define irony...

[recovering_fan]

@ Skul

Your site, which claims to be anti-bullying, tolerates one of the most obnoxious bullies on the Internet.

I am leaving now. When you brought back the pianist and allowed FM to flame-bait him that was the final straw for me. W's main accomplishment is his proficiency at the piano, in which he should always take pride. Your resident cyber-thug pissed all over that with his heartless linoleum wise-crack, which he saw no reason to hold in check even as we were all trying to give W. a second chance. I will continue to check in from time to time (if I am not banned) to see whether anything is being done about the situation.

I would encourage W. to get the hell away from the site until the inmates stop running the asylum.

---------------------------------------

@Imperialist: I may check in from time to time to see how the resistance is getting on...

Here's a Christmas present for you from my Russian girlfriend...
(Farewell of Slavianka is my favourite Russian war ballad, along with Katyusha. They are great for learning Russian.)

Ð?сÑ?анÑ? за Ð?еÑ?Ñ?, РÑ?сская Ð?емля!
(Arise, Russian Land, defend your Faith!)

--RF


###

EDIT: Just making sure everyone understood this. "Farewell of Slavianka" was a nationalist hymn, written in 1912 for a war against the Ottoman Empire. Before the Communists stole it, their Tsarist foes marched to it as part of Admiral Kolchak's White Army (as opposed to Red) in the Russian Civil War. "Katyusha" does happen to be of Soviet origin, but I don't recall any lyrics that could be construed as specifically pro-communist.

[recovering_fan]

I have just added Fat Man to my "foes" list. I recommend to Wibberley and to all others who find the Fat Man's taunts disgusting that they do the same. It will help you all keep your heads clear.

--RF

[Fat Man]

AW COME ON!!!

My comment about Wibberely playing on the linoleum, that was just a harmless little joke! OK?

Even Earl thought it was funny!

Yeah, I had mentioned that I used to play the guitar, but I can't anymore because back in July 2001 my left wrist was fractured.

If you look closely at my photo in my avatar, you'll notice the black band I have around my left wrist. It's a support strap I wear to protect my wrist when I go out.

OK, I had never mentioned this before.

YOU ALL WANT KNOW HOW MY LEFT WRIST GOT FRACTURED???

This is just another example of something that was taken away from me.

Back in 2001, I was living in a 2 bed room apartment. I had a room mate, a guy who was about 5 years older than I was.

We had moved down from Las Cruces New Mexico down to El Paso Texas back in 1996. I once owned a large 3 bedroom mobile home 14 x 64 feet and to help with my financial situation I rented out one of my bed rooms, and he paid me $120 dollars per month for rent on the room.

Then we decided that Las Cruces was a kind of dead end town and that El Paso might have more to offer us. Well, I couldn't afford to move the mobile home down, so I sold it and we rented an apartment instead.

OK, back in March of 1997, my room mate had a stroke, couldn't work anymore, and I helped him to apply for disability and a few months later, he started getting his SSI checks. I fought like Hell to help him to get his disability checks.

After his first stroke, he had gone through personality changes and started bossing me a round, and I was trying to help him through his recovery from his stroke.

Then, back in 2001, he had his second stroke, suffered severe memory loss, and became paranoid and delusional. I desperately needed to get some help to take care of him. I couldn't do it by myself anymore.

OK, he had one of his girl friends staying with us, but she was no help, and my room mate became even more paranoid, and he even thought that I wanted to put the make on her.

I had no interest in her what-so-ever. She was in her 30s but she was retarded with the mind of a child.

The reason why my room mate had his second stroke was because his doctor prescribed Viagra so he could "get it up" when he had any women friends come over. The doctor had to be an idiot, because if I were a doctor, I would not prescribe Viagra to someone who has high blood pressure, and who had already had one stroke. NO WAY!

Anyway, he became more and more bossy, and became a real tyrant, and I couldn't get any help to deal with the situation. He needed some kind of professional home care, I just couldn't do it myself anymore.

