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Healing Circle please...revisited
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Subject: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Kristi H Date: 20 Jan 00 - 09:34 PM Hello new friends that have shown their support for our friend, JU. There is a local, Orlando, FL, benefit being planned for JU on February 6th. I had received a message from a caring person todonate a silver bracelet for our benefit concert and fund-raiser. To the person that made this offer, please mail me at Upsala1@aol.com if you are still interested in this endeavor. I apologize for not responding when the offer was made. Regarding JU's current status. It looks like they will be in Chicago through March. He is still standing strong and determined to make it. His biggest struggle currently is to not let radiation burns keep him from eating. If he can't eat. He will get a tube in his stomach to feed him. He doesn't want that. He told me tonight that he always knew he was stubborn for a reason. He goes back in to the hospital on Sunday for round three. Upsala has our second performance without the Lee's this Saturday at the Yeehaw Junction bluegrass Festival/Friends of Florida Folk annual meeting. I would love to meet any Mudcatters that can make it out to Yeehaw Junction on Saturday. Another attraction is to see Paul G's band Ashley Gang perform, in addition to Mindy Simmons, and a bunch of other great Florida performers. Thanks for all the emotional support. While there is no scientific proof that community support will help an ill person get well, the unconditional support has helped me tremoundously. Naysayers be damned, and ignored, when one is hurting, knowing that others care IS imprtant. Thank You, Kristi |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Áine Date: 20 Jan 00 - 09:39 PM Dear Kristi, Thank you for the update of JU. Whatever any 'naysayer' posts on this thread, my family is still keeping JU and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Please tell him that there are still many people here at the Mudcat pulling for him. -- Áine |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Lonesome EJ Date: 20 Jan 00 - 09:49 PM Kristi, glad to hear JU is holding up, and congratulations on having the guts to post this thread. You, I'm sure, realize that you are going to catch more nasty comments from the local trolls. Ignore them and keep up the positive attitude. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: catspaw49 Date: 20 Jan 00 - 09:55 PM Kristi, I like Aine, am somehow reminded of the situation daily and my good thoughts, however much of a pittance they are, are certainly still with JU. Perhaps its as simple as empathy from one who's been there, or somewhere similar. He has lots of support and tell him there are some here at the 'Cat who, though we don't know him, know him through you and can share a little in the times he is having. My best to all.
Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Saint Nick Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:00 PM Thank you EJ...for being "so insenitive" to a "newcomer."
I am far from a troll, my spouse finds me rather atracitve. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: bbelle Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:00 PM Kristi ... Pete Peterson sang a song in JU's honor at annap's gathering last weekend ... it was a wonderful railroad song (cannot remember the name!)... moonchild |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Kristi H Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:12 PM After I came on and posted this evening, I went on and read all the crap that's been going on. I haven't yet managed to discover what the congrat's Max post is about. I just walked in blindly, as always. For me, music is very emotionally based. Music was emotional for me long before I learned to perform on an instrument or began to sing. I listened and sang along long before I learned to play. Because of my own personal history with music, it is important to me in all facets of my life. I wake up to music and go to sleep to it. Because of this, when the person that I feel has had the most important muscial effect in my life is ill, it is worth talking about. I don't separate my music from the rest of my life. It is all part of the whole of who I am. I don't know or really care who's toes I am stepping one here. Sometimes music takes a back seat to other events in life and this is one of those times for me. I can't sit and talk about only music while one of my best friends and one of lif's great musicians is in crisis. This site has given me much in the few weeks that I have been here, both musically and emotionally. To me, that's what makes it a site that I will visit daily for as long as I have a computer. Every thread has a heading, I understood that was to let people know what was being discussed on that thread. If you aren't interested, there's lots of other threads to go to. I have participated in lots of threads that aren't related to healing. I read even more. Lots more. If the mainstays of this site don't want anyone talking about anything except the technical aspects of music, let me know and I will leave. If there is no feeling in music, what do you have? A bunch of dead notes on a page. I think music is about more than that. Kristi |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: bbelle Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:20 PM Kristi ... very well said. The issue is a bit more complicated, however, there is a bond which music forges between individuals and it is steeped in emotion. Even amongst those who are most opposed to an issue, the emotions brought about by word of an ailing fellow musician are heartfelt and strong ... moonchild |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: MMario Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:22 PM Kristi - per Max, (and he owns the site so he has the last word) the BS/OS/etc is okay. There are some who do not like it, and there are a few who not only do not like it but are vocal/verbal and at times NASTY about not liking it. Your post above is one reason why I am in favor of the mix. May the music of life support you, whether from the back seat, beside you or within you. May it bear you up when your strength fails, and may it take you to new heights when you soar. MMario |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Paul G. Date: 20 Jan 00 - 10:25 PM Kristi, you said the words I could only feel and never manage to express. Thank you. JU is part of the music and therefore part of us...part of you, part of me. See you Saturday. Paul |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,saint nick Date: 20 Jan 00 - 11:19 PM Mario....
