I don't post a lot here, but I do read the responses to Prudie's letters every week, and I've finally had enough biting my tongue.

I think it is a shame that people can't have rational, interesting, varied, dissenting discussions here without the judgmental, self-righteous, ignorant, narrow-minded, bigoted and arrogant taking over. This week was particularly appalling as certain long-time posters spewed their hate/projected their issues all over these pages. You've got to be kidding me! You are not the end-all and be-all of the world. You call names and make assumptions and viciously attack other posters for DARING to have an opinion that is different from yours. Sad. While I'm usually a fierce opponent of censorship, I also think that like a tantrum throwing child, if you can't play nice with others you shouldn't be allowed to play at all.

Please show some respect for people here; this isn't the playground so you don't get to be the school bully.

And to the other folks who share without rudeness - thank you! I look forward to reading more of you.

:) Jen

P.S. When you rudie Prudies rip me a new one in response to this, please remember that you don't know a single thing about me and any assumptions you make about me are just going to make you look more foolish than you do already...

Keep in mind that you know nothing about ANY of the other posters, either.

I don't need to make any assumptions about you to know that you're "judgmental, self-righteous, ignorant, narrow-minded, bigoted and arrogant. Your post shows this loud and clear.

...heat...kitchen....

How horrid for you that your delicate sensibilities have been so brutally bruised! For, Lo! We are awash with remorse...

Wait.
No, we're not.

This place is not the "Lovey-Huggy Niceness Board"

It is called "The Fray".
I suggest you access a dictionary and look the word up.

If you seek polite discourse then this is not the place for you, as nobody is in the least bit interested in your desire to rework this board into some kinda "Care-Bears and Rainbow Monkeys Sweetness-n-Light Fest". It has been tried before, by emotionally sensitive and conversationally delicate wimps that couldn't dig up enough grit to hold their own around here.
It didn't work then, and your sappy effort is no better.

By the way, people are not attacked for having opinions different than others'; they are attacked for being absolute idiots with no comprehension of how the situation they're commenting on actually works. Much as you are being taken to task, stupid people with unrealistic input are not coddled and made to feel validated; they're straightened out in no uncertain terms. If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it in the dictionary, right between "shit" and "syphilis".

Don't like it?
Don't read it.

Simple enough, even for a "sensitive whiner" like yourself, eh?

What you have to understand is that people who resort to things like 'you are an idiot' in response to a disagreeing opinion are:

1) strongly invested in being right, even to random strangers on the internet

2) unable to actually come up with a reasoned argument. It is the equivalent of a small child yelling "you are a boogy face!"

3) really not worth the time and energy unless you are truly bored

4) kinda sad - I know, I feel your frustration that humanity stoops to this level.

and finally

5) completely impotent and that really scares them

Sounds like a straw man to me. There are plenty of discussions here about different sides of issues that don't degenerate to name-calling.

I don't understand your attitude that "if you can't play nice, you shouldn't be allowed to play at all." Who's to judge "nice," and how do you propose disallowing the meanies? Sounds to me like your claim of "fierce" opposition to censorship is weak. Note that this is not an assumption about you, just a conclusion drawn from your words. That's all I've got to go by.

"Respect" is a term that is often misunderstood. To me, it is disrespectful of a person to accept their opinion blindly. Sure, everyone is entitled to one, but if it's ill-formed or unjustified, it's respectful to call someone on it. Those that I don't respect, I don't bother to correct.

This medium lends itself to shooting from the hip, which means that many shots go astray. If you don't agree with something, say so. If you find some posters to be noxious, ignore them. Caveat lector!

You absolute idiot, OHJen. 


It’s spelt : A-P-P-E-A-L-I-N-G.

OHJen:

I think it is a shame that people can't have rational, interesting, varied, dissenting discussions here without the judgmental, self-righteous, ignorant, narrow-minded, bigoted and arrogant taking over.

...

Please show some respect for people here;

Where's your respect for those you judge as being judgmental?

There are plenty of posters who regularly annoy or just don't interest me. I don't generally read their posts. If you've been around long enough to identify those you don't agree with or don't value the opinions of, skip them!

OHJen:

I think it is a shame that people can't have rational, interesting, varied, dissenting discussions here without the judgmental, self-righteous, ignorant, narrow-minded, bigoted and arrogant taking over.

Are you the pot or the kettle?

This is really funny to me because I read/post over on the Miss Manners board on MSN also, and the Prudie Fray is much more civilized and much less catty and bitchy than that board! In fact, the discourse here is the most civilized and rational I've encountered on a forum so far. (Granted, I don't frequent too many forums, but all the other ones I've been on are much more likely to devolve into name calling and general nastiness than Prudie-ville is.)

If she thinks this is bad, she should go over to fark....

You're not the only one who feels this way. I have only posted in this forum twice. The very first time I posted an opinion on a subject, I was insulted. Instead of people responding to the topic, they attack the person posting. It ends up not even being about the topic that began the discussion at all. And like you, I will be verbally assaulted with insults and name calling. I'm just hoping that these people aren't adults, but children pretending to be adults, because I can't imagine that this many adults could be so childish.

..

Again, I say "Childish".

Are you in love with William Saletan?

I know you are, but what am I?

*snicker* Some people are so easy.