Then one night, we got into an argument over my use of the computer on the Internet.

At the time, I only had dial-up, so we had made an agreement that I would not go on line during the day-light hours, but that I would wait until 9:00 PM in the evening before going on line.

The rent on the apartment, the electric bill, and the phone bill, all the bills were in my name, and I paid the bills and he was suppose to help with the rent.

But he had forgotten our original agreement, so one night, back in July 8,2001, he came into my bedroom, and demanded that I go off-line and shut down my computer. I tried to remind him of our original agreement that after 9:00 PM I could go on line, that the night time hours were mine to use the computer.

I would be listening to Art Bell on the radio from 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM and going to his web site. It was a rather interesting talk show about unusual topics, about UFOs and stuff like that.

But that one evening, my room mate wanted me to turn off my radio and shut down my computer. I was in my own room, minding my own business while he was in his own room getting laid by his retarded girl friend.

His retarded girl friend was a real trouble maker, she actually liked stirring up trouble between me and my room mate.

So, we go into an argument.

He went back to his bed room, and then, came back into my room with a machete!

He started swinging his machete and struck me on my right arm, then my left knee, and then he fractured my left wrist.

I grabbed the phone to dial 911, and he started hacking at the phone line, but then I remembered, my computer was still on line so I couldn't dial out anyway, and it's hard to log off when somebody is swinging a machete at you!

I was really frightened, so I started leaving the apartment and as I was going out the door into the hallway, he struck me on the back of my head.

Our apartment was upstairs in a 2 story building. I went down the stairs, out the front door and headed for a pay phone on the corner, leaving a trail of blood behind me along the hallway, the stairs, and along the sidewalk to the pay phone at the corner.

I dialed 911, and about 5 minutes later, an ambulance, a fire truck, and two police cars arrived. As I was being strapped into the gurney and being lifted into the ambulance I could see a police officer going into the building with a shot gun, and I was taken to the hospital.

There, I was put under for surgery and woke up almost 2 hours later, with my left arm in a cast. I was in a lot of pain because I had a stainless steel pin in my left wrist. I also had stitches in the back of my head, on my right arm, and some on just above my left knee. I was in the hospital for three days, and my ex-room-mate was hauled off to the slammer for 9 months.

When I came home, I was unable to take care of myself. A friend of mine, who is also a therapist, suggested that I stay at Santa Teresa New Mexico until I could take care of myself again. It was a psychiatric facility and I needed to be there because I was severely depressed and having anxiety attacks. It was a nice place, and they took good care of me.

I was there at Santa Teresa for three weeks and on the day that they took me home, we stopped at the hospital to have the cast removed and the steel pin taken out. Since I was no longer in so much pain, I was able to take care of myself again.

Anyway . . . . .

Me, and my ex-room-ate, we went our separate ways. After 9 months, he was released from the slammer, and sometimes I would see him on the bus or downtown. Sometimes he would try to apologize to me, but by then it was too late.

Then back in February of 2005, I got a phone call from a mutual acquaintance in Las Cruces, that my ex-room-mate had his third stroke. I went to see him at the hospital where he was staying. He never regained consciousness, and he died a month later in March of 2005.

He was 5 years older than I was, and he was 59 years old when he died on March 2005, about three months before his 60th birthday.

I'm now 59 years old, and despite my obesity, I don't have high blood pressure, and my cholesterol levels are actually lower than normal. That's because I take better care of myself. Most of my relatives were fat, yet they lived into their 80s

Yeah, after we went our separate ways I had my freedom. I could go on line anytime I felt like with my computer. I was free from that tyrant!

You know, after my room-mate had his first and then his second stroke, and he started getting more and more bossy and acting like a tyrant, I should have either walked out on him, or made him move out and find his own place to live.

But I didn't. I felt obligated to take care of him through his recovery from his stroke. I couldn't abandon him! He had been unable to take care of himself, and I can't abandon somebody in that condition.

Yeah, I allowed him to take advantage of me.