Like you....been to lots of Wakes.....
Where I don't remember the name....when I wake. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST Date: 21 Jan 00 - 12:53 AM Translate |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:43 AM Kristi, you've expressed so well why I support and sometimes contribute to so-called BS threads. The music is the glue that binds us, the other off-music topics are part of why I stay. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: clare s Date: 21 Jan 00 - 12:14 PM Kristi H, I wish your friend well, but have no intention of getting into this debate. If I can offer you a simple tip - try breaking your post into short paragraphs. It makes for much easier reading. Regards Clare |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: many Date: 21 Jan 00 - 01:14 PM Some of you really haven't got the idea yet, have you? To quote a recent message from Max (the very kind and liberal guy who runs this site): "I think the healers got the message by now. THIS IS A MUSIC SITE" If you want healing circles, here are a few places to start:
To reiterate: THIS IS A MUSIC SITE
Hope you find the links useful.
Many
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: many Date: 21 Jan 00 - 01:28 PM mmm, and to think I get payed money to teach HTML |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Metchosin Date: 21 Jan 00 - 01:51 PM Does this mean that the Pub and Tavern threads have to go too? |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: MMario Date: 21 Jan 00 - 02:03 PM quoting out of context is such a fun excercise.... |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: clare s Date: 21 Jan 00 - 02:03 PM Apologies for the ineptitude of my previous post. These links should prove helpful. One of these will hopefully bring you a better outlet for your healing needs than the Mudcat ever can. All the best Many |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Metchosin Date: 21 Jan 00 - 02:04 PM My very best wishes to you Kristi and JU for a speedy recovery. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: catspaw49 Date: 21 Jan 00 - 02:48 PM Kinda' screwed up there with your cookie didn't you clare...uh, I mean "Many"...........Got to be confusing having so many different identities. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,Paul G. (away from home) Date: 21 Jan 00 - 03:14 PM clare/many/st.nick/other assorted schizophrenics Explain to me why, if you are so put off by the BS/OS/Healing threads, you don't simply stay the hell out of them? I suspect the reason is that you take some kind of perverse pleasure in the anonymous annoyance you create. I certainly don't see the pure music threads being crowded out. There's plenty of room here. If you don't like the thread then ignore it and cease the perpetuation of the turmoil YOU are creating here. You're like a gang of serial harrassers that get your jollies by creating this kind of stupid irritation. Just leave it be if it bothers you .... or jump back in and prove my point. PG |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 21 Jan 00 - 03:32 PM No please "clare/many/st.nick/other assorted" don't answer here. Start another thread carefully labelled - oh I don't know, maybe " Total BS - Stalker's Corner".
There might be lots of you and you could have a lovely time playing with each other. Or there might be only one of you, and you could have an even better time playing with yourself.
And you could take all the time and space you want explaining exactly what you are trying to do to the Mudcat, and why you feel entitled to do it, and anyone who is interested could come and read it, and maybe even respond.
