BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?

Subject: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: GUEST,Pacifist
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:12 PM

Isn't it wonderful that the BS section has become somewhat tranquil from what it used to be. Let's embrace it and celebrate the fact logic prevails over everything.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:14 PM

Bite me!!!

Awww, jus' funnin'...

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:18 PM

It doesn't prevail over love or sexual attraction... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: GUEST,Canadienne
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:29 PM

Thank heavens for that :)

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:32 PM

Little Hawk, You are right on the money. It is so peculiar to think that a person can throw logic, good reasoning, intuition and intelligence out the window in regard to matters of the heart. I'm still shaking my head over my romantic faux pas. Ah well, that's life.

Old too soon and smart too late.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:36 PM

Yeah, me too. What a fool I was... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Hawker
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:40 PM

If you miss it I could always bring it back,...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Oh, and by the way guys, STAY ON SUBJECT!!!!!
LOL
Cheers Lucy

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 08:41 PM

Sorry, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 09:00 PM

The hostility is on Spring break. It always calms down a bit this time of year. The sheep and goats are more receptive to romantic advances.

If you want hostility, wait until next February when most of the Northern Hemisphere 'Catters are suffering from such severe cases of cabin fever that the first thing they do when they wake up is kick a puppy.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 09:10 PM

I always feel more peaceful after a good crucifixion.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:06 PM

It won't last.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Amos
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:06 PM

Kinda gets a rise outa you, huh?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:08 PM

"If you want hostility, wait until next February when most of the Northern Hemisphere 'Catters are suffering from such severe cases of cabin fever that the first thing they do when they wake up is kick a puppy."

When it's unwhelped.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: pdq
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:12 PM

you can find one in the newspaper under 'whelped wanted'

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:52 PM

I've been known to pick a guppy.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: pdq
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 10:56 PM

Guppies eat their young. Kinda like Mudcat, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Gurney
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 02:35 AM

I think it may have gone to the middle east. Long time passing.

Philosophically, an element of waspishness sometimes added spice to the site, but the serious-minded take too much to heart. I try to fight that side of my nature, sometimes.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 04:53 AM

Yeah, I've thought the same. I nearly left Mudcat altogether at one point because you seemed to get nothing but unpleasantness no matter what the topic of conversation, but lately I've participated in long threads and never a bit of nastiness. here's to it!

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 05:45 AM

If you get the urge to be hostile....say the following chant repeatedly...starting slowly and building up speed....you will eventually end up laughing or at least a little more relaxed...

       LIAM.....AWAH.....TAFU

Try it..it works.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 07:05 AM

Good stuff Georgiansilver. Also in case of The Dark Side approaching try saying HAVEAHOTWATERBOTTLELIBBY several times quickly.
Yeah, it does seem fairly pleasant just now. Good.
ATB from easy going and cuddly fB.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 09:47 AM

Is that a chant or did you fart in the bath again?

Guess the trolls are out for mating season... that's why they come back in May and June, all crabby because they didn't get any!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: akenaton
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 11:18 AM

I'm still here actually!

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: akenaton
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 11:44 AM

Thought we should let the weans have a go...... but its wearing a bit thin....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 11:51 AM

I like the fact the Mudcat is sometimes contradictory and there is some anger. It shows passion. Hostility has to be measured by how it's taken. In a seemingly hostile reaction, there sometimes is a germ of a valid idea. When it gets personal, though, the idea diminishes in value.

I cop to being hostile to some ideas. I react sometimes more than respond. But that's the human nature of a forum that embraces all points of view, something that I value in Mudcat.