THAT'S BECAUSE I'M A CHUMP! I'M A STUPID CHUMP!

It took something like getting my left wrist fractured by a machete to cause us to go our separate ways, and after that, I finally had my own personal freedom again.

But my left wrist is all cripple up now. When my arms was in the cast, I could not sign any papers with my signature. I had to sign with an "X" like a moron while a witness would also sign. After the cast was removed, I could sign my name again, but that's all I can do with my left hand.

I can't do much writing, except to sign my name. I'm just glad I can type on a keyboard, but I can't write anymore except to sign my name, and my hand writing really sucks now.

I can't play the guitar anymore, and I would like to go back to working on oil paintings, but my left wrist is so fucked up, I can't go back to oil paintings. I would like to go back to building radio controlled flying model planes but I can't do any detailed work with my left hand.

I'm left handed, and my left hand is all fucked up!

SO, I CAN'T DO SHIT ANYMORE!!!

It's just more stuff taken away from me.

I'm damn lucky I can feed myself, bathe myself, and type on a keyboard (mostly with my right hand) but aside from that, I can't do shit!

But worst of all, I can't play the guitar anymore!

So, I guess that all I can do is play on the linoleum!

[i_like_1981]

I'm sorry you're feeling discontented and wish to leave the site, recovering_fan. It's a bit of a shock, to get back from a day at work, log onto your favourite internet forum and find out that one of the forum's new regular members has suddenly become angry and plans to leave the site. But it's your choice. Nonetheless, I don't feel that wibberley's banning was unjust in any way. Remember that you yourself were tricked by him when he told you the story about the self-service tills at Tesco, which he used so he didn't have to speak to anyone else, and made you feel sorry for him. He maintained for many months that he was a lonely man who had no children, had never had any success with women and who went out of his way to avoid human contact. Now he's gone and completely reversed himself on that to tell us how he has got a wife, kids and is, therefore, a normal bloke. How are we to be sure that the stories about his accomplishments on the piano and his interest in 1920s culture and music are not false as well? We can't, can we. The only reason I pushed for his reinstation in the first place was because, in his emails, he sounded more mature and intelligent than he did in most of his forum posts, which were basically just brief, genocidal rants railing at near enough everyone in the world, including groups which some forum members here may be a part of. So, he did have things like the "linoleum" comment coming to him. Sorry, with all the stuff that he now claims to be false which he's spread on this forum, I'm beginning to feel this guy took the piss out of us and I shall only continue to support his presence on here if he can improve the quality and content of his posts or, at least, refrain from wishing death upon near enough everyone in the world. At least Fat Man does attempt to back up his rants with both reasoning and evidence. Wibberley, unfortunately, wasn't doing anything. Some of his posts were very provocative indeed. I'm sorry, recovering_fan, although I do agree with you regarding what happened to The Imperialist and Jerry McGuire, as for wibberley, he's going to have to work off his bad reputation himself. One more unexplained genocidal comment and I'm going to lose my patience again.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Skul]

@ Skul

Your site, which claims to be anti-bullying, tolerates one of the most obnoxious bullies on the Internet.

I am leaving now. When you brought back the pianist and allowed FM to flame-bait him that was the final straw for me. W's main accomplishment is his proficiency at the piano, in which he should always take pride. Your resident cyber-thug pissed all over that with his heartless linoleum wise-crack, which he saw no reason to hold in check even as we were all trying to give W. a second chance. I will continue to check in from time to time (if I am not banned) to see whether anything is being done about the situation.

I've been busy with a college course and have had to study almost continuously since I started several months ago. I've had little time to check on the forum and apparently have missed quite a few things that have been going on. I just finished the final exam for the first half of the course and it's near the Christmas holidays, now, so I may be able to get on more frequently.

Yes, I've seen a few of Fat Man's rant threads appear, but since I've been busy, they're a case of "too long; don't read" to me.

An Admin has to make a lot of tough decisions. There are times when I've had to have an inner debate for a couple of days before acting on something and I just couldn't afford to be doing that recently. Real life comes first.