And if you want to remind us from time to time that you are still in business, just leave a blue clicky thing in the other threads directing us your way.
But whatever you're engaged in, it certainly isn't Music - and if you think Healing is out of place on a Music Site, I think most people would agree that Hurting is a lot more out of place. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: katlaughing Date: 21 Jan 00 - 03:48 PM Kristi, still sending wanda, J.U. and you all the best. Why are any of you good people still giving the negative attention it craves? Ignore it. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Wesley S Date: 21 Jan 00 - 04:05 PM I have to agree with Kat. The best way to treat a 2 year old with a temper tantrum is to ignore them. Another solution is start a "Healing Thread For Those Who Trash Healing Threads" {also known as THTHT }. I would think it would work on many levels. Those who enjoy healing threads would be able to give out energy to those who need it the most. Those people who have been offended by THTHT would be able to heal themselves { "Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us " } But more importantly, THTHT would know that they are being talked about which is appearently what they crave the most. Attention that they are lacking in their real life - which is why they come here. I'm guessing - I'm not a shrink. { By the way - do any of them START music threads ? } As for me - I plan to pray for them off line and then ignore them. |
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Subject: My Opinion From: Joe Offer Date: 21 Jan 00 - 04:48 PM This really is a difficult situation to deal with. There are good, sincere, intelligent people on both sides of this debate. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of idiots on both sides, and they seem to be the ones who make themselves heard. I guess I have to admit my side of the argument has a lot more of the idiots. It makes it very difficult to speak out on an issue when the people who support your argument are so obnoxious. There are many people who have communicated with me privately about this. Their concerns are real, but they hesitate to express them publicly because they don't feel comfortable being allied with nasty, frightening people like the anonymous posters and such. There are a good number of people who feel that the healing threads and the overabundance of small talk have taken away much of the sparkle of the interesting conversation and humor that we used to have here. To them (and to me), it seems that in the last year, we have started to go down to the level of the Psychic Friends Network and chain letters and spam and all that other stuff that seems to clog the Internet with the same old words, repeated over and over again. This ought to be a place that is different, exciting, and always interesting. Lately, it has joined the rest of the crowd on the Internet, repeating the same old thing. Oh, sure, a lot of the good stuff is still here. Art Thieme still sometimes comes out with his tasty puns, and Peter T. really shines with stuff like The Day They Came For Mudcat (make sure you notice the Gilbert & Sullivan parody toward the end of the thread). Some of the music and political discussion threads are still as fascinating as ever - take a look at the When Does Folk = Not Political Music thread for a good example. No, Mudcat has not become a wasteland. There is still an abundance of intelligent, interesting, funny discussion to be enjoyed here. You know, it's really hard to make a convincing argument when what you're asking for is subtle. People understand black and white, but what I'm asking for falls in the grey area. If I ask for a shift toward more intelligent discussion, people get insulted and think I'm calling them stupid; or they turn the tables and call me stuffy and dull. If I complain about the constant repetition of the same chit-chat and jokes and the same ROTFLMAO responses over and over again, people say I have no sense of humor - and the people who are funny start feeling maybe they shouldn't say anything funny at all. If I ask for balance and a change in the tone of discussion, people say I'm calling for censorship. If I oppose the healing threads because they repeat the same thing over and over again to the point of becoming trite and meaningless, people say I'm unfeeling and unsympathetic, or even intolerant of people's religious beliefs. If I try to be conciliatory and find common ground and agreement among us, I'm called "condescending." Besides, what right have I to question what goes on here, anyhow? Do I have any authority here at Mudcat? Am I in charge of anything? No. Do I have the creative writing skills of Peter T. or the outrageous humor of Art Thieme? No. Do I have the vast folk music knowledge of Sandy Paton? No. Do I have the engaging personality and warm heart of Katlaughing? No. Well, then, doesn't that mean that I have no right whatsoever to express an opinion here? I'll let you answer that question. Here's what I think about that, though. I'm a fairly good-natured, likeable, intelligent person, and I've been here a long time and think I belong here; and I think I have a right to express my opinion here. When it gets to the point where I feel the tone of the Forum is out of balance, then I think I have the right to raise questions, and maybe even poke