h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do you keep attacking Vicky personally? If you have an issue with what she posts, deal with that. I understand. I frequently disagree with what she posts. But I'm making a concerted effort not to personally attack. I'm sick of it. Yes, I occasionally fail and make some barbed comment. I'm certainly no saint. But I'm fed up with your personalising all the time. All it does is perpetuate really tedious conflict.

If it continues I'll probably unsub as so many have before me. And I know Vicky is often provocative. But she's also a good person. I've got to know her a bit.

I've removed you from my friends list, I'm so sick to to back teeth of it.

I'm sorry you feel that way and I accept your decision without question. I regret that you don't feel me worthy of friendship.

If you are referring to the last deconstruction of her *tag*, I found it an amusing (if self-serving) comment on her lack of understanding of the very words she often uses.

If you are referring to the comments on the stubbornness she displays in replying only to those points she feel she has an ability to refute, I have no apology.

If it's my intense frustration showing through when she refuses to concede even the simplest of self-evident points, I apologise for not suffering if not a fool then a rabid, smug, condescending dogmatist. I blame my temper and not counting to ten before posting.

As far as personal attacks, she seems to give what she gets.

I will not apologise for who I am.

Oh, and btw *All You Need Is Love* is a wonderful sentiment, mostly true now as when I first heard it when the song was released. We knew even then that intelligence and reason were up there in the top five as well. It has been said that an autistic child is full of perception, a child with Down's Syndrome is full of love and the rest of us are somewhere in between.

Perhaps *All We Need* then is Love, tempered with the knowledge that we cannot live on love alone in this physical world. That Love is the starting point, the beginning of the journey and perhaps the end as well. In between we have to think.

Well thanks for responding calmly zoomer. I appreciate that. Lately I've reached the end of my tether, particularly on that thread because it's become clearer and clearer to me that the techniques of argument that have gone on since time immemorial here on h2g2 all lead into the same boring cul-de-sacs. I see the same old stuff, a bit like bashing away with Newtonian physics to understand the quantum world. It doesn't compute. Sometimes I wish people would just try to think more creatively about the conflicts between Faithers and atheists. And despite my rationality about things I do also have a fairly strong emotional sympathy with Faithers, which seems all to lacking from many atheists, myself included in the past.

As a good empiricist I see no evidence for the well trodden path way of responding to Vicky, achieves absolutely anything except crushing boredom, only occasionally relieved by a bit of intense irritation, now and then.

Lately I was given pause to think about all this by something psycorp said. And I realised how much I agreed with him, especially about not being so personally attacking of one another, but concentrating on the substance of what's posted. And I know if I was in Vicky's position as the only Faither, I'd be damned unreasonable sometimes. But then I would have left such threads years ago. I think it was az who first started me thinking differently a few months ago when she spoke, admittedly tongue in cheek, about us being like a pack of hyenas sometimes.

And I suppose for me human relationships are always more important than winning some abstract argument.

No it wasn't just that one post. It's a series posts for a while by you and others....Anyway it's good to talk honestly about this. Dogster would be laughing his socks off of he could read this. It was only a few months ago he posted a whole series of things I'd said to Vicky, which really shocked me when I saw them all lined up together in one post. Luckily, some goodness knows who, yikesed it. I don't like to yikes, so I was quite relieved....

I meant the whole series of posts by me to her for the last few weeks. You or Vicky are free to yikes me if you feel I've broken a site rule. I don't yikes Vicky because she is careful not to openly attack people and I don't believe yikes' achieve anything unless the troll repeatedly steps over the line in regard to site rules. Vicky has in the past and that was sorted then.

My comments towards her tend to be what I believe to be corrections, humourous attempts to point out inaccuracies or double standards and outright loss of temper, the later of which I once again apologise for. Again I don't apologise for who I am. Or my sense of humour.

I agree that it's healthy to talk about this, I'm glad you brought it up. I'll try to be less subject to other people's negative interpretation of what I say in the future. Thank you.

Sorry, I do blame her for being thick, intentionally or by nature. How can one person misinterpret or twist posts by others so consistently day after day after day???????

OK.

Vicky said,

>I blame multi-tasking<

I responded with,

'Women are supposed to be good at that, Vicky '

You responded with,

'I blame you being thick.'

zoomer,

Which comment was designed to inject a bit of teasing and fun into the usual heatedness on TGD thread, often when Vicky is around? Which comment might have defused things for, yes, admittedly only a few seconds ? And which comment could only intensify the atmosphere of conflict and polarization, already goddam awful? And *most* importantly, which comment was the most witty?

Seriously zoom, can't you just stand back a bit from it, and look at the wider picture of the thread? I used to feel much like you. But I've changed my way of looking at things; and it's so much more fun..

Take off that zoom, zoom, and put on the fisheye lens.

It was a simulpost, I was replying to her, not you.

I think I have explained myself.

btw, did I mention that my (ex) wife, 15 years younger than me is bi-polar and bi-sexual? We are still friends and are in a way united by the fact that we condemn the beliefs of her Baptist Minister father and devout mother? LOLOLOLOL

Sooo... how is your day?

> I was replying to her, not you.<

Well yes.....I always knew that..........I'm totally confused.

I was teasing you...

Maybe lets leave this eh.....severe humour communication breakdown happening.



Yes, you did mention your bipolar ex-partner around the time we became friends. You were less than complimentary about her and bipolar, and then apologised to me about it, when you realised.

I can do without all this at present. See you around the TGD thread.

Just so you know, here is the height I have fallen from and the depth I have reached:

A11634707

You must admit Vicky can occasionally bring out the worst in people.

I thought to take this away from TGD thread. There's enough 'heat' there now.

You quoted part of a post of mine and said something cryptic, ie

>*The state I've worked myself up into about it - doesn't bode well.*

You've certainly illustrated the *state* you are in today right here<

Care to elaborate about what *exactly* you were implying? Hey I'm just straightforward, plain talking type, myself. So I like these things clear and upfront.

I was just pointing out that you sounded nervous. I shouldn't have put it in with a response to Vicky, that was the confusing part. I was tired and lazy, I should have made it a separate post. I hope I didn't offend.

zoom.

The only problem I have now is, I keep facing *I'm fed up with your personal attacks* every time I log onto my PS.

Hey zoomer, sorry for my tone and snappiness with you yesterday on that 'Georgia' thread. I do stand by my general opinion on the matter, but I didn't need to say it the way I did. I was in a foul mood; no excuse though. Sorry.

And now you'll have your attention drawn again to this annoyingly blunt, Effer's style, thread title...

Water off a duck's back. No worries.

I enjoy your posts, they are often full of heart and soul and usually very thought provoking.



ps, off to see a film with my ex tomorrow!