And you're not going to be banned -- you haven't broken the rules.

I'm too tired today for all this...

[Earl]

Skul, I do not envy your position as the Admin of this forum. You don't have an easy job. Since I started serving as a moderator, there have been many times when I wished that I had spoken out instead of remaining silent or had said something differently. Indeed, my online personality has had to develop over time. It's probably still evolving. There have been times when I wished that I was speaking to various individuals in person -- whether they be earnest supporters, respectful critics, or even abusive enemies of this website. I have viewed this forum not as an opportunity to merely rant, but as an opportunity to promote understanding between people of different backgrounds. (Incidentally, if the home page of this website had said "Welcome, Jock Haters!" instead of "Welcome, Sports Haters!" I never would have posted here. Why? Because I'm merely a critic of the sports culture who doesn't hate people. Hating people doesn't go anywhere.) I was just thinking the other day that even though we're very small, we're much more of a community than a website that has a great many members (such as DU). I've even found real friends here. What's truly a hoot is that at this website for "sports haters," I've encouraged several young guys to take up bodybuilding (which, granted, is really not a sport). Like you, Skul, I'm tired of all this. I think everyone -- recovering_fan, i_like_1981, and even Fat Man -- has made legitimate points (which doesn't mean that I'm incapable of criticizing anyone). I feel overwhelmed by all of this, possibly because I have many other concerns in real life. Poor Skul, you must have a headache. I know that I do.

This website is in turmoil. We're devouring each other alive. Frankly, I'm reminded of all the anger that was being expressed in this forum when Samdaman was trying to bring about its downfall. I can just imagine what his reaction would be if he could read the latest posts. He'd be quite amused, no doubt. Mrs. Earl just told me she's very saddened by all this. It is to weep.

P.S. Incidentally, Fat Man, you know that I'm very sad about everything terrible that has happened to you in your life; but the incident you described above has nothing to do with wibberley. There is no connection.

[Fat Man]

P.S. Incidentally, Fat Man, you know that I'm very sad about everything terrible that has happened to you in your life; but the incident you described above has nothing to do with wibberley. There is no connection.

Thanks Earl.

Yes, I know it has nothing to do with Wibberley.

When the subject came up about Wibberley playing the piano in the topic about how pop music sucks, it reminded me of the fact that I can't play the guitar anymore, and, well . . . I just couldn't resist posting the following.

Wibberley did post one other place, in the Old Music thread. He also recently provided me with useful advice by PM on whether I should consider learning the piano up to Grade 4. (Thanks for the info, by the way, Wibberley.)

--RF

Well, I use to play the guitar but my left wrist was fractured back in July of 2001 and I'm left handed. Now, my hand writing sucks so bad I could be a doctor!

I can't play the guitar anymore.

So, I'm not open to any advice from Wibberly, especially since he only plays on the linoleum!

OK! Sorry!

I couldn't resist!

I was only joking about Wibberley playing on the linoleum.

You even laughed at that one a few pages back in that topic. So, I didn't think that it would cause recovering_fan to fly off the handle. I was only kidding. It was only meant as a joke.

Sorry, but I guess the subject of playing any kind of musical instrument just reminded me of the fact that I shall never be able to play the guitar ever again for the rest of my life because of my injured left wrist and hand.

There are times when I wake up in the night because of sharp pains in my injured wrist. Sometimes I even have flash-backs of the machete incident or waking up from disturbing dreams.

I can't even watch movies with sword fights in them anymore, because my mind flashes back to that violent night. I could have died. I had lost a lot of blood, but not enough to require a transfusion.

Since I'll never play the guitar ever again, I guess I'll just have to settle for playing on the linoleum.

[recovering_fan]

I'm sorry you're feeling discontented and wish to leave the site, recovering_fan. It's a bit of a shock, to get back from a day at work, log onto your favourite internet forum and find out that one of the forum's new regular members has suddenly become angry and plans to leave the site.