a little fun at things like the Mudcat Healing Friends Network and the silly people rolling around with their asses off about a joke they've heard a hundred times before. There is a very vocal bunch of people here who vehemently oppose any attempt to question the chit-chat and healing threads. Every time the debate comes up, they can be counted on to flood the Forum with passionate messages opposing "censorship." Because they are able post so many messages, they think they are a majority, and they contend that this is a democratic sort of place where the majority should rule. We certainly mustn't have censorship, they scream, even though nobody asked for censorship. Well...they do make one exception about that – they say Mudcat definitely can't have people like Gargoyle running around insulting people and making jokes about the healing threads. Well, I don't think this should be a place where the majority rules. Saying something like that is likely to get me flayed alive by the seething mob, but take a moment to think about it. What I'm asking for here is balance, moderation, and tolerance - and, most of all, intelligence. Quite often, the mob is not where you find the intelligence. Quite often, the greatest intelligence is not found in any one person, either. What we need to do to resolve this debate is stop and listen to each other, and form an intelligent consensus about the balance we want to achieve here. We all have valid ideas - but we need to stop and consider the ideas of others on an equal plane with our own. Well, then, what am I asking for? Am I asking for a Forum that is strictly about folk music, that has no room for sympathy and humor and human chit-chat and political discussion? No, I'm not. What I'm saying this that most of the discussion here should be about folk music, or spun off from discussions about folk music. When it gets to the point that the other stuff becomes repetitious or too dominated by insiders, then I think it should be taken elsewhere. I'm not saying there's anything there's anything wrong with chit-chat or healing or stuff like that – but it has come to the point where a number of members and visitors don't feel comfortable with the balance of material around here. It's easy to say that if people don't like what's being discussed in a thread, then they shouldn't read that thread. Well, that's kind of like saying that if you don't feel comfortable at our party, then you don't belong here. The healing and chit-chat threads exclude both visitors and a lot of our own members, and I find there's something wrong with that. If visitors come here looking for folk music and find that a lot of the discussion excludes them, they won't stick around to help keep this the fresh, lively place it ought to be. We won't be able to benefit from their new ideas, and we may become a boring bunch of insiders who have nothing new to say. OK, so that's what I have to say. Ease off on the healing, the chit-chat, the insider jokes and the repetition. Let's adjust the balance a bit, and do what we can to encourage the Forum to thrive with new ideas. And let's kill off the animosity altogether. 'Nuff said. -Joe Offer-
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Wesley S Date: 21 Jan 00 - 06:18 PM I've changed my mind - forget about my previous message. It would just make them mad. Lets just ignore them from now on. We've got better things to do with our energy. Going home. Have a great weekend everone. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: bbc Date: 21 Jan 00 - 06:23 PM I agree, Joe. bbc |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: sophocleese Date: 21 Jan 00 - 06:24 PM Joe, thank you. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,Big Mick at a work computer Date: 21 Jan 00 - 07:14 PM I think you are on the track, Joe. If I understand you correctly you are asking for a little balance, not death for the supposed BS/OS threads. I have been concerned for the overall health of our community for a bit now. My absence from much of the discussion has been for this reason as much as workload, truth be told. I have been troubled, and the following are examples of the things that have been troubling me. I am probably the person who spawned the "healing threads" when I asked you all to keep 'Spaw in your prayers and thoughts. That evolved over time into a very controversial and damaging debate on the purpose of all this. I found myself wondering time and again how the simple process of asking folks to keep one of our own in their thoughts was a bad thing, a divisive thing. But I must confess that I got a bit uncomfortable when it turned from keeping one of our own in our thoughts to this almost cult status. Not because I have any problem with joining together for good, but because it almost involved the old "purity of thought" bullshit that nearly destroyed true liberal thought in this country. And the thought police on both sides of the argument seemed to cross a number of lines, but especially one. And that was the need to impose their own view on all at all costs. These folks just couldn't live with the existence so they jumped in and tried to destroy what others among us found useful, instead of just ignoring it. Let us never allow these people to stop us from expressing caring between us. It is what makes us a community. This doesn't just exist in the healing threads, either. Not