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Old 08-09-11, 01:23 PM   #397
Sailor Steve
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: High in the mountains of Utah
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WOW! Eight pages since I went to bed last night!

Okay, I think it's time to explain some things.

1) Arguing with people won't get you banned, or even brigged, no matter how heated the debate gets. To get brigged you need to actually attack people directly, or call them names. Even then, you'll be warned first, unless the attack is extreme. So, Paul, you can stop saying you won't say something that might get you in trouble, which you've done several times in this thread. Just say what you think.

2) You won't get banned or brigged for racist comments, unless they are extreme, as you should have already discovered.

3) You say people are ganging up on you. The problem is that everyone is free to say what they think. If most of the people disagree and think you are wrong, and they say so, it's a bunch of individuals expressing their opinions. There is no organized, or disorganized, group here. I don't like Tribesman's tactics normally, and I've said so many times, but in this case I agree with his summation if not his methods. Does that mean we've formed a gang? No. But just because I agree with what he says should I not say so myself.

4) The Ignore Function. It only works if you actually use it. Threatening to do so and then continuing to argue with that person only brings you in for more derision.

5) 1984. It was about a repressive government, not a bunch of people expressing opinions. If anything, it sounds more like what you desire than what's going on here.

6) Racism. Be honest. Do you really, truly believe that this is happening because people of one color or another are bad? As I've said, I've lived long enough to have known good people and bad people of every description you can imagine. Most of 'them' are people just like you. Do you really think that if you could get rid of 'them' your problems would go away? People are individuals. Some of them are worth knowing, and some of them are worth avoiding, and some of them are not worth much of anything. Unfortunately it's part of human nature to be easily influenced, and when individuals get together in large groups they tend to forget to think, and become a mob, which is a dangerous thing. But it also has nothing to do with religion, color or race. We all do it.

6) Language. You are free to express any opinion you like. That said, when you blame this on groups of one color or another, and someone disagrees, calling them "anti-white" is not only completely mistaken, but it's also an attack. While it may not get you brigged or even warned, you really can't complain if it gets you mocked. Just because one of my closest friends is black and one of my bandmates is brown doesn't mean I don't have white friends as well, nor do I prefer one over the other. I also don't hate myself because I'm white. To quote a famous white man, "I am what I am, and that's all what I am!" I do sometimes dislike myself, but that is for completely different reasons, and they are based on individual traits, not group characteristics.

When I told Snestorm "If you want to see the real enemy, look in the mirror", I was only partly suggesting that his attitudes and beliefs are the cause of the problem. The other part is again individual, and refers to him, you, Tribesman, and everyone else, including myself. As Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Or, as Thomas Carlyle put it, ""Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world."
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