[edited to reflect nonexistence of downtime].
[ 04 October 2008: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]
The ridiculous compartmentalism of Babble
Fri, 2008-10-03 18:33
#52
Fri, 2008-10-03 18:37
#53
Ken, Downtime no longer exists.
Sat, 2008-10-04 06:17
#54
quote:
Ken, Downtime no longer exists.
That is the most menacing posting that I have seen, anywhere!
I hope that it is easily explainable, oldgoat.
Sat, 2008-10-04 07:43
#55
Sure George. It is my position that I am the only entity in the universe, and that all existence stems from my imagination. You, and all other babblers are merely products of a construct within my own mind. I stopped thinking about downtime as real. I still think about you as real though, although I'm considering some minor adjustments. (how do you like the name Georgette?)
Or, you can go with a more pedestrian explanation that he was banned yesterday.
Sat, 2008-10-04 08:15
#56
Given that the guy seemed to be suffering from stress, and his posts probably represented an appeal for help, your action may have been just a bit abrupt?
quote:
Ken, Downtime no longer exists.
He probably still exists, as a 74-year-old looking to find some meaning in the present by relating to a past activism...and, like many of us, wondering at the gap between statements of concern for others and their actual treatment.
Or do I have an over-active imagination, in your god-like estimation, and your puerile explanation does not emanate from a bag-of- hammers sensibility?
Sat, 2008-10-04 08:24
#57
George, sorry you didn't like oldgoat's style in this case. But you don't get to pollute our workplace (yes, this is my workplace and oldgoat's) with rude and insulting remarks aimed at us when you're unhappy with the work we do.
If downtime needs help, probably an online forum isn't the best place to find it. Certainly we are not required to allow people to abuse forum members or the moderators. He was removed from the forum for remarks made in another thread, not this one.
[ 04 October 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]
Sat, 2008-10-04 08:59
#58
Sorry, oldgoat, didn't know the axe had fallen on old downers.
Have now deleted the entry in question.
[ 04 October 2008: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]
Sat, 2008-10-04 10:15
#59
On the subject of Babble regional reorganization, how about putting Alberta in a "Texas and Northern Texas" forum?
That's pretty much what Alberta Tories would want, anyway.
Mon, 2008-10-06 09:11
#60
quote:
Sorry, oldgoat, didn't know the axe had fallen on old downers.
The block has to be prepared before the executioner does his work.
That was the work of all of the sensitive souls who parodied his attempts to talk in serious terms about the politics of this country and its past, and a personal history offered up in an attempt to explain a different perspective - jeering rather than inviting answers to questions in the name of enlightenment.
Hope it doesn't portend even more exclusionary actions to come! All quite frightening, really.
Tribalistic.
Mon, 2008-10-06 09:31
#61
bagkitty
quote:
Originally posted by Ken Burch:
[b]On the subject of Babble regional reorganization, how about putting Alberta in a "Texas and Northern Texas" forum?That's pretty much what Alberta Tories would want, anyway.[/b]
I can totally get behind that, and promise to stay out of the [i]Central Canadian Overlords (In Sight of the World's Tallest Freestanding Concrete Penis)[/i] forum when the name changes come into effect.
Oh and oldgoat, thanks for lending me that cup of solipsism... the recipe wouldn't have worked without it.
Tue, 2008-10-07 08:09
#62
Makwa
quote:
Originally posted by George Victor:
Hope it doesn't portend even more exclusionary actions to come! All quite frightening, really. [b]Tribalistic.[/b]
I say, GV old sport, I really would appreciate it if you could avoid using terminology related to aboriginal and traditional peoples in a denigrating manner on babble, ta very much.
Tue, 2008-10-07 08:24
#63
The term's etymology is the Latin tribus, a division of the Roman people.
Tue, 2008-10-07 08:26
#64
quote:
The term's etymology is the Latin tribus, a division of the Roman people.
neat fact. no one is thinking of Italy when they refer to something as tribal though.
Tue, 2008-10-07 08:37
#65
Classicists would and do.
[ 07 October 2008: Message edited by: Caissa ]
Tue, 2008-10-07 22:54
#66
quote:
I say, GV old sport, I really would appreciate it if you could avoid using terminology related to aboriginal and traditional peoples in a denigrating manner on babble, ta very much.
Good grief. Maybe you should take your predilection for outrage to the CBC and sue them every time a newsreader mentions the "tribal" regions in Central Asia.
And what's with your "I say, old sport...ta very much" language anyway? It would be nice if babble weren't polluted with comments denigrating those here who are of English descent.
Tue, 2008-10-07 23:38
#67
bagkitty
quote:
RENTON: I hate being Scottish. We're the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some people hate the English, but I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. We can't even pick a decent culture to be colonized by. We are ruled by effete arseholes. It's a shite state of affairs and all the fresh air in the world will not make any fucking difference.
I wonder if GV meant clannish instead of tribal. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
Wed, 2008-10-08 03:22
#68
Sociology often fails to treat issues with historical perspective and manifests a presentist bias. Good sociology avoids this error.
[ 10 October 2008: Message edited by: Caissa ]
Wed, 2008-10-08 04:04
#69
Good quote from Irvine Welsh bagkitty!
Wed, 2008-10-08 04:28
#70
Anger makes us drop in a word or two for effect.