the same players, but others whom, if they did some self reflection would find they have some things in common with that which they profess to dislike. The North of Ireland threads are the example here. If one were to go back and check the history of these threads, you would find that they have always been, in my view, about trying to find understanding and common ground. At times they got heated, as these types of subjects do. But a thorough reading of them will find valuable insights, and shifting perceptions and opinions. Yet there are those who seek to stop the discussion because it makes them uncomfortable, instead of just not engaging. I love it when I hear folks say they haven't posted because they were not comfortable. To me that says that they have read them, which means they are getting a broad perspective of all sides. The fact they were a bit intimidated by the discussion is fine. Because as they continue to become knowledgeable they will jump into the fray, and become better for it. In our tradition, exposure to all sides helps us to become well versed.......and helps us to fix opinions based on broad information. The end result is that it becomes much more difficult for us to be manipulated into using our bardic skills for something we really don't support. I, too, feel it is time for us to do some self examination of our motives here. For me it has always been about the music and expanding my knowledge of all that spawns it. It has also been an outlet for me to express that bit of nuttiness that all performers have, so that it doesn't turn inward. I have come to care deeply for this place and a great many of its denizens. I hope we can all take a minute to just breathe a bit, and take an exhaustive look at the last 3 months. With great affection, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,Neil Lowe Date: 21 Jan 00 - 08:37 PM Deep breath....now exhale. Well put, Mick. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST Date: 21 Jan 00 - 08:41 PM "Do I have the engaging personality and warm heart of Katlaughing?" I have to sit back in awe of the man! I have met true compassion face to face! This was said by a man who had a personal message printed here on this very forum by that very individual. Healers take note. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Joe Offer Date: 21 Jan 00 - 10:34 PM Yeah, hell, all I got is allies who won't post their real names when they post messages.... -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Dale Rose Date: 21 Jan 00 - 10:42 PM Aw, here's my real name, Joe, and it ain't even Saturday yet! I've got lots more to read before I can figure out what I really want to say, but Yah, what you said, I agree. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Dani Date: 21 Jan 00 - 10:57 PM ALL you got? You got me for an ally, Joe. Thanks for taking the time to say (beautifully) some of the feelings I've had over the past few months as I've stepped back a little, feeling like the party took a different turn and it was time for me to go on... Dani |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,_gargoyle Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:01 PM Dear Mick.....
You, did not "spawn the healing threads" the VERY UNIQUE experience with Catspaw.....was a VERY UNIQUE cyber-experience....
Unfortuantely, others have attempted (good Lord only knows for whatever reasons) the "magic" of that experience; it can not be repeated....it was not orchestrated, or contrived....it was a heart-felt experence generated from "blind MC citizens" and it was a "Wymoming mile" away from what followed when catspaw returned from his surgery!!!!
Mick, you have had a valid, viable, presence within this musical body....recruit more like yourself...we can certainly use them! |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Dale Rose Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:06 PM OK, here's a little more. Thinking about what Joe said about his allies posting anonymously ~~ if they are like me, they really prefer to stay out of controversial issues, and really don't want to be attacked on a personal basis, nor for that matter do they want to attack anyone else. I don't like it when people don't get along, I don't want to be where people don't get along. I do like posting to threads that interest me, especially if I think I have something to add that someone may find useful or in some small way enjoyable. It gives me a sense of purpose and satisfaction if even one person likes what I do. Somehow it isn't enough anymore to just say, "Well, don't read the ones you find irritating or distressing!" The meanness, no matter who it originates from, seems to be pervading far too many of the threads for this to be the comfortable place it once was. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:10 PM and none of this is your fault? |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,_gargoyle Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:12 PM JOE...thanx The "web' is rife with "newsgroups" that have flourished and "died" because their "mission-statement" was allowed to wither.
the MC is about music.................. ......................................................for music........................................................................... And nothing but music............................................................
