Letters to the Editor
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@Aycharach
The flip side of that coin is though that this form of communication erases barriers of sex, class, accent, looks and so forth that are or can be major impediments to more intimate forms of communication.
Yes, but don't forget that it is very difficult for some people, apart from the value of editing and proof reading, to express themselves in writing. And class and education sure enter into it. Funny, its hard to talk about web access; everybody is getting that!
On indubitable advantage here is: nobody can sucker punch you for your opinions. I'll leave here with all the teeth I had when I walked in. And that is a blessing, for me, at least.
I am reminded of the time I logged on here, was reading comments, and read on of the most offensive, just plain rotten pieces of malevolent dreck (that's "merde" for us Yiddish speakers) it was ever my bad luck to read. I composed a point-by-point reply, working my way from the top, working the guy over which each paragraph. I poured forth all the vitriol and venom I command, combined with logical refutations which were unassailable. After all, the bastard was just so wrong! About everything. Man, I let it rip- I was dealing with a person that I felt it was no more than mere self-interest to repel, cause I would be thankful if he got so mad he would never even acknowledge my existence again.
I worked my way down to the bottom of his screed- and discovered I was replying to my own comment of yesterday!
Oh well, you know what they say about the consistency of foolish hobgoblins, or hemoglobulins or something. I forget.
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@Pedinska, Aycharaych
There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods of communication. When I have to try and put myself and my character (when helpful) into a comment, I find myself being more human and less didactic. I want readers to get to know me not just my thoughts. That’s why I refrain from emotional attacks of other posters because it hinders rather than aids communication. I have found that when the poster calms down and stops worrying about defending him or herself, better communication results. It’s also why I concentrate my time on GG’s threads and save personal info about each poster that ventures here often, so that I can better understand where they are coming from.
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@Derbig
LOL, Not much I like better than humility and self-deprecation. You are clearly a unique personality and who wants to be the same as anyone else. I have always loved being different even though I pay a price for that. The cost is worth it to me or I would change.
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@RMP
and save personal info about each poster that ventures here often, so that I can better understand where they are coming from.
RMP
Look. I never laid a hand on that girl, and I'll sue the shit out of anybody who says otherwise. There was a settlement, we all agreed it was an "unfortunate occurence" And if it's not repeated, my record will be expunged.
Anybody can threaten me to good effect, but I won't be blackmailed!
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Huh?!?
I... save personal info about each poster that ventures here often, so that I can better understand where they are coming from. -- Retired Military Patriot
You the NSA guy?
;-)
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@ ondelette
Apologies for forgetting to respond to your Dowager Empress question in my last comment. What I was attempting to do was to refer to a snapshot of the China which existed -- apart from the Boxer Rebellion, perhaps -- prior to the beginning of the anti-foreign, modernizing era, roughly from Sun Yat Sen on.
(It's amazing how recent this transition has been. I worked with a woman whose father had been the Kuomintang ambassador to South Africa. She spoke of her honorary blankjes status there, and showed me pictures of her mother with the Sung sisters -- apparently they went to school together.)
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@RMP
You are clearly a unique personality who wants to be the same as anyone else.
I know, that's always been my problem. But I don't see how bringing up, well, indiscretions out of my distant past, okay, a couple weeks ago... Shit man, do you know everything? I'm sunk.
I don't know about you William Tellerman, but I'm not waiting around to be judged by peers. I have no trust at all in the nobility. I'm outa here, while the gettin's good!
See if that GI Special is any good, RMP. I don't know how to make any judgements about it.
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Derbig Mooser
You are okay in my estimation.
I too am still musing about Easter Day.
The chocolate bunnies will go on sale soon?
The messiah bunny is a real great bargain treat.
Some people will shriek over meat in the pea soup.
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@WT
The banality of evil is plenty there for Mao. Those 14 million people died in the cultural revolution because the Red Guard "struggled against" them, or because of the battles between the Southern Command of the PLA and the Red Guard.
It exists today. Thousands of patriotic Han Chinese are posting and cheering the government on as it perpetrates a news blackout, with thousands, perhaps by now tens of thousands of troops and special police in place. The dissident site I was reading yesterday said the government wants to wait until the Olympics passes in a state of clamp down and news blackout, then "end the splittest movement" once and for all when the world attention moves elsewhere. Nobody knows what that means, but nobody thinks it sounds good. The cheers keep posting as the banality of evil marches on.
Zimbardo divides evil into three parts in the Lucifer Effect (don't quiz me on it yet I'm still reading it). Individual evil, situational evil, and systemic evil. The banality of evil falls in the second category, what Mao was responsible for, the third. BTW, did you catch my earlier post from Der Spiegel?
I had a friend who was jailed for crimes against the party, then released, then struggled against, then jailed again. Spent 20 years in jail in the Maoist paradise. His take on the wonders of communism was a bit skewed after that.
Lest anyone believe I am being unfair to the poor communists, I'm reading Lucifer Effect because of a stinging indictment of the current U.S. administration I have heard and am trying to understand: Purposely perfecting, planning, and creating banal evil - its enough to make the blood run cold.