Actually, I've decided not to leave after all. I've merely put Fat Man on our version of IGNORE. I recommend to everyone else, except the moderators, that they do the same.

Nonetheless, I don't feel that wibberley's banning was unjust in any way.

Neither did I. I tried my best to set the guy free from the problems he was having here. Wibberley should not be here. He should seek out a psychologist to talk to. But (don't ask me why) we decided to bring Wibberley back, and if we are going to do so, we need to show a little compassion and decency for as long as Wibberley can behave himself.

...he did have things like the "linoleum" comment coming to him.

He most certainly did not. You sound like a bitter man who has resorted to bullying when you say things like that, which is all the worse in your case, because you know first-hand what it is like to be bullied. Maybe Wibberley deserved it the first time for being a pest; the second time Fat Man was being completely gratuitous and vicious.

At least Fat Man does attempt to back up his rants with both reasoning and evidence.

Fat Man slanders Republicans day in and day out, and backs it up with total crap that barely has anything to do with his original insults. He makes blanket statements about Republicans, calling them ... you know what, and he backs it up with barely relevant anecdotes about a few extremist nut-jobs.

I'm sorry, recovering_fan, although I do agree with you regarding what happened to The Imperialist and Jerry McGuire...

Although you agree with me about how Fat Man abused and continues to abuse two wonderful people, you are doing nothing; you are taking that psycho's side! This directly contradicts the point of view you recently expressed on how much you despise people who stand by and do nothing in the presence of a bully. It was your comments about people standing by, 1981, that finally drove me to action!

wibberley, he's going to have to work off his bad reputation himself. One more unexplained genocidal comment and I'm going to lose my patience again.

The explanation for Wibberley's outbursts is that Fat Man is flame-baiting him. If you really are so fed up with Wibberley, you should have had the courage and resolve to stand firm and say "no" when Wibberley asked to be reinstated.

--RF

[recovering_fan]

I've been busy with a college course and have had to study almost continuously since I started several months ago. I've had little time to check on the forum and apparently have missed quite a few things that have been going on. I just finished the final exam for the first half of the course and it's near the Christmas holidays, now, so I may be able to get on more frequently.

Yes, I've seen a few of Fat Man's rant threads appear, but since I've been busy, they're a case of "too long; don't read" to me.

Sorry. I probably shouldn't have addressed you specifically. As people can probably recognise, I'm a bit hot right now.

--RF

[Earl]

I'm glad that recovering_fan hasn't left us. His remarks are reasonable, thoughtful, and intelligent. There are only a very small number of us present in the forum. We need all the active members we can get.

Fat Man made the "linoleum" joke about wibberley twice: the first time before he was banned and the second time after he was unbanned. When Fat Man made the joke the first time, I thought it was funny -- not because it was made at wibberley's expense, but simply because it was a clever pun. I don't think it's funny now, though, because wibberley has expressed some contrition and deserves a second chance without being ridiculed. Recovering_fan, unless I'm mistaken, I believe that i_like_1981 was referring to the first time Fat Man made the joke; in other words, before wibberley was banned.

I really appreciate both i_like_1981 and recovering_fan as members of this forum. They both make fine contributions.

I_like_1981 should be given credit for having been willing to engage wibberley in an e-mail exchange about the controversy that led to his banning. If i_like_1981 had not shown wibberley consideration by e-mailing me a copy of their e-mail exchange so that I could have some reason for considering unbanning him, I never would have recommended to Skul that he be unbanned.

I_like_1981 is quite capable of extending compassion to those whom you'd least expect, which is an admirable trait. Months ago I started a topic entitled "football player, holocaust survivor," which was about a young Texan who had entered military service during World War II after he had graduated from high school, where he had been an athlete (a football player, I assume, since he was a Texan). He also was Jewish -- which meant that as a U.S. serviceman fighting for his country in Europe, he faced even more of a threat than his Gentile fellow soldiers faced in the event of capture by German troops. He was captured and incarcerated in a Nazi concentration camp (instead of a POW camp), where he was subjected to starvation and possibly other forms of torture. I didn't have the heart to ask his sister, who told me about him, if he had been tortured in other ways.