My use of "tribalistic" was intended to be the standard dictionary one (now that I look it up in my Oxford) : "loyalty to one's own tribe or social group."
I hope that others are looking it up as well, but I would really appreciate seeing just a smidgen (Canadian Oxford, a small amount) of attention given to the object of the thread, not just the final offending word.
In fact, every time I re-read the entire thread, I'm convinced that it is not I who should be explaining - and I'm certainly not apologizing.
How about it, all you sensitive types. Wasn't there just a smidgen of insensitity at play in response to the old guy's attempts to communicate something?
Wed, 2008-10-08 04:30
#71
You only seemed to have one critic,George.
Wed, 2008-10-08 18:34
#72
Makwa
quote:
Originally posted by George Victor:
[b]I'm convinced that it is not I who should be explaining - and I'm certainly not apologizing.[/b]
That is no surprise. I thought I made my point politely, if with a little caustic wit. The play on the colonialist stereotype was perhaps misguided. So lets have another G 'n T and let it pass, shall we? The use of 'tribalistic' in such a negative context recreates the standard trope of aboriginal/traditional people as aggressive and irrational. You were the one who originally linked the term with fear. I am not fond of such archaic and unpalatable terms, given the racist baggage they carry. Please feel free to maintain your use of similar terms in similar contexts if they are so important to you, but please don't employ them in the anti-racist or FN forum. Meegwetch.
Fri, 2008-10-10 03:17
#73
Another case of selectively choosing what parts of a word's past to privilege. Plus ca change plus ca meme chose. or should I just say "plus ca meme chose."
Fri, 2008-10-10 03:23
#74
Catchfire
You might say that, but it doesn't make any sense in any language I know.
Makwa isn't 'selectively' choosing which parts of a word's history to 'privilege'. In fact, it's rather presumptuous to levy Makwa with such a charge when you're the one trying to crowbar ancient Latin and Roman history into a contemporary term. Not to mention 'sociology'. Words are present, and they have a present meaning. Makwa made a fairly light-handed request, with centuries of good cause, to be more cautious when using words generally associated with FN and African peoples in a negative light.
Of course, I don't expect you to understand that Caissa. You are obstinate in your refusal to recognize colonialist or racist history. Obnoxious, considering your insistence of Rome, I would (and do)think.
Fri, 2008-10-10 03:33
#75
Obviously YMV Catchfire. I think one analysis of issues gets privileged here which if it isn't ahistorical is at least selectively historical. As someone educated in the historical discipline, I find it problematic on my good days and offensive on my bad days.
Fri, 2008-10-10 03:41
#76
Catchfire
That sounds fine, but your historical analysis seems to shortcircuit at about Anno Domini CMLXXI.
Fri, 2008-10-10 03:53
#77
You mean 971 CE don't you? [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
ETA: Your use of Anno Domini for the 10th century of the Common Era seems a bit anachronistic.
Courtesy of Wikipedia:Though the Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525, it was not until the 8th century that the system began to be adopted in Western Europe. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, even popes continued to date documents according to regnal years, and usage of AD only gradually became more common in Europe from the 11th to the 14th centuries
[ 10 October 2008: Message edited by: Caissa ]
Fri, 2008-10-10 04:23
#78
So many standard expressions are ingrained within the culture, and so firmly imbedded in the vernacular that it really takes a two-fold approach to overcome it, with one being a willingness to comprehend the impact on others, but more so a willingness to unlearn what surfaces so easily and frequently. Which is why even a casual review of some of these related issues on Babble would illustrate endless examples through which one might draw upon the insight of others in this regard. One poignant lesson that stands out in particular is that understanding and acknowledgement is more desirable than defensiveness.
[ 10 October 2008: Message edited by: Slumberjack ]
Fri, 2008-10-10 05:47
#79
Makwa
I believe that C is providing us with an enlightening illustration in how people of the dominant culture use education as a means of expressing white privilege and asserting supremacy. As such, it is an excellent heuristic device.
[ 10 October 2008: Message edited by: Makwa ]
Fri, 2008-10-10 05:49
#80
When one of the people involved in piling on old downtime admits that, perhaps, they were being, maybe, just a tad insensitive to what another humnan being was trying to express - and being really tribal about it (ganging up on the guy, and not one voice challenging the others) - I'll know that I'm corresponding with people who take their expressions of sensitivity beyond semantics.
And Makwa, as one who has enjoyed many a meal of muskrat (spring) and frogs legs, may I suggest that you stray into the world of tic-mo with your injured sensibility? [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
Fri, 2008-10-10 05:51
#81
What Makwa and Slumberjack said. I understand that defensive response - I've done it myself in the past. But here on babble we're trying to make this a space where people do not feel excluded by insensitive language, and a place where people can speak up without being put down when words have such an effect, even when unintended.
Fri, 2008-10-10 05:52
#82
This meme grows tiresome. Let's engage the discussion not the person. I think there are different valid forms of analysis. The pejorative response seems to reject this idea and set up an absolute arbitration of what is proper. This could be seen as another form of oppression. Many historical examples.
Fri, 2008-10-10 05:54
#83
Yes, you and George are so oppressed by Makwa. It's kind of like "reverse oppression". [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]
Anyhow, this thread isn't really on topic anymore, and as you say, Caissa, this is tiresome. I'm closing this. Don't bother starting a new one unless it's on topic.