This story makes me sick.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm just giving a devil's advocate opinion here; I don't see the point of a discussion board if everyone's on the same side and sagely nodding at each other's opinions.

[Boozy]

I'm just giving a devil's advocate opinion here; I don't see the point of a discussion board if everyone's on the same side and sagely nodding at each other's opinions.

I agree, although I don't see the point in arguing just for the sake of it either.

I'm not saying that's what you're doing. It just seems like threads like this veer too quickly off topic because everyone agrees on the main point. In this case, the main point is: Grown adults being cruel and manipulative to teenagers = bad.

That's pretty much the crux of it. Now we are arguing the finer points of parental responsibility and the law. I usually stay away from threads where everyone agrees on the main point because this kind of thing becomes dull for me rather quickly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you enjoy a rousing debate as much as I do, we may need to find a meatier subject that creates more substantive disagreement.

Then again, that it may just be me. Carry on, my friends...

[Lace Neil Singer]

OK... what will it be, abortion, homosexuality or religion? XD Those are the subjects that end up getting topics locked on the other message boards I'm on, after pages of fighting. O_o

[Seshat]

We have an abortion topic right here in Social Woes. We have a whole sub-board on religion. I'm pretty sure there's a 'homosexual marriage' thread in Social Woes or religion somewhere, but I don't see a 'homosexuality in general' thread.

Of course, we could always start a thread on 'whose fault is suicide or self harm?', or on 'is verbal/emotional bullying more or less harmful than physical' or 'is online bullying more or less harmful than real-world bullying?'
Any of those three threads would probably fit best into social woes.

This particular thread should probably stick to the specific case, rather than the more general issues; that way people interested in this case can focus on the case, and people who would skip this case but are interested in the general issues can participate.

[Greenday]

What about a thread on bisexual women being bashed by the Catholics for not being heterosexual AND for getting an abortion?

[Pedersen]

What about a thread on bisexual women being bashed by the Catholics for not being heterosexual AND for getting an abortion?

All of this on the next Oprah.

Sorry, couldn't resist

[Lace Neil Singer]

What about a thread on bisexual women being bashed by the Catholics for not being heterosexual AND for getting an abortion?

That might just work.

[AFPheonix]

All of this on the next Oprah.

Sorry, couldn't resist

I was thinking more along the lines of Maury Povich, but I guess his realm of expertise is more along the lines of finding out who the father is out of 12 guys

[Greenday]

Speaking of talk shows, Jerry Springer is coming to my college to talk about his show and about reality tv.

[rahmota]

Greenday: And dont forget to add extra fuel to that fire that the Aborting Married Lesbians are liberal smokers who are pro-gun.

Oh and if you get the chance ask Jerry if hes written any checks for hos lately.....

I don't see the point of a discussion board if everyone's on the same side and sagely nodding at each other's opinions.

I'll agree with you on that as I'm not allowed back on a board for being a rather vocal dissident in my opnions while they sat around in their circle jerk of communal love. However on boards like this somethign comes up that like boozy said people will wind up agreeing on occasionally. Not everythign can be as contentious and debateable as somethign else.

[Seshat]

I find that often, if you explore different peoples' differing opinions on topics, you'll usually find a fundamental agreement. What looks like an insurmountable difference sometimes turns out to be differing circumstances, different definitions, or different priorities.

I'm actually very interested in exploring differences: if there is a fundamental difference, I'm interested in finding out why. If there is difference because of circumstance or definition, I'm interested in clearing it up so we can look beneath and see if there really IS a difference.

You can see an example of 'differing circumstances' in the privacy thread: it's highlighted by rahmota's shock at discovering that people live in places where they don't always trust the people they're living with. Everyone in that thread (IIRC) agreed on the fundamental principle that people have a right to privacy, it's just that rahmota's development of that right to privacy was based on his circumstances, and mine was based on circumstances that rahmota hadn't realised existed.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Seshat, I just wanted to let you know that you are my favorite person on this site. You have a way of cutting through the grease and getting right to the heart of any discussion or situation.

I remember that thread, and I remember MY surprise that Rahmota did not realize how different urban people's experiences were from his. And then I remembered my teenage years, when I lived in a rural area, and I remembered how much I hated the people there, whom I saw as rigid and narrow-minded. It made me realize that I had been looking at them through the eyes of a know-it-all teenager. I was more worldly than them, but that was not their fault. They had a narrower viewpoint than me because they did not understand how fundamentally different life in the city was. I had only known life in the city, and was suddenly experiencing culture shock being in the country. I'm sure now that they looked at me as being narrow-minded because I was so discontent with their culture.

[Seshat]

Seshat, I just wanted to let you know that you are my favorite person on this site. You have a way of cutting through the grease and getting right to the heart of any discussion or situation.

Awww. Thank you.

I'm sure now that they looked at me as being narrow-minded because I was so discontent with their culture.

Probably!

As for Rahmota: how could he have known? He'd never experienced it, and details like that aren't often shown in most of our cultural storytelling. He'd be as lost in that sort of urban setting as I would be given a field and told to plow and plant it.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

As for Rahmota: how could he have known? He'd never experienced it, and details like that aren't often shown in most of our cultural storytelling. He'd be as lost in that sort of urban setting as I would be given a field and told to plow and plant it.

Well, you also have to remember that when I was a teenager, a lot of my negative experience was due to the fact that because the people I lived around had never been anywhere else, they could not understand why I was having such a hard time. Like you said, you'd be lost trying to plant a field. I was totally lost in that setting, but they did not understand; they assumed that I could and should be intimate with their culture, because to them there simply didn't exist any other type of American culture; or if it did, it was inferior. I was made to feel as though my experiences were not valid, and this is why I hold such bitterness toward those years.

[Seshat]

Bleargh. That's just ... totally wrong. You have my sympathy.