When someone utters what I consider to be misleading or nonsensical, I don't see any reason to be "nice" about it. I'd rather explore it for its value.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 12:07 PM

There really aren't, and never have been, very many people who poison the discussion here. Unfortunately it only takes one or two spouting venom and personal attack to change the atmosphere. Such individuals as Martin Gibson and Gargoyle have been missing from the action recently, and I certainly don't miss them.
Honest discussion and heated disagreement have always been present here. What is not needed is personal insult and attacks with the intent to do hurtful damage. I was angry to see on a recent thread that Gargoyle was praised by some as "refreshing" and "honest". Its the equivalent of admiring someone like Ann Coulter or Don Imus for being spontaneous.
Personal responsibility is a necessary attribute for anyone who wants to be accepted and respected as a citizen of the Mudcat Cafe, or the rest of the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 12:20 PM

I admit I sometimes get hostile. Sometimes I wish I didn't, sometimes I don't regret it.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 12:48 PM

Are we talking Hoss-tisle, or Hoss-till here, we need to know?
G

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 12:51 PM

There's a big difference between diversity of opinion, which can lead to interesting discussion - this thread is a good example - and nasty slanging matches that are basically just about being more unpleasant than the other person.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: GUEST,Bob
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 01:01 PM

The forum is a place where not all members are right-wing nuts, or every folksier is a liberal minded weenie. It's a place where everybody hates outsourcing and agrees that for example Saddam was an evil SOB even if we disagree on what has been done with him.

It's where Americans and British of every creed can wrestle one another for the honour of being the person to slit bin Laden's throat. And each of us is willing to admit we that we don't like Michael Barrymore or Graham Norton.


When it comes election time we can get awfully mean, with an unprecedented "us verse them" mentality.

There was plenty of antagonism to go around, largely because of the war in Iraq.
Particularly vengeful on the left, where people appeared bound by their hatred for George Bush and some show their allegiance to Tony Blair.

The hostility is always exacerbated by the way news stories are reported, mainly TV, and some lads and lassies here seem to take it to heart when one of the strong willed members puts their stamp of "I am right, you are wrong" on the thread.

There is nowhere better to go for a good debate than mudcat. In every green room in the country, there is a "liberal" and "conservative" at the ready, who, even if uncomfortable with those labels, are willing to be accepted as such for the sake of getting their points accepted by the other.

Internet politics now caters to the ideologues, the doctrinaire types.
Lost in the screaming is any chance for a reasoned discussion. People at home take their marching orders from links they find to their favour, then parrot what they've read on the thread.

And so it goes.

Against affirmative action? You racist! Unsupportable of the invasion of Iraq? How dare you disrespect the troops! Not for gay marriage? I knew you were a homophobic! Israel was right! the Irish were wrong!

Failure to have a firm and fixed view on any issue is seen as a sign of being uninformed, or worse, weakness. And yet, rarely is any thread as black and white as presented.

Consider the recent threads about John Prescott who shaped modern Britain today. Some agree he's a fine statesman (including myself) others were steadfast in opposition to him as deputy prime minister.   


Don't get me wrong, I'm not going soft in the aftermath of a heated
discussion with some members here. I have decided people are entitled to their views on everything. But I've never promoted myself under banners, and think we could do with a little less labelling and show a little more independence in our posts.

I stood with Blair/Prescott not because of their party affiliation or
ideology, but because I believed both are best suited to win the war on terror and have made this country one to be proud of. But it doesn't mean you can readily assume that they, or anybody else, speaks for me on all issues. No one does.

Good to see logical debate is still alive and kicking, but there will always be the odd member who howlers "I'm not giving an inch".

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: alanabit
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 02:44 PM

I am certainly glad to see a great deal less spite around here. On a recent issue (that of royalty payments to smaller artists) I was in a minority of one. However, to their credit, my opponents in the argument remained courteous and made their point just as well. That only serves to increase my respect for them. I certainly do not miss the name calling and rudeness.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John Hardly
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 02:58 PM

@#$%%^&!

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Amos
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 03:14 PM

Oh, yeah?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John Hardly
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 03:26 PM

somehow or the other, my curse (above) went up a percentage point.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 08:34 PM

Some people might view this as off-topic, but here goes anyway

I'm not interested in starting an argument, but I need to share an opinion that I believe is held by a number of Black people- the use of 'black' as a referent for something bad, or evil has a cumulative, negative hurtful psycho-social effect on black and brown skinned people and also perhaps more indirectly on people who do not have black and brown skin.

