Nimrod wrote:Do you feel that you have ever personally attacked anyone over here? If so, only in response to attacks on yourself? or having ever taken the initiative when you did not like the substance or tone of a post that was not directed at you personally?
Hmmm...I guess this will start to come down to questions of what does "personally" mean. I really do try to focus on the actions and words that are posted, rather than truly personal jabs.
For me, I think the ideas as well as the tactics used in expressing the ideas are fair game. If I am 'wielding my broadsword' and someone 'fires a gun' in my direction, I'll 'pull a gun and fire back' in the same fashion. I will generally reach back in the other direction as far as I think someone has in mine.
Gadianton Plumber wrote:Tim is the best Mormon since Jehovah.
Tim = ttribe?
He has always been pretty nice so I agree he is up there among the best of Mormons. He seems to be more interested in issues than people. And he liked my accounting joke.
I didn't know Jehovah was a Mormon...
Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given... Zeus (1178 BC)
My user name is my first initial and last name. Some people refer to me by my first name from time to time. Some are being friendly when they do it (like GP); certain others...not so much.
Might I add that the only recourse for the Mormon Apologist is Ad Hominem? Eventually, during any discussion of Mormondom the Ad Hominem will be trotted out. It's a foregone given at this point.
Thus, Mormon Apologists are made the fool by participating on a board where they are not protected by fellow apologists.
Very Respectfully,
Doctor CamNC4Me
In the face of madness, rationality has no power - Xiao Wang, US historiographer, 2287 AD.
Every record...falsified, every book rewritten...every statue...has been renamed or torn down, every date...altered...the process is continuing...minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Ideology is always right.
Might I add that the only recourse for the Mormon Apologist is Ad Hominem? Eventually, during any discussion of Mormondom the Ad Hominem will be trotted out. It's a foregone given at this point.
Thus, Mormon Apologists are made the fool by participating on a board where they are not protected by fellow apologists.
Alter Idem wrote: Yet there are some who feel that venting their personal anger or deeply held opinions is more important than conducting themselves as Jesus Christ lived and taught. I invite each one of us individually to recognize that how we disagree is a real measure of who we are and whether we truly follow the Savior. It is appropriate to disagree, but it is not appropriate to be disagreeable.
There is not one single poster on MADB who will see themselves in this paragraph. None. Absolutely not one. Elder Cook might just as well be talking to the wall, for as much usefulness as a MADBite will gain from that talk. I, on the other hand, see myself there quite often, especially the deeply held opinion part. But then, I have owned my shortcomings for a very long time.
I agree, A.I.: it is a very good talk.
I must defend some of the posters at MADB--there are a number who most definitely are able to 'disagree without being disagreeable', the problem is, they get no credit, they are ignored. It's the offenders who get all the attention--especially in threads here.
You haven't been at MADB in a long time and I'm sure the bad examples are the ones you remember most, but I bet if you thought about it, you could remember back to at least some who were able to discuss and even disagree with others without resorting to attacks and ridicule.
This board also has posters who are able to disagree without being disagreeable--some were even banned from MADB (and it wasn't for being 'disagreeable'), and while it may be impossible to always live up to the ideal, it's worth trying.
Every man is a moon and has a [dark] side which he turns toward nobody; you have to slip around behind if you want to see it. ---Mark Twain