Can we all help ourselves?

Category: Let's talk

Post 1 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2006 12:43:16

Hi all,

I realize that there are many zoners here with different personalities, beliefs, attitudes, values etc. That of course is perfectly okay, unless there was not so much fighting, arguing and misunderstanding going on, so that made me want to open a new topic with this title, hoping that others could share their views and somehow make the zone a better place for everyone. Come on, if we blind people don't help and unite ourselves, who else would? Just think about it.

Post 2 by Rune Knight (Ancient Demon - Darkness will always conquer Light!) on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2006 12:51:52

I seriously doubt everyone will ever come to a suttle agreement on anything. Because like you said in your post above everyone has different views, personalities, values, attitudes, and such. There's always going to be some type of disagreement wherever you go or may be, whether if it's online or offline. At school/college or at home. Doesn't matter where.

Post 3 by japanimangel1 (Veteran Zoner) on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2006 13:02:21

I think it would be cool if we could tone down the drama here, but like previously stated, with different personalities comes different opinions. There's not much that cna be done about that.

Post 4 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Wednesday, 16-Aug-2006 13:57:48

That is probably true to some extend, but people can at least learn to be more tolerant, understanding and respectful towards others. This may turn all the negative energy into positive one, if we somehow engage ourselves in good and meaningful conversation.

Post 5 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 17-Aug-2006 8:11:54

This is impossible as much as I may not agree with every opinion here, the person is entitled to post them..however ignorant they may be.
Controversay is healthy as long as it doesn't turn into all out war. Sadly you are asking for a miracle, there are some very childish people on here who love abusing others to improve their non existant self esteem.

Post 6 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 17-Aug-2006 8:35:01

Yes, I agree with this all. But I guess, there are always reasons for most things that happen, whether we are aware of them or not.

Post 7 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Thursday, 17-Aug-2006 10:58:24

As I see it, the problem with this suggestion is that you expect people to change, and they rarely do, and, if they do, it's usually not the way we want them to change.

Bob

Post 8 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 17-Aug-2006 11:31:24

Well, they can't change 100 percent, but can be more accepting when possible. I am not trying to sound like a godess, because I know how hard this can be, just wanted to open this topic for discussion and find out what others think.

Post 9 by laurliz1186 (Generic Zoner) on Thursday, 17-Aug-2006 21:49:41

I understand that there's a myriad of different personalities and viewpoints on TZ which is all well and good. The way I understood the suggestion was that we need to tone down some of the competitiveness and bashing of others choices, blindness-related or otherwise, not all become homogeneous. I think civil discourse and disagreement is all well and good and that we all should engage in it, but not to the detriment of others. Just my two cents.

Post 10 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 8:14:46

That is exactly how I see it as well.

Post 11 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 8:17:02

So you would like us all to conform to a certain criteria, regardless of how we feel about it? hmm, the Chinese dictatorship springs to mind.

Post 12 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 11:05:46

Sorry. I'm against legislating morality for any reason (well almost). There's a lot of junk that goes on here that is not to my taste, but neither is telling people how to think and feel.

Sorry.

Bob

Post 13 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 12:24:01

No, I am not a communist or a dictator. I know about freedom of choice and appreciate the differences in people, no matter how positive or negative they are. I just think that sometimes we may even have to try to understand and emphatize with people who have such differences, help them when we can and help them understand others that are different from then.

Post 14 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 12:31:53

See, in principal, I agree with that but, bottomline is, people don't come here to "understand" or "sympathize" or at least not everyone does. And I prefer a little debate on the boards or qns to the general conversation that goes like this:
a: hey everyone
a: hugs (b, c, x,)
b: hey a *hugs*
c: hey a *hugs*
a: wazzup
c: *hands a ice cream*
b: I want ice cream too
c: *hands b an ice cream* hey who wants to go to the virtual pool
a: me, me
d: (comes in) hey everyone *hugs*
c: d hug'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'g'gs (now everyone does a Jaws messed up version of d's nick name for about 15 minutes)

...
now this is absolutely mind numbingly pointless, may be fun for those involved but after seeing this go on with little variation for 3 weeks your brain starts to go mush.
I'd much rather have some discussion about something or a little disagreement or something funny, which does occur occasionally. If we are to take all disagreement off of the site it'll look very much like the above conversation.

