beastie wrote:I spent 15 years in a miserable marriage with a mentally ill and verbally abusive husband (that, by the way, God told me to marry). Every moment I had to watch my words, I had to walk on eggshells, in a constant state of anxiety over whether or not I was going to inadvertantly "set him off". It's a horrible way to live and I will never again tolerate such treatment. MAD is a very similar climate for critics - you have to tolerate a certain amount of verbal abuse, and can never lash back out of frustration. You have to walk on eggshells, always wondering if you weren't careful enough with your words and could possibly "set them off". Some folks are willing and able to play that game and I applaud them for their patience. Personally, I'm not willing to play that game. It reminds me too much of my marriage. Ugh.
Your knowledge of Mesoamarican polities was crushing to Book of Mormon historicity claims Beastie. I loved reading every word. It is true, if you "set off" certain believers, then begins the backlash from this strange irrational place that makes dialog nearly impossible. You have to address the ad homein coming from every angle instead of the subject of the post itself. You get your Seleks and Pahorans (my two favorite spittle-spewing, red eyed, whore-of-babylon denouncing so called Christians) who bring out the rageful attacks on cue. Whoops - can't leave out Jwhitlock from the spittle-spewing crew.
Indeed, you do have to walk on eggshells, but since it is an LDS run board I guess those are the rules of the game...if people want to play them. I have noticed that most of the intelligent countervoices (critics & Skeptics) post here now and there is mention of it at the "other" board.
I think the perjorative comments directed towards this board (from MAD) are due to the fact that this board skews the balance (in tone at least) and the irrational ad homien that one must endure there, can be called out and addressed here.