General Disability Lifestyle

Sister Lisa Catherine Obl S.B.:

 

 

I think all the insults and hate that is being exchanged is tragic and needs to end. So it's not about not liking what the idea is, it's about the name calling and hate that has come onto the forum, how sad to be new here and find all this dirt being thrown... It's not about 'tough skin' it's about RESPECT about ideas and not putting others down !!

Amen....

The internet is perhaps the last bastion of free speech left on the planet and I suggest we keep it that way.   Yes, I am fully aware of the presence of a few prickly personalities that infest this website. However, our attempts to CONTROL content are utterly futile.  Certain people will steadfastly refuse to stick to the issues and will foment personal attacks against those they disagree with.  There's enough blame on both sides of this issue.  To start, For those of you who are on the personal-attack side of this issue: Shame on you!  Bite your mental tongue and just pass over what you are offended by to a post you can agree upon.  Attack the issues you disagree with first instead of the people posting them! Show your mental acuity by formulating arguments against the ideas you disagree with.  Personal attacks are easy and somewhat cowardly. Sharpen your mind by debating the issues rather than the simpler cheap-shot method.  Now, for those of you who continue your vain attempts to control those personalities who are attacking you personally, shame on you too!  Quit whining to one another and to the ownership of this website and simply take the high road.  How? Most of these people who are personally "attacking" you simply want attention.  The best weapon against that is to simply IGNORE them.  Like I stated earlier, just pass over their unwanted posts and personal insults. Believe it or not, it is possible, with a little patience, to carry on rational discussions with them right in your midst. A wise person once said that noble minds talk about ideas; average minds talk about themselves; and little minds talk about other people!  If we want the internet to be a refuge for free speech, the individuals attacking and the individuals trying to control the attacking are BOTH going to hasten it's demise and BOTH parties will share the blame!   

Very well said, Finetooner!  I agree that the attacking behavior is an attention getting device and that silence is the best form of scorn for those "little minds".   I really wish that I could ignore it because it makes my skin crawl when people are that creepy.  You would think a person with a disability might have more compassion.  I try to pass over them ...but its like a train wreck...morbid curiosity makes you look.  Shame on me?

First off, let me say I must be the crazy non-comformist here because I don't like green apples..

 

Now, on to the actual posting. I think blogs are a great way to express something. However, I don't think they are the best way to have a discussion. Yes you can leave comments, but it is not the same format. A discussion board is designed to make it easy to share ideas. Once again, no place is perfect. We all know people here have issues with one another. Should they both take the high road and ignore one another? Yes. If one is trying to instigate something should the other be the bigger person and ignore them? Of course. Does that happen? Obviously not. So, what is the solution, you ask? Well, I actually don't know one that would be right or wrong.

 

I think there is a fine line between disagreeing with someone and disrespecting somone and/or their opinion. I'm not saying we should all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, My Lord and give each other hugs, because I don't that is practical. We all know the world is not all rainbows and butterflies. But, what I am saying is if you don't like someone or their opinion, at least be respectful. If someone is posting something you disagree with, fine, you have that right to tell them, 'look, I think you're wrong.' But by attacking them or a group of people personally and making disrespectful remarks, you cross that line between disagreeing and disrespecting. I understand it takes more effort to intelligently and rationally disagree with someone, but it makes for a much better environment and discussion itself if you do, rather than just saying, 'I don't like people like that because one of them said this...'.

 

I think it's nice you're attempting to find solutions, Sister, but I personally don't think that us resorting to blogs is the right answer. Next thing it will be, 'well so-and-so left a nasty comment on my blog and 5 people read it before I could delete it, so now let's write what we feel in private messages and only send them out to people who are friends with us.' It's just one slipperly slope that ends ridiculously. And I know the forums don't have an ignore feature, so learn to mentally ignore certain individuals. A lot of the time I can tell who has started a post simply by reading the title. If it is something I know will hit a nerve with me and I don't feel like dealing with it at the moment, I simply pass it over.

 

For the most part I love the discussions here. I am really getting into the political ones, although a lot of times those are the ones where personal attacks are made. However, those of us who see those have learned to just ignite a very interesting discussion. And who knows.. perhaps one of us will even manage to alter someone's thinking. Far fetched, I know, but anything is possible..

I'm in total agreement with what Finetooner said......I enjoy the discussions.........blogs have there place but it's different.........the discussions are.........fun ! Agreed........no fun if personal attacks are made.........so if they continue.......lets just........ignore !.................peace and love.......Norma

Thank you all again for your posts !!  Everyone has shared good thoughts and I respect that a lot...  I remember years ago when I was in college, we had to take a class in Assertion / Aggression training so we could Listen better to what was being said, and not jumping to our own conclusions.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could see each other's faces on here, then we could see a laugh, a twinkle in an eye of a kidding type person, and we could see tears and anger on faces when someone had been hurt. *sigh* I know the problems on the forum won't go away with the wink of an eye and one of the reasons for all this is that chat closed down. I only went a few times when I first came here and that ended real fast by My choice to not deal with the anger there... but I know well the friends you can make on a chat area and I do so hope they open it again for the chatters here, it's fun and it's sad to not have that right now. But please hang in there and I know Disaboom will open it again, but this forum has been a huge test to see if things would change or not and so far some of the actions of those same people who were in chat, have dragged those issues into the forum, so that test isn't going very well.   I'm rambling, sorry... I so wish the forum could be a safe place for ALL topics without attacks and with pain.   So, blessings all and thank you again for sharing your thoughts and ideas !! Blessings, Lisa Catherine

 hi sister, i think it was an unexpected thing to have this on our site but there are alot of people here who really care about each others best interest and  it will come around! look at the amount of members and the amount of the ones trying to distract the purpose. the odds are good.