Originally posted by snow leopard:
i see. welcome back then.
what would you consider as ranting and when does it cease to become ranting? what is so wrong with ranting? if a slave shares his story with you, do you dismiss it as ranting or do you try to empathise with the social injustice that is being shared?
Emotionally disruptive but serious discussions on slavery & freedom do not culminate as ranting. Wayward & foolish raves however do. If these characteristics are not present in an individual's posts then it ceases to be ranting. The problem with rants on this board are that they tend to be unconstructive & immature.
Originally posted by snow leopard:
there are anti-gay threads and if they offend you or you disagree with what is being said, what is stopping you from saying your piece? do you prefer that controversial topics or issues be avoided? what then do we discuss? golf?
I have no problems participating in a thread that discusses individuality & personal freedom on sexual tendancies. I can't be bothered however to attempt to educate the ignorant when threads are purposely instigated out of spite & narrow-mindedness. Why ask me what to discuss, it fails to be rhetorical. My point is simply that some of the forum's members are very narrow-minded.
Originally posted by snow leopard:
social presentation is the bread and butter because ultimately what is most important to us is our social well being. i do not think that homophobia is a pre-occupation here, it is just one of the current hot topics.
I do not believe presentation & well-being to be antagonistic. Social presentation is in fact intrinsic to one's being, key word: social.
Originally posted by snow leopard:
do you think it matters to us what americans or the british think of what we write? should i write to please the americans or the british when our societies are really quite different? besides, why should our frequent clamour for greater democracy and fairness in the election process create a bad impression on citizens from these two bastions of democracy?
Perhaps posters here can write & self-govern their online topics to demonstrate that they are mature enough to uphold the term "bastion of democracy"? Is it so important that someone asking for more quality from the forum be British or American? There is a lacking objectivity here. I write on Jewish, Japanese, HK, American & British forums besides this one. I notice the tendancy for you to focus almost entirely only the democratic characteristics of Western societies. It is a current that underlies & betrays your thoughts, and in this case contributes to your lack of focus on the actual topic.