Italgato wrote:Sofia- Perhaps I had better retire from these posts because of lack of sensitivity. I have thought about it all day. I finally made up my mind.
I do not know who Mamajuana was other than a poster. I never met her.
I do know who George W. Bush is. I met him once. I have decided that as long as my "lack of sensitivity" is matched by some posters' lack of sensitivity concerning our president, I will stay.
Mamajuana was a poster on these boards. May she rest in peace. George W. Bush is our President. He is not a moron. Anyone who says that is "insensitive".
You're absolutely right, Italgato. Everyone, please have some respect for the dead, if you please. A moment of silence for the President is most appreciated. After all, he's just the president, not a poster in a community of online friends.
Just don't share the plays you don't like, Italgato. Consider the motivation, not the source or the messenger. Go after that, the idea, not the immediate proponent of the idea. responding to a cheapshot with a cheapshot is still cheapshotting. Don't give up, don't fall into that sort of shoddy play, get better and play better. That's the best way to get even.
Dear Timber:
You are correct, of course. But how better than to go after an idea with an idea which is sourced.
I dare say that almost everyone on these posts have no real expertise in most of the things they discuss( Professor Hobibob is a Professor of Medieval History- I would take his ideas on that time period or in that subject very seriously) but when I have asked for "proof" or "sources" i have been reminded that Opinions really don't need to be sourced if they are obviously opinions. All well and good, howver, I hope I will not be taken to task for pointing out( in the place of real expertise or sourcing/documentation) that the post made is only an OPINION.
My opinion checkmates your opinion- then where are we?
Back where we started.
That is why sourcing and documentation are so important.
Now, this is just me, of course, Italgato, but I've got an opinion on that, too (whoda thunk, huh? :wink: ). Much, if not most, of what I post is opinion or commentary. I drag source material in from time to time, usually to support or refute an assertion, or to frame a discussion, but I like to discuss ideas and to test and strengthen or revise my own opinions, as circumstances permit or dictate. Something of a feature of my posts, and those of several other folks, is the frequent appearance of stuff like
*IMO or IMHO (though I should avoid attempting to ascribe to myself the attribute of humility)
*As far as I know
*It seems to me
*I figure (sometimes "I figger")
*I expect
*I suspect
*I'd wager
and more of the like, and not infrequently,
*I could be wrong
I've got nothing against opinion, hell, I'm all about opinion. I do try to remain objective, however, and nonconfrontational, nonjudgemental, and especially non perjorative, as much as I can ... even when dealing with outright loonies. I slip up, sure, but you can bet I get nailed for it ... which is only right. Believe it or not, I can be in fierce debate with someone on one thread, in solid support of that same member on a different thread going on simultaneously somewhere else, and all the while be cutting up with that same member on one of the fun-goofy digression threads. Respect is reciprocal; ya gotta give it to get it, I figger. Regard is a little different. You earn that on your own, and different folks will score you differently ... particularly if it seems keeping score is a big thing for you. This is not a zero-sum game .... its not pass-or-fail or win-or-lose, or any of that. Its about doing it, as far as I'm concerned. I could be wrong .... but ....
Well, some say that you should avoid terms like
"In my opinion: I believe;I will argue thatÂ…"
... - in an academic approach to theme, since it's always s.o.'s take to this.
(see: "checklists for thesis" from different US-American universities)
I really like your way of doing it, timber.
And I'm always forgetting that I actually want to do the same
Don't disagree a bit about my own forensic improprieties, Walter, I'm quite aware of lots of thing s one "Should" or "shouldn't" do in debate or aegument ... but what the hell, this is discussion, aint it? Hell, if all I wanna do is argue, I could go wake up Mrs. Timber
timberlandko wrote:Hell, if all I wanna do is argue, I could go wake up Mrs. Timber
Plain afternoon here, and Mrs. Hinteler is up for than 6 hours
:wink:
Italgato wrote:Cicerone Imposter- The article you accessed is an interesting one but, unofrtunately, it has no basis in scientific reality.
It is well to claim that the earth is "warming" as the left wings kooks do. It is another to prove it.
It is one thing to claim that cancer, heart disease, etc. will be an outcome of the "failure" of the Administration to hover over the WTC with a "giant vacuum cleaner" to clean the air.
I am very sorry but no such thing exists.
It is up to the hystericals to "prove" that the failure to make reasonable provisions after the WTC for th "pollution" ACTUALLY CAUSED disease.
In the meantime, it is another cheap shot which merely denigrates the dead and takes the focus off of important things- mainly =Justice for the dead by making the fiends that caused the tragedy pay.
Now there's a nice helping of unsupported opinion and all you'll find to support it is more unsupported opinion.
Re the suggestion that an electorate ought to show/demonstrate respect for an official (such as the President) simply because he holds the position.... three pounds of balogna and one extended pshaw, I say.
Office holders in any sphere are just other fallible twerps like us. How much respect ought to have been shown George Wallace? How much ought to be paid to Arafat? The Pope? Bill Clinton? Bernard Ebbers? Antonin Scalia? The head of the ACLU (elected) and the head of state in Pakistan (coup victor)? The Grand Wizard with the white sheet, torch and noose? Hilary Clinton? Bush?
Respect for some leader, simply because he's/she's there, is philosophically and socially immature - it is, and this is the best word, infantile.
During the Iran/Iraq war, the Iranian soldier/pawns, rather badly outgunned, kept pouring over top of the dead bodies of their earlier incarnations, getting themselves shot and mutilated, and adding to the growing pile. I find this follower business to have all the self-consciousness of coral.
Agreed respect must be earned it does not come with the office.
In my opinion
As I see it
If you ask me
Now this is just what I think
Correct me if I'm wrong
Now I can only speak for myself but
Maybe you agree and maybe you don't
I think the majority of people here find timberland a much more pleasant and reasonable guy than our new friend massa oops I mean italgato and would probably rather drink at the bar with him and pick up the tab than drink with italgato for free.
In my humble opinion of course. I could be wrong.
I have no link, so who knows?
No. Free drinks cancel out all other considerations.
So, I stand corrected from at least one source, and yet my self esteem remains intact.
So what have we learned here? Hide the top shelf stuff when blatham comes calling? Nah.....just put in extra :wink:
I met a guy just like italgato on my trip to South Africa last year. He is one of the smartest guys I have ever met in my life. He went to Yale, and has a PhD in History, speaks five languages, and knows about almost every subject under the sun. He was my roomie for 21 days, because I refused to pay the $1,600 single supplement for this trip, but in hind-sight, I hope I had paid it. Our small group was made up of a physician, a aeronautical engineer, two college professors, and their spouse. We all agreed the guy was a genius, but the most obnoxious one. He would ask our tour guide a question, then tell him/her the answer was wrong, and provide the correct answer. Not many in this world like Marc, but it's never a pleasure to meet one.
I to have known people who have decided that they have become 'educated', they were the biggest fools I have ever known.
I've learnt that everyone who needs to throw around with her/his [academic] titles etc., trying to get accepted, is a poor man/woman.
However, those, who accept only others with degrees, titles etc. are not only dirt-poor, but need our deepest compassion.
A fool and his knowledge are soon parted.
I have seen more folks with developmental disabilities more compassionate and loving than many who think they are well educated.
Knowledge is power but only if used in a compassionate, meaningful way. Your friend who was performing the mental jousting with a tour guide sounded somewhat sadistic. Some would use knowledge as a weapon to support their own erroneous ideals. I'm afraid politicians are some of the worst offenders (including armchair politicians).