It is Not about: 1. Sick neighbor's children
Sincerely, gargoyle (wish I had a gig tonight - my sheets are cold)
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST Date: 21 Jan 00 - 11:46 PM Someone mentioned being respectful of a thread's original purpose and moving discussions such as this to a new thread. Why don't you? |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: alison Date: 22 Jan 00 - 06:47 AM Well said Joe, Lets learn from it and move on.... slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Banjer Date: 22 Jan 00 - 07:08 AM We all know how each of us feels about the subject, can we now build a bridge, get over it, and get on with life? Why continously rehash the same subject over and over and over? We have always agreed to disagree ocassionaly. If we all thought alike there would be no need for a forum, would there. Let's get on with it........please? (you will note MY name is up there in the heading, 'cause when I say something I have enough intestinal fortitude to admit I said it!) |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 22 Jan 00 - 07:33 AM Suggested ground rules for names: Using a pseudonym is a quite reasonable thing to do if you feel like it.
Giving no name at all means that it is virtually impossible to respond - there's no way of kjn owing if GUEST is the same as GUEST or really the same as GUEST and not to be confused with GUEST. It's stupid. It's irritating. I normally assume that is the reason the people involved do it.
Using someone else's name is just not fair. It's like throwing a dead sheep in the waterhole to poison the water.(If you feel like doing a skit on someone's mannerismms, you can always just use a variation on the name involved.)
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: MandolinPaul Date: 22 Jan 00 - 09:00 AM Hey Kristi,
Glad to hear about JU's stubbornness. I've never met him, and don't know anything about healing circle stuff, but I hope for a speedy recovery. Paul. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: paddymac Date: 22 Jan 00 - 11:05 AM Group dynamics are fascinating. In the real world, there are a variety of filter mechanisms that largely limit the ability of trolls and flames to irk people. Those mechanisms, or many of them anyway, don't function well in the cyber world, probably because anonymity evades or avoids accountability. The result is that we have to create alternative filter mechanisms as functional parallels of/for the real world ones that don't wortk so well here. I wouldn't dare to predict where that social evolution will lead us; only that it will happen. This thread is very good evidence that it is happening even as we speak/chat. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Rick Fielding Date: 22 Jan 00 - 12:42 PM Regarding anonymous allies Joe. If anyone supports the following: Intelligent witty humour as opposed to hundreds of repetitive unimaginative "aren't we cute" rejoiners. Actual answers based on one's knowledge and opinions to musical (or other) questions, rather than quotes or instant access to websites that the questioner could have looked up themself, if they were willing to put forth an effort. An end to "red herring" issues, like dumping on or supporting "healing threads." Folkies are by nature compassionate, and it's that humanity that attracted me to the community. The issue was "over-posting" and Gargoyle's increasing viciousness as his frustration grew. An end to the kind of polarization that insists "If I like you, then I have to like "EVERYTHING" you do, or you won't be my friend anymore. If something strikes you as silly, or uninformed, or mischievous, or the rantings of a pompous ass (like my post here), just laugh it off! You really WILL feel better. Anyone who supports even 4 out of 5 of those can count me as an (always signed) ally Rick |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: GUEST,Blind desert pete Date: 22 Jan 00 - 02:26 PM right on Joe O at the risk of getting a rep as a curmudgeon, I have to go with you and even (gasp) gargoyle. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: The Shambles Date: 22 Jan 00 - 03:42 PM I would first like to pay my respects to the originator of this thread and apologise to them if they do not think these views belong on this thread. I felt they may help and that they did belong in the debate and rightly or wrongly this is where the debate is.
Until recently I have not been posting here and the healing threads and the controversy surrounding them has occurred during my absence. However the community that we prize here, was mainly formed in the events arising from the original 'healing thread', which I am happy to have been a part of and saw, as mainly a positive experience. The Mudcat willingly gave it's help then and to suggest that we deny that help to others in the future, is somewhat hypocritical and makes me a little uncomfortable.
