps you have a freedom that we don't have... the right to be "parochial."
This can be dangerous and counter-productive in the long run. But never mind. I hardly think democracy is in danger in America! Mostly it is dangerous for outsiders like me who have different ingrained paradigms. For example, socialized medicine in the USA is a big and fiery issue, in most of Europe it has become an absolute, something that is not even questioned anymore (whereas perhaps, like all things it should be questioned!).
The bigger issue is PC, which I abhor, because though consideration and politeness are always good, once it is enforced as dogma, then only a few are protected. I am convinced that a white Anglo Saxon protestant man, called "Smith," two meters tall, whose family has been living in the USA since the time of Sir Raleigh in Virginia, has the same right of consideration and courtesy as the Black Negro one meter ninety who came in chains or the Jew one meter seventy-six from Poland escaping Pogroms and Holocausts. Who knows? Maybe the giant Mr. Smith is a poet who cries at the sight of a beautiful sunset.
Naturally there will be tension and misunderstandings, but absolutely better to leave them in the open where they can, if joyously approached, (and just like Democracy, I doubt that America will ever run out of joy) they can be turned into opportunities.
We MUST share our differences in order to transcend them.
Your example of correcting me, suggesting I say Tomahawk instead of hatchet is what I mean. Whereas the person who takes silly offense at DUmmie-Land has me banned, here I am corrected. And if someone here talks about Italy in terms of pizza, pasta and mandolins, instead of feeling some silly dignity offended, as if I owned the Italian race, maybe I can correct. There are other important staples. Risotto and Polenta. There are whole regions in Italy where spaghetti is as foreign as it is in Brugges. (Not foreign at all, just poorly prepared)!!
PC brings the talk to an end and actually increases the ignorance, by continuously sweeping it under the rug. It is selective and hypocritical. The Indian at DU could've told me about tomahawks, but he only called me a cretin. Here instead in Freepsville, I even learn about what not to do at an Atlanta Braves baseball game. The difference - for lacking a better word - is joy. Impose PC and instead of "the pursuit of happiness" you have something bland served to you, which you must eat.
Political Correctness is a major mistake. It is like Mamma Government and Papa Society keeping their children in Sunday School, instead of letting them have fun in the playground. True trust and respect, like at E-bay, must be built through time via interplay, transaction...
Anyway... I explored FREEP and you are most definitely in another league compared to DUmmy-land. It is like the difference between Mars Explorer and a Piper Cub airplane with faulty equipment.
I particularly enjoyed the thread about the Holy Shroud of Turin.
Salute
One of our goals is to visit Italy, especially the Piedmont region. Our favorite wine is Borolo, but we also love Zinfandel and Super Tuscans. My wife and I want to tour the wineries there someday. Are you familiar with the Piedmont wine region?
Sorry if I startled you, We had a bit of a massive troll wave happen today.
So I had my hands full checking some things and cross referencing some info.
And then I hid in the furniture:
;-)