Singled out

http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=2687.0
Another edit?

Please delete my account, Raoul. It's very obvious that any POV other than what is typically found here is not welcome.

Thanks to those that helped me with the contract translation, and the advice on the school that picked me up. It's really too bad I couldn't get to know some of you better, and know one or two of you less.

@Ruth: keep the faith, sister.

Adieu.

Easily done...at least to freeze it.

We actually do OK with a variety of POVs; what's not welcome is a completely smashmouth, aggressive, chip-on-the-shoulder delivery style.

Your "sister", whom by the way I'd address with the same name, has been a member of this place almost since the time we turned on the lights. Yet she manages to not only get along with the other kids but be particularly esteemed by many of them...again with me at the front of that line.
Her secret may well lie in her ability to keep a civil tongue in her head; who knows.

Been a lot of reading to do lately, around these here parts.....not a lot of it pleasant.
Hossaru, you have been particularly unpleasant! We have given you advice and assistance, and you repay that by mounting your own, personal soapbox. Fair enough, but using the sort of language that even I refrain from using is just not nice!! Little soapboxes have a habit of becoming ugly, especially when the speaker can only see his own POV~!! This place has a bunch of different Points of view, and there is space for them all. I don't agree with most of them, but I tolerate them. For example, I have a more cynical view of the world than  Ruth does. I don't believe in religion, but I don't call her nasty names just because she doesn't agree with me! Abortion is something that has crossed my path, but I keep my thoughts to myself.
You have a lot of growing up to do! Please consider it.

Little soapboxes have a habit of becoming ugly, especially when the speaker can only see his own POV~!!

Oh man, and I just spend a fortune buying a truckload of guaranteed 100% POV-filtering soapboxes on eBay. 

I was going to break out the one about floridation being a Soviet plot and see if I could get Cheeky to argue with me about it.   

floridation being a Soviet plot

Believe it or not, a variation of that one is being played out on China Daily Forums!
Melamine is a Western Terrorist plot! Yeah, I know. Shall I resign?

I've actually got a book on the evil Ruskie fluoridation plot buried somewhere in my collection.  The title is "Your Health and Sanity in This Age of Treason" (frighteningly enough, I'm NOT making this up, and it is a real book).

Actually, it did turn into a very sensitive discussion. I haven't read what Hossaru said but perhaps we were really getting over our heads there.
As for the Soviet plot... Sorry, ES, I wouldn't be getting into any discussions hot or cold on classified information 

 Due to the fact that I have been working overtime to keep a civil tongue in my head these days, I have avoided any interaction with hossuru. Nearly HALF his posts have been rude and uncivil. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

I was going to break out the one about floridation being a Soviet plot and see if I could get Cheeky to argue with me about it.

I've actually got a book on the evil Russkie fluoridation plot buried somewhere in my collection.

One has to be careful with the terminology on these issues.

'flUoridation'- the process of adding fluorine salts to drinking water- is a perfectly safe process, made in America, and essential for good dental health and hygiene. It's a good thing and 100% conspiracy-free.

'Floridation'- the process of turning the entire USA into Florida- is a pernicious product of the Soviet Union, the International Communist Conspiracy, and their ultimate arch-overlords: The Disney Corporation. Florida is notorious as a land of fruits and nuts; the blazing sun and the omnipresent overpowering narcotic reek of tanning lotion make it impossible for even well-meaning people to think clearly there. This made Florida the perfect place for Disney to base its plans for global domination, and they have filled the place with millions of mouse-ear-wearing Commies- many recruited from nearby Cuba. Over the last 8 decades millions of innocent children have been receiving subliminal Disney messages preparing them to accept collectivization of agriculture and industry, a fondness for palm trees and flamingos, and an otherwise inexplicable suppressed appetite for Conch Fritters and vodka shots. Floridation is EVIL- it's the REAL "Miami Vice"- and we must not allow our guard to rest for even a single second.

Sadly, the Floridation Conspiracy reaches to the very top levels of the American government, and many well-intentioned Conservatives are actually its primary dupes. Why do you think George W. Bush had his own brother governing Florida, this last truly dangerous so-called "People's Republic"? How else do you think they were able to use Florida (or "Floridska", as it's sometimes known) to engineer the defeat of Al Gore- A Bugs-Bunny-watching patriot whose environmental emphasis posed a grave danger to the entire Floridation Conspiracy?

Which brings me to my conclusion: Before you laugh me off as just another conspiracy nut, let me say just two words:
GLOBAL WARMING
It's hard to build new theme parks in cold places, isn't it?
This, ultimately, is why the Soviet Union failed!

So...what can YOU do? It's simple:

1) Drink only pure, natural, melamine-free 100% Brazilian orange juice.

2) Keep your kids away from Disney products; read to them from the works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn instead.

3) Don't support sports teams with Commie names like "Devil Rays", "Buccaneers", or "Seminoles".

4) Help fight Global Warming by always running your air conditioners full-blast, with all the doors and windows open.

5) Write your government today and DEMAND ACTION!


As for Hossuru: Despite what he thinks, he didn't have trouble here because of his conservative views per se. He had trouble here because he behaved like a belligerent dickhead.

3) Don't support sports teams with Commie names like "Seminoles".

  Just when you told us to play nice, YOU go picking fights.  What have you got against Nolefan?

I tried to send a PM, but the limboid status won't let me.  So I'll post publicly.  This is for Hossuru, if he's still reading here.

I know that my political and religious beliefs are very different from the majority of the people at the Saloon.  Forum guidelines direct us away from discussing religion, so I try to keep my personal beliefs off the forum.  Sometimes, like with the abortion discussion, I just can't keep quiet.  As a forum community we don't mind different opinions, as long as people are able to discuss politely and back up what they say.  Some topics are just too hot for that to happen and are better left out of the Saloon.  (And Raoul addressed that above.) I'll try really really hard not to bring up the A word again.

I find I am able to meet most folks here on common ground as a teacher and expat living in China.  There are some members that I know I would never spend time with in real life.  Just too different from me.  We've got to let some things go, in order to keep the peace.  Definitely name calling and personal attacks are not permitted. 

When I read an opinion vastly different from my own beliefs I just think, 'wow, opens my eyes to how others believe.'  Most comments I just read and ignore.  One comment hit me recently and I believe so strongly about it in the opposite direction, that I responded.  BUT, I didn't attack the forum member for his belief.  There is a HUGE difference in saying 'I disagree with you' and 'You are a JERK for believing that.' 

Sooo, it comes down to I have more in common with my fellow Saloonies in relation to China (which is why this forum exists) even if they would never attend my church or vote the way I do (which are not topics this forum was created for).  Hope you can live with that and find enough good here to continue.  (And he's obviously decided not to, based upon the OP for this thread.)

Quote

3) Don't support sports teams with Commie names like "Seminoles".

  Just when you told us to play nice, YOU go picking fights.  What have you got against Nolefan?

Ruth, Noles is okay, it's his half-brother Semi-Noles who's the problem.

 'Shroomy you made me laugh out loud.  Don't you love how we can play with the English language?  How clever of you to pick up on that word.

Glad to be of service, ma'am. 

No, no, nothing like that. I've always known 'Noles to be a Commie through and through, and with his ethnicity you can also of course assume he's a terrorist as well.
However, I have so much...dirt  on this man that he wouldn't dare pull anything. I heed the words of our late, great President, Lyndon B. Johnson: "Never trust a man unless you have his pecker in your pocket."