The problem is that now, however well intentioned, the threads become a long list of people trying to say the same things in a different way, this created a strain originally and still does. The original thread also created a yardstick by which other such threads are judged. We tend not to feel happy if one healing thread receives more posts than another does and if we contributed to one and not another. The fact is that there never will be another thread quite like the first. I hope this does not sound uncaring, for that is not the intention, but there is nothing positive in feeling obligated to do something or feeling guilty if you do not.
I know the first part of this suggestion would work for I have done similar thing recently, but for less positive reasons. In the future would it be possible for anyone who wants support for a loved one, to place the details and request on a thread, asking that no posts be made to that thread but that personal messages or E Mails to be sent if someone wishes to reply. This thread could be refreshed and updated by the originator to inform us all, of the current situation. Is that too simple a solution, or do good-hearted folk have to continue to tear themselves apart? |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: Peter T. Date: 22 Jan 00 - 03:54 PM Well, I remain baffled about "balance", but talkative (as always). As an offender on most of Joe's counts, I can certainly confess to making lots of insider jokes, but my experience has been that as soon as anyone joins in, they immediately are part of the game. We are very good here, I think, in being equal opportunity jokers. Little-Neo and many others can attest to that. All insiders always think so, I guess, so it is good to be reminded of one's failings. I have tried and failed to think of a music thread on Joe's intelligence scale that was disrupted, rather than helped along, by reasonable humour. Somebody perhaps could find one. We have funny, gifted, people here. I laugh all the time here.
Joe says: "There are a good number of people who feel that the healing threads and the overabundance of small talk have taken away much of the sparkle of the interesting conversation and humor that we used to have here. To them (and to me), it seems that in the last year, we have started to go down to the level of the Psychic Friends Network and chain letters and spam and all that other stuff that seems to clog the Internet with the same old words, repeated over and over again. This ought to be a place that is different, exciting, and always interesting. Lately, it has joined the rest of the crowd on the Internet, repeating the same old thing."
Besides, to my mind, though I hardly visit it, The Mudcat Tavern is (after the DT itself) perhaps the greatest common creation on this site, pure idiocy, total nonsense, but -- it is, what, 6 months old? Yet it represents one important neglected aspect of this site in this discussion: time off to goof around here among friends.
I certainly agree that we have had some dark, controversial threads here. In spite of the emotions they cause and some of the bad manners they evoke, I think they are important. If controversy was good enough for Leadbelly and Peter Seeger, if is good enough for me. Otherwise, this stuff is just museum work: it is dead, dead, dead. I always thought folk music was dead, dead, dead, until I came here, and had my mind changed. It lives because it is pursued by people who want living music that is not all about 16 year old sex (not to offend any people who are 16 year old sexual beings), and can be played by ordinary people, rather than a corporate creation. Its roots are in controversy, and they need watering, especially by the people who are making music. That is political to me. If it is going all to be about Botany Bay, I am gone where I was before I rediscovered folk music. If it is not about Mick's young woman getting up the courage to start a union drive, then forget about it. We might as well be talking about how to make Spitfires out of balsa wood (there is a chat group on that).
I think at bottom people are just offended by the healing threads. They find the world view or something so offensive that they cannot pass them by, but must actively "pick at the scab". Some others disrupt them and act viciously so as to get rid of them. Why, I don't know. Maybe they are frightened that they might work, and then what would that mean to their world; or that the site will turn into some New Age mush pit (the Psychic Friends Network of Joe's posting), and we will all be dragged down into soybeans. Come on. It is like worrying about Communists because they will destroy our moral fibre. If your moral fibre is threatened, then you have a pretty weak moral fibre to start with. |
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Subject: RE: Healing Circle please...revisited From: katlaughing Date: 22 Jan 00 - 04:11 PM Bravo, Sensei Peter! Well said! |
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