Dear David,
First i feel the need to point out that i'm trying to keep this discussion in a language diffrent from my native tounge. My grammar and spelling will for this reason be less than perfect, please excuse my errors. When trying to communicate in a second language one often make mistakes in the details, the messages often sound harsher than intended. The language barrier might also explain why you keep spelling my name wrong. Perhaps it's also the explanation for my "flawed rhetoric"(not sure what that means), if it's about my spelling i think you now know why. If it's about me using arguments that is out of place i'll admit i got a little carried away when i mentioned guns and murder, sorry about that.
About the "relax while your brain is washed clean" remark i hope this is irony/sarkasm, if it's a comment about my intelligence i would be deeply hurt. I'll write it off as sarkasm as i think that is what you intended.
Since you seemed to miss it in my last post, i do believe strongly in "freedom of speech", democracy depends on it. I agree that you have the right to think diffrently, i actually think this is what makes the world move forward, keep it up. I also agree that you have the right to say it out loud without beeing punished.
What i've been trying to say all along is that.......
Even though you may have the right to say something, it's not always the wisest thing to do.
Silence by choise isn't the same as enforced silence.
A full frontal attack isn't always the best strategy, sometimes a sneaky sideattack is far better. Applying this to your SIG would mean that you first make it short and generic. A "God bless you" would tell me that you're a believer and that you wish me well. After a while when all are used to this, you expand it a little. Before you know it you could use your entire prayer without anyone(except the odd one) beeing offended.
I'm sorry that my "flawed rhetoric and inflammatory comments" offended you, i'll try to be more correct in my analogy further on.
However i can't let "The truth is that I didn't offend you, you chose to be offended." pass without a comment. The first thing that came to mind, was the childs defence when her mother heard the cat scream.
-"No mom, i didn't pull the cat by the tail. I just held the tail, it was the cat that did the pulling."
or.....
-"No officer, i didn't punch him on the nose. He chose not to move when i took a swing at his face."
Poor analogies i know, but a little funny, atleast i think so :-)
The truth is that i only reacted to something you said(wrote). This reaction was based on feelings, reactions often is. How could i choose not to be offended when it already had offended me? It would have blown over in a second if it wasn't for the fact that you later stated that you wouldn't even consider changing a thing, just because you had the right to say whatever you like. Your SIG changed in that instance from a "prayer-blessing"(which i found inappropriate/out of place but not very harmful) to "preaching"(unwanted bossing). When i want to hear preaching i go to church, i do not subscribe to a PicBasic mailing list with rules about what should and shouldn't be posted. You might think the rules are censorship, i think they're guidelines to help people with different backgrounds get along and keep flaming to a minimum. If it really was censorship your message wouldn't have passed and i couldn't have reacted. Now it did and we see democracy in work, we are having a debate.
With this off my chest i'll now take my own advice and keep quiet so i won't offend anyone more, and besides, both my fingers and my brain need to relax. Coffe anyone
/Ingvar
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