Already on this thread I have read two comments that use black to refer to something bad or evil. Those two examples are "Also in case of The Dark Side approaching and "..rarely is any thread as black and white as presented".

In light of the recent Imus incident, and incident after incident after incident of racist language being used to put down people of color, if we are ever going to eradicate racism, it seems to me that we have to be mindful of what we -perhaps unwittingly-communicate to others. And, it seems to me, that we have to make even seemingly unimportant changes in the words and phrases that we use. Of course, in my opinion, both non-Black people and Black people need to watch and change what words and sayings that are used in everyday conversation.

On one Mudcat thread some time ago, one member [whose name I don't recall but even if I did I wouldn't share it] wrote that he was wary about what to say on threads that I posted to because he felt he had to be pc. I assume that he meant he had to mind that he didn't say anything he felt that I would take exception to.

I'm not interested in being the pc police. However, I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't share perspectives and opinions that matter to me, regardless of whether someone or someones felt that I was being to anal about issues of race, or regardless if an individual or individuals was wary around me or weary of me. I mean no disrespect but I do understand that what I am saying that even if disrespect is not intended, people-including me- have to be careful not to unwittingly cause it.   

But I do have just one more thing to say to the member or members who are wary {or weary} of me-

BOO!

;o}

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Amos
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 08:41 PM

Azizi:

I love ya, darlin', but I don't think those usages -- which were born in the English language before slavery of Africans by Anglo was even imagined, back in Chaucer's time and before -- should have any racist harmonics to them just because they name a color. It would require that you become so enmeshed in the issues surrounding race that you think of yorself as a color, which you are much more than.   I do nt say this to lessen any of the importance that attaches to issues of race, but to say taht those issues should not be made into absolute importances, which they are not. Our common traits are much more important, and so are our spiritual traits, and our ability to see and think and dream.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Apr 07 - 08:45 PM

Geeziz Amos, what typical redneck honky bullshit............I know because I liked it...............ohmygawd.................

(above is joke)

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 01:10 AM

Azizi, I have to agree with Amos on this one. The use of the term "black" in the contexts you allude to is NOT intended against people of African genetic origion, nor are those people black, they are brown, and the only reason anyone ever called them "black" in the first place was because people don't seem to be able to call something what it is...they have to go to some silly extreme!

Why do I say that? Because white people aren't white! They're sort of pink, more-or-less. Furthermore, Asians aren't yellow, and Amerindians aren't red. We are all various shades of beiges, pinks, and browns, with other subtle overtones mixed in. No one is black, white, yellow, or red...unless he has just fallen in a vat of paint.

It's all so stupid. Are we supposed to curb the use of the word "white" (which can be taken in some contexts to mean pale with fear or illness), or "yellow" (taken by some to mean "cowardly"), or "red" (as in "communist" or "angry"), because those words TOO may offend someone??????

I don't think so. Here's a big reason why "black" is used to describe a bad situation: because darkness is black, that's why. Every spiritual tradition in the world, including the traditions of African people has symbols that equate evil with darkness. It has nothing to do with the color black...it has to do with darkness versus light. We are day creatures. We don't see well in the dark. Our primitive ancestors were very afraid of the darkness when predators roam the land looking for prey, and they waited anxiously for every dawn when the sun would bring light in place of the darkess.

This did not mean they had something against the color black. They didn't. The color black, like all colors, is a completely neutral thing, and remains quite popular in most cultures for clothing, footwear, cars, whatever...

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 07:21 AM

Amos and LH - just exactly what I was thinking, but you put it so much better.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 07:37 AM

Amos, Little Hawk, and jacqui,

I appreciate what you are saying. However, I still believe that it may be helpful for folks here to be aware of the cultural connotations of the word 'black'.

