Posted by whiterabbit on July 8, 2003, at 5:49:16
In reply to Re: I have to leave the main board, posted by Dr. Bob on July 7, 2003, at 23:27:56
You guys that know me are probably aware that I'm not a suck-up, never have been, otherwise in my personal life I'd be a 5-star general by now. But that's another story.
Regarding the thread that Emme referred to which started with a debate over the use of
anti-psychotics, the discussion got a little heated. Usually I'm quite willing to accept, along with another poster, that we've agreed to disagree - we don't actually SAY that of course,
but after some jousting we sort of give each other a high-five in our boxing gloves and retreat to our opposite corners in the ring, nobody really won OR lost. Nothing wrong with that, game over, mutual respect, chalk it up to experience.But every once in awhile you feel so strongly about a particular subject that you let yourself get carried away with another poster who feels just as strongly about his opposing view. It's perfectly acceptable to present your side of the argument, there aren't any rules here that require you to be loving and to soak up insults from other posters without a reply. But you must understand that there HAS to be a referee to keep the game going - opposition is more than allowed, it makes for interesting & intelligent debate that leaves everyone a little smarter. But the debate must stay within acceptable bounds to prevent a free-for-all, and anyone vaguely familiar with any sport knows this to be true.
Maybe I see this more clearly after 20 years of intense exposure to professional hockey thanks to the guy who can't wait to get rid of me. Hockey is not a sport for the faint of heart. You can knock out a whole row of teeth on an opposing player, you can do so with the intent of hurting him & you can get away with it without penalty, AS LONG AS you adhere to the specific rules that keep the game from dissolving into anarchy. If you permitted high-sticking or other maneuvers that allowed you to use this game piece as a weapon, why bother with rules at all? Just send everybody into the arena like the Romans did and watch them hack at each other until possibly one person was left standing in a sea of gore.
Time after time I've seen people announce their departure because they felt picked on and singled out and misunderstood and warned or blocked due to "favoritism". They're overwhelmed by the injustice of a PBC and hyper-focus on an issue that's not really a big deal. I suspect that we do this because if we're really pissed off at another poster, we don't have to think about the people in our lives who truly caused a great deal of injury to our emotional well-being.
I've been here for quite awhile now (but NOT long enough to gain entrance to PB2000, thank you) & I've come a long way in my journey towards recovery, using PB as a sort of journal while I was still sailing all over the map trying desperately to chart a course.
PB is a tool that you can take advantage of during your own journey towards recovery or destruction - nothing more, nothing less. No website - or song or book or whatever you're blaming disaster on - is directly responsible for your actions. I laugh rudely when anyone tries to blame subliminal messages or any other vague unspecific crap as the reason for a hateful, destructive, focused & viscious crime towards another human being.
Have to go now...
Gracie
poster:whiterabbit
thread:239967
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20030508/msgs/240047.html