Julie,
Thanks for your response.
I'm sorry that you feel it is hopeless reasoning with me. Believe me, I understand what you mean. Thanks also for taking the time to read my Henry VIII essay, but sorry you found it lame. I hope you found something worthwhile in it, and that the time wasn't a complete waste.
Actually, I wrote it for Farkel, who challenged me to write something better than the first one I offered. While few commented on it (which didn't surprise me), the general idea of what I was trying to get across is well founded and has been shown to be true. I personally believe that many agree with it but fear saying so in this forum.
I understand your preference for dealing with people who are straightforward with their words, even if they swear. When you said that "I will take an honest, forthright person--even if they swear, over a cowardly, word-twisting, garbage spewing non-swearer", I know exactly what you mean. You've expressed yourself very simply (thank you), and I appreciate your use of words that I am able to understand, my grasp of "words that are too big or concepts that are too complex" being what it is.
I am the same way, although in a forum like this, our respective views of what serves as acceptable forms of communication seem to diverge. Here's what I mean. I believe that, with a little effort, those with even a rudimentary command of the language can say exactly what they mean without offending anyone. Perhaps I'm giving the man too much credit, but I believe Farkel is more than able of doing so, but IN THE PAST has repeatedly shown little desire to do so. Again, making me the focus of your ire begs the central issue of this thread. I wonder why that is.
For some reason you characterize my words as "evil tactics" and that I view myself as "more righteous" simply because I don't believe Farkel. Your words "evil" and "righteous," to my simpleton understanding, convey a moral judgment. Again, I wonder how you are able to do that, or why you would even try.
My words of doubt directed at Farkel really have nothing to do with me. Unlike you, I never said that Farkel was either evil or righteous. I simply think that he's the last person here at JW.com who should be recommending a course of conciliatory behavior, since he's not been seen setting that kind of example HIMSELF. What I am or am not is not the central issue of this thread, in my opinion, and I remain at a loss to understand why you are determined to make it so. Carry on.
In this thread you have also have made a couple of references to "the hood" and i wanted to address that. Are you referencing a particular urban area in a particular city or are you making a general statement of people everywhere who live in what has become known in the vernacular as "the hood"? Do you know anything about the place you mention, or is your intent only to denigrate a class of people? If you DO know something about the area and its people, has your knowledge been gained on TV and in newspapers, or has it been gotten firsthand?
(For your information, not that it matters, I don't live in the hood. And I don't live there for only one reason: I am married, and when we bought our house, my wife did not want to live there. We bought a home in the 'good' part of town instead. To be honest with you, living where I live offers few true advantages to a fulfilled life, and I think that even more now that I have a Black daughter to raise. The schools here have been judged the best in the state, however, so there's an up side to it. I'm learning to adjust.)
You seem to have the viewpoint that people who live in a certain area can be easily categorized. You said,
[i]I have absolutely no doubt you prefer the hood to any place in the world where there are people who are educated and can see through your nonsense. Easy to dazzle the dregs and that's why you could never move into other circles. You couldn't dazzle anyone else.[i]
I wonder from where you get such confidence in knowing in which circles I move. Nevertheless, in saying what you said about the hood, do you mean to say that only uneducated people live there?
And that expression, oh what was it.... yes... "the dregs." I know what the word "dregs" means, but you used it in reference to whole communities of people. Did you mean to do that, Julie? People you don't know? Funny that you would choose a thread whose author encouraged tolerance, acceptance and love for those who are different to make such a negative comment.
Fyi: No, not all people in the hood have what society calls an "education" although some do. And there aren't palatial homes there, either. People don't generally have much in the way of material things, but I have found them to be very real. They are fair. They are honest without being offensive. I could speak for a while in praising the many good-hearted people who live and work there.
In the short time I have spent coming to know you here and in email, I have no doubt that you could benefit from spending a little time in the hood instead of with the people you've been running with. You have a lot to learn in your attitudes about people.
One last thing. Pardon me, but it's a rhetorical question.
Have you ever heard of a poster called roamingfeline?
tj