For anyone interested in exploring this subject, there are numerous print resources that discuss the cultural connotations of colors, particularly the colors black and white.

thread.cfm?threadid=100016
includes a brief exchange of comments regarding this topic.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: Bee
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 08:52 AM

(Perhaps this post should be in the previous thread)

Azizi, I'm not sure what you're advocating, unless it's to stop using the colour black to describe negatives. If so, I think you're tilting at windmills, since as previously mentioned, the habit relates to the terrors of night and goes way back to the very roots of many cultures.

I'm old enough to have put up posters advertising public speeches by Black Panther members. A protest rhyme of the day, if I remember it correctly was : "Say it long and say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud." One of the aims of people struggling to eliminate racism was to make blackness (of African roots) a positive, and I think to some extent that has been successful.

Also, the colour black has positive associations; it is associated with dignity and sophistication (black clothing worn by preachers, by fashionable and by respectable women, by wealthy men at fancy events); with fecundity (black soil is fertile); with power (black cars used by dignitaries, etc.).

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: saulgoldie
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 09:03 AM

Thread drift alert...speaking of whelps, where have all the whelp threads gone? I couldn't find any of them, and I searched back to the beginning.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 09:15 AM

I agree with Bee, Azizi. There are so many "innocent" (of racism) uses of the word "black", even if some have a negative meaning, that make your proposition impractical at best.

a) Backballing someone (ostracising) - to do with the colour of pebbles used to vote someone "out"
b) Having black thoughts (from the mourning connotation of the colour)
c) Beating someone black and blue - from the colour of bruising
d) Shouting till black in the face - from the darker colour of the pre-apoplectic, as the surface bloodvessels fill up
e) Black Sunday (Monday etc) - again, a mourning link
f) Black/dark mood - ditto
g) Blacking out (fainting, or a room) - darkness, lack of light, loss of consciousness
h) Black Sea - from its dark colour
... and so on. None of the above have any racial origin, link or connotation and no sensitivity to them can be reasonably justified. And I emphasise the word "reasonably" here - as in "innocent till proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt".

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:12 AM

Sorry but this thread is asking where the hostility has gone, not 'Can you see if you can stir up some hostility on an unrelated topic'
Azizi nothing personal, but I am pig sick of all this butchering of the English language in order not to offend people, who on the most part seem remarkably unoffended by the use of words like blackboard.
Please if you wish to bring this subject up again, and I'm sure you will, can you please start a thread about it, or post it in an appropriate thread.
Please note this is not a hostile post ¦¬]
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John Hardly
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:19 AM

holy shit. This is so absurd that I can't even believe it. There is one and only one reason ANY white person that I know has EVER referred to an "african-america" as "black"....

THEY (the "african-american") demanded it!!!

Now you are bitching because there MAY be a negative connotation to "black"?

Get over it.

We have danced like puppets dangling at the end of this fear-of-racism string for so damn long, doing ANYTHING that the "people-of-color" demanded of us (as regards nomenclature) and this just proves that when color can afford such political power, there will be no pleasing a group.

The fact that we would refer to an "african-american" as an apt racial descriptor shows just how stupid this has gotten to be. There is nothing about dark skin that would lead to a deduction of "american" and there is even little about dark skin that would lead one to conclude "african"........and yet THEY demand it, and we bend over backwards.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:38 AM

Speak for yourself, John - I am Greek and have learned from an early age not to bend over backwards. Too dangerous :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:41 AM

Back to the hostility: I think that the board's moderation has been stepped up a gear or two in the last 6 months, and that must have something to do with it, I am sure; and I, for one, applaud it.

Right - brown nosing over.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:42 AM

Ye gods - I won't get a fatwa against me for that last statement, I hope!

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:45 AM

I'll take soundings George, and maybe we can raise some interest in sending you to Coventry at least.
Coventry's not just Any Town you know!
G.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: pdq
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:45 AM

What the really want us to do is bend over forwards.

Subject: RE: BS: Where has all the hostility gone ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:55 AM

Beware of Greeks baring gifts!
G.