@The Pentacle Queen,
I agree with you. This website provides a forum for spirited debate, and I certainly have no problem with that. I don’t believe in political correctness. Needless to say, issues (regardless of how sensitive they are)
should be discussed. I don’t even have a problem with some put-downs, as long as they’re witty. What’s sad, though, is that a few of the leading contributors to this forum are among the worst offenders. I’ve seen members personally attacked in the most demeaning terms not because they made morally offensive statements, but simply because they didn’t happen to share the opinions or preferences of those who attacked them. They have never made any apologies. I will admit that I’ve lost my temper in this forum several times since I started posting in the spring of 2009, but I’ve apologized each time (either by post or PM). What has amazed me is the arrogance and aggressiveness of some of the members. A relatively new member will be personally insulted if he even makes a perfectly innocuous comment. (Such keyboard kommandos would probably be less inclined to be so rude to strangers in real life. Unless, of course, they
wanted to get punched in the nose.) Does any deliberately rude member ever make an effort by means of the PM function to communicate with the targeted member for the purpose of trying to possibly arrive at an understanding? (I mean, maybe someone has perfectly understandable reasons for believing what he or she believes.) Probably not, because insulting a complete stranger is so easier to do. And I suppose it’s a boost to one’s ego as well. As I said, I have no problem with spirited debate and discussions of sensitive topics or expressions of unpopular views. For example, although I find many of hawkeye10’s statements to be harsh, he does seem to be civil (at least most of the time); and I'm glad he's afforded the opportunity by means of this forum to express his views. He does not quite descend to the level of being quick to belittle someone at the slightest pretext or over an innocuous comment. Were it not for the “Ignore” feature of this forum, I wouldn’t be here now. I won’t put someone on “Ignore” simply because I disagree with him about some issue, but I will put someone on “Ignore” who personally attacks me with gutter language and who isn’t even witty enough to be funny about it.