Post 15 by The Roman Battle Mask (Making great use of my Employer's time.) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 13:15:20

Agreed, you forgot about b pulling d's hair while riding them like a clown on a unicycle, c beating a voer the ehad with a baseball bat, and e bitching about how pitiful there life is and how they just broke up.

Post 16 by eccentric bruin (Generic Zoner) on Friday, 18-Aug-2006 22:21:56

I don't think you'll be getting anywhere with this. Many individuals on here are very immature and there are a variety of age groups here to. Due to the difference in ages many take certain comments way too personally and don't comprehend when one is being sarcastic, joking, or serious. So as many have said because there is this huge diversity as well as various maturity levels the bashing will continue. Many won't take it as all good fun or messing around but rather as a personal attack or insult. so to have a decent conversation that may be remotely intellectual will not occur, many don't have the intellect necessary to carry an intelligent conversation. People will be people and all you can do is deal with it in the way you choose.

Post 17 by UnknownQuantity (Account disabled) on Saturday, 19-Aug-2006 4:46:10

I think there are too many different personalities on this web site (and offline also, for that matter) for ultamate respect to be acheived because for everyone the definition of respect is different, and some have more selfcontrol than others, so can rephrain from saying something disrespectful whereas others can't. It's a sad fact of life, imo.

Post 18 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Saturday, 19-Aug-2006 8:01:11

Empathy is in short supply here rationed like intelligence in the whitehouse. People here are mostly concerned solely with themselves, so it's pointless asking them to think of others. Personally I prefer to think of the innocent people killed in Lebanon, including 500 children,it's far more important than this he said she said gyperie..

Post 19 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 20-Aug-2006 5:58:34

Here's the simple solution on how to deal. Stop being idealistic and become a cynic, plus lower your expectations of your fellow humans instead of expecting them to be better than what human nature allows. And, if it's possible, just try not to do the stuff you don't like to see other folks do if you can help it, with the understanding that you probably will anyhow so don't beat yourself up over it.

Post 20 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Sunday, 20-Aug-2006 18:12:07

No no, Godzilla-On-Toast though your suggestion makes sense it is the road to total synicism.

GoodGirl, please don't lose your optimism, just be aware that you will lose more battles than you will win.

It is the optimists that push us forward as a civilization, it is the pesimists that hold us back.

Post 21 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 22-Aug-2006 6:16:53

Blbobby, you have some points, although I can't say I can equate cynicism with pessimism. I actually tend towards the optimist, probably because in my younger days I had thoughts similar to GoodGirl, but I discovered people weren't quite ready for that kind of harmony and empathy yet. I guess what I'm saying is have expectations for people and have wishes and hopes, but be realistic, because if you set your sites too high you may end up being disapointed, which causes more unneeded misery, and who wants that? I sure don't. I feel that if I'm to keep myself sane while I'm living on Earth, I have to accept human flaws and weaknesses along with all the good and noble bits, not just the one or the other. You see what I'm getting at? If you want, you may want to take this conversation over to private mail lest we bore everyone else.

Post 22 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 24-Aug-2006 6:34:20

I agree woth ypu all about this, because everyone has a point. There is no wrighht or wrong answer here I guess, but it is always good to discuss things. It is just that when I think about life, I know that each of us goes through most things, no matter how different we are, regarding growing up, taking responsibilities, getting a job, fallling in love, taking care of others, having children, etc. We of course may not like every single person we are in contact with, but sometimes when i think about how similar life still can be for everyone, I feel like helping anyone whenever they turn to me for any kind of advice, no matter whether I like them or not.

Post 23 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 24-Aug-2006 11:15:10

Here's another point I can add, and this should definitely apply to this website if you can help it. Keep your sense of humor, including being able to kid around about yourself and to be kidded by others about yourself. If you don't have a sense of humor about most things in life, you're going to have quite adifficult time coping. This means despite the strife and drama and hatred and discontent, don't take any of it seriously or personally and you'll be well on your way to coping.

Post 24 by psychic teacher (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Saturday, 26-Aug-2006 9:48:10

I agree with you 100 percent.