This story haunted me particularly because there was a period of time lasting months when I stopped working out at my health club because the family budget did not permit me to continue hiring a personal trainer and I didn't have enough self-confidence to work out on my own. As a result, I lost muscle mass, which I regained when I was once again able to financially afford to hire a personal trainer again. I thought of that young U.S. serviceman losing the powerful physique he had developed as an athlete, as his starved body cannibalized muscle tissue. If he had been slightly built, he surely would have died. I guess we all know that starvation is a horrible way to die.

I digress. I_like_1981 made an observation about this serviceman (who was liberated from the camp and sent back to the U.S.) that had not occurred to me; and that is, if this young man had contemplated a career in sports after the war, then that would mean that the Nazis crushed his dream, simply because he was a Jew. The indignation driven by compassion that i_like_1981 expressed in his post nearly brough tears to my eyes. This coming from a man who suffered terribly at the hands of jocks at his school. This is an honorable sentiment.

As far as genocidal comments are concerned, Fat Man has made them, too -- wishing on occasion that all jocks and sports fans would die. Yet one of the leading proponents of the innovative PE4Life program, which benefits nonathletic students immensely in those school districts that choose to adopt it, at one time in his life was a high-school football player. A close friend of mine who helped me greatly with a personal problem of mine (when a psychologist and a psychiatrist I had seen for years failed to help me) once was a university football player. I get sick and tired of the way football players are put on a pedestal, but I have several close friends who once played football. If a certain genocidal fantasy became a reality, I would be left without several good friends. Fat Man's genocidal statements have been very similar to wibberley's, even though wibberley gave no reasons for his hatred of the people in question.

I think all of us should try to see the good in the other person. At least as much as possible. Personal differences can be discussed privately via PMs. Sometimes that helps. And I can certainly understand getting mad. I got mad and lost my temper at another A2K thread ("The importance of sports in children's lives") just a few days ago.

[recovering_fan]

I really appreciate both i_like_1981 and recovering_fan as members of this forum. They both make fine contributions.

Thank you.

I think I owe i_like_1981 an apology. I had no business involving him in any of this. Sorry, 1981.

I also owe The Imperialist an apology, as it was cowardly to drag a mere kid into all this...



--RF

PS: There is someone to whom I do not feel that I can in good conscience, apologise, at this point. He contributes a lot to the site--many funny stories and many insights into the worlds of history and science. But he also contributes such venom that I simply can no longer bear to read his posts, which is a shame, because there were many good ones.

[i_like_1981]

Actually, I've decided not to leave after all. I've merely put Fat Man on our version of IGNORE. I recommend to everyone else, except the moderators, that they do the same.

I've never found that putting a person on "IGNORE" solves a matter unless they're threatening you or just generally trying to irritate you for no reason. When you disagree with someone, the best thing to do is challenge their opinions and state why you disagree with them. Let them know that you're not going to get worked over by them. It's only the internet after all.

Although you agree with me about how Fat Man abused and continues to abuse two wonderful people, you are doing nothing; you are taking that psycho's side!

What the Hell? I have come to The Imperialist's defence numerous times, because I don't agree with Fat Man's constant heckling of him over that single issue, and know that the two of them have got things in common which could make potential allies out of them - their contempt for sports and popular culture, their strong belief in academic achievement. I have defended The Imperialist before from this shit and this is definitely one issue where me and Fat Man differ. As for Jerry McGuire, well, he instantly chose to storm off from this website when Fat Man insulted his family. A justifiable choice, but not one that I can do anything about. By the time I found out what had happened, Jerry McGuire had made it damn clear that he had left for good and, two months later, we have seen no more of him, and probably won't again. When Fat Man and him were having that argument it would have been about 5am in the morning over here in Britain, seeing as how October 20 was still GMT+1 over here. I have to work, you know, and I have to get my nights' rest, so I can't be here all the time. Jerry McGuire was justified in leaving these forums, but his decision was very suddenly brought about, and there's nothing I could have done to retain his membership on here.

The explanation for Wibberley's outbursts is that Fat Man is flame-baiting him. If you really are so fed up with Wibberley, you should have had the courage and resolve to stand firm and say "no" when Wibberley asked to be reinstated.

I believe, and hope, that wibberley can prove to be a more mature and well-spoken member of these forums if he can apply the quality of his emails to his posts on here. If not, I shall lose my patience once more. I want to give wibberley this chance, because I'm sure he's not dumb. Now he has to prove he can serve as a good member of these forums. I shall allow him that chance now.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[recovering_fan]

What the Hell? I have come to The Imperialist's defence numerous times, because I don't agree with Fat Man's constant heckling of him over that single issue, and know that the two of them have got things in common which could make potential allies out of them - their contempt for sports and popular culture, their strong belief in academic achievement.

Sometimes it is necessary to do more than defend the victim. Sometimes you have to confront the person who is being a jerk.

As for Jerry McGuire, well, he instantly chose to storm off from this website when Fat Man insulted his family. A justifiable choice, but not one that I can do anything about. By the time I found out what had happened, Jerry McGuire had made it damn clear that he had left for good and, two months later, we have seen no more of him, and probably won't again. When Fat Man and him were having that argument it would have been about 5am in the morning over here in Britain, seeing as how October 20 was still GMT+1 over here. I have to work, you know, and I have to get my nights' rest, so I can't be here all the time. Jerry McGuire was justified in leaving these forums, but his decision was very suddenly brought about, and there's nothing I could have done to retain his membership on here.

Well, you've justified your own actions, anyway. I already apologised to you, quite sincerely, for involving you. You will have to make do with the one apology. Personally, I find it unacceptable that Fat Man continues to taunt Jerry, especially because Jerry is not here to defend himself.

--RF

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

Wow, quite a lot has happened here, specifically in this thread, and this is the first I've read anything about it. Well, as I've been saying for a while, I'm quite busy lately and usually unable to make posts here, but I definitely have an opinion in this whole thing and intend on making a post. I am just unable to make a post here now, as I have plenty of work to do, and I haven't had the best day today (for reasons I do not feel like elaborating on) and would likely end up posting something that would be quite harsh (although it probably wouldn't offend anyone who has posted in this thread so far, but someone who is largely involved in the subject of this thread). So, I will probably be able to catch up with everything here on this site on or shortly after Friday (Christmas break begins on Friday).

Edit: By the way, I'm glad that you have decided to stay RF, I feel that you have contributed to this site quite a lot since you have joined.

[recovering_fan]

Edit: By the way, I'm glad that you have decided to stay RF, I feel that you have contributed to this site quite a lot since you have joined.

Thank you, HugeFanOfBadReligion.

Let me return the compliment by telling you how much I admire your ability to confront people directly. You and Lewis seem to have the best ideas for helping people who are making fools of themselves on this site. I have been trying to give Fat Man some assistance, because I don't think his rants are doing himself or this site any good. I wish I had your faith in direct confrontation and engagement. It just seems that sometimes at this site, when one tries confront someone directly on account of some racist or otherwise generally offensive remark, others chime in with sarcasm or some other kind of inflammatory rhetoric, and chaos always ensues. So over the past few days I have tried a number of ploys to get him to change his behaviour--to take him out of his comfort zone. Nothing has worked.

I cannot understand why people prefer to remain in the same convenient pattern of suffering and victimhood, when all they have to do to change that is to want to change, and refuse to yield to self-pity. They need to ask stop asking how they can smite their foes and start asking how to bring order to the chaos in their lives.

If I had my druthers, you and Lewis would have a special ability to lock threads for 1-3 days immediately after getting the last word in. Then everyone would have to read your views on things, at least for half a week. You two have often seemed the calm in the eye of the storm. All around you the world spins, and neither of you ever gets dizzy. Or at least it seems that way.

--RF