Why Do You Post Here?
 

First of all i can see this becoming controversial and that's not my intention (i'll explain my intentions below) so i'm going to repost Yoda's new guidelines and a link to the thread; please just try to be civil so this stays open i know i'm worse than most in this regard:

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=49561

Okay, i think there's a few members at all times that i always complain about because they don't post outside of Intermission Threads. I think i'm too readily easy to dismiss them and pin some problems on them.

So @Wplains @Don Schneider why did you join a movie site to talk about political issues.

Or did you join it for another reason and end dragged into political issues or whatever?

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I post on this g0dd@mn site so I can tell all of you @#&%ers to go #%&! yourselves! And that all your #@&#ing stupid movies $uck! That's why!
Two years I've been doing this $#%@ now and tonight's my second anniversary "Friday night bash."
So bottoms up all you &$%#ing b!otches!

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I invited a super nice person here yesterday because she loves movies and I said there are some incredible movie fanatics on this board. Huge wealth of knowledge about film. Lots of recommendations, great film reviewers etc. Hilarious fun in bananabox.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

She joined yesterday but got held up. She runs q few groups in facebook which is how I know her. she's like the lady version of Yoda

I'd suggest not bringing attention to her haha.

I am a horrific person with horrific views - fearfully and wonderfully made.

I was sad when I first came to this site and found that the slot I wanted to fill was already taken by @Sexy Celebrity (and you can't have two Sexy Celebrities)!

But seriously, you can blame @Citizen Rules and @gbgoodies for me being here - they invited me here when I got banned from the eBay boards for NOT breaking any guidelines that they could actually cite, but for not towing their PC line. :)

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Because I think I might be a closet masochist.

Actually I joined because I was on a different movie board (not IMDb) and didn't like the atmosphere there and it didn't feel like a community. So I googled movie forums and found this. I mostly came to talk movies, but being a veteran of other boards I also wanted lively discussion about other things. I wanted a board that felt personal. That was almost 8 years ago. There are people here that I can't stand and there have been times when I've considered leaving, but there are also some people here that I genuinely love interacting with.

OMG

Love you so much. i do think////

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Because the posts look like speech bubbles! :eek:

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I post here because IMDB.com disappeared. I posted on IMDB.com for about 10 years. I found this site accidentally. I was posting for several years on a website totally unrelated to movies, etc., but that website was over-moderated. You almost could not burp there without receiving an "infraction". The owner of that site was extremely pleasant & gracious, but she allowed her mods to overstep their boundaries.

haha

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Because I love movies and wanted to be part of an online community that also loves movies.


MoFo gave me that and more.


And.. I totally agree with Yoda clamping down on the threads that can just be flame and troll bait and turn into slanging matches because someone doesn't agree with someone else.
I don't go into the politics threads or world-issues threads, terrorism threads et al, simply because I joined MoFo to talk about something that isn't those things.


Watching a movie, is an escape... logging into MoFo, is also an escape.


Hope to see you all in the chat room in about 10 and a half hours to watch Predator!!!

OMG, Thanks for the reminder, Rattus

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Force of habit.

i think people regularly ignore IRO and they shouldn't.

They shouldn't, IMO.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

At first I posted here because I was looking for a good movie site that did lists where the members voted on the films. I was part of some other forums that did stuff like that, but the community wasn't as pleasant as the one I found here back then. I don't watch as many movies now, but I found some people I like here, so I stick around and make a post or two every now and then.

I like him. He'll probably now tell me to go drown myself and I'll say - well that's pretty easily done because it's raining here so I'll just step outside and swim with sharks. Back soon

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/w...0/p02940bz.jpg

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

MoFo is my surrogate family.

I don't think I've ever known you not to complain.

When I first got here, it was all SC, MV and Camo. It now feels like I post in the gaps left by SC, MV and Camo. There is no excitement in the air. Seems like the forum now belongs to other daily polluters. At this stage, I post out of habit and I look for Camo's next entertaining antics/temp. ban.:D

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Not as active as I used to, but I post here because I genuinely love this community so much. Btw I agree with Yoda's recent decision, some of the discussions were really getting out of hand.

You've made it, kid. :D

Don't forget to convert your reps into MoFo credit for a snazzy hat.

May I see the hat?

No one just sees the hat. You do what all the other cool kids do and wear it, no questions asked. You came so close to losing all that hard earned credibility there.

Remember, you're too cool for school.

When did that happen? He's been trying to bully me off here for three months. Zero credibility from me. He even now hangs off my country's news feed including really ghastly morning tv to try to one up me in the other thread. Who on earth does that? I think he might belong to Rupert Murdoch.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

'Cos it beats using a hammer and chisel :)

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Short answer? Too stubborn to leave. :lol:

Nah, he's cool. I often agree with him.

I guess they can't help it if I've stopped contributing as much actual movie-based content to this website as I used to, plus the flip-side is that now I'm getting too much attention from the wrong users for daring to get all political all of a sudden.

what

As usual, everything on MOFO is now about you and yours. I especially love the accusations, that I follow you everywhere on here. Honey, if that were the case, my post count would be much, much higher. The truth is, you are everywhere, and that's not a good thing.

I don't ignore your rating system and need attention posts. I still care.:D

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Speaking of too much attention from the wrong users...

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

:love:

I originally came here in the hope of finding the title of a movie I recalled and very much wanted to see again. That hope was fulfilled via the kindness of another poster and in record time! Not only did he have the name of the movie but actually linked to it online as well! So I’m grateful.

After that, I did make some more posts regarding movies. I thought and continue to think that this was one of the best forums I’ve encountered online both because of its splendid tech presentation as well as the evenhanded moderation of its owner. Since under the miscellaneous heading, I noted many political topics, I assumed there was no prohibition here about positing such subjects. If you think there should be, then I’d suggest you lobby the owner. I note that you singled out two of us, both with a conservative political perspective who have often dueled with leftists. Leftists love freedom of speech, as long as they are the ones doing the speaking. Perhaps you should consider matriculating at Berkeley UC. I’m sure you’ll find yourself right at home

I hope that answers your question, as least from me since you mentioned me. I’ll leave it to the other poster to speak for himself.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Joined out of love for film.

I tend to not watch loads of movies these days and have drifted into reading and TV series. Hollywood is part of the problem too as there don't seem to be as many films these days worthy of discussion, it's all comic book movies these days. Sure when Star Wars drops, or Nolan s next big film, or game of thrones then the discussion will heat up but for now it's about heading into miscellaneous to see what's a cookin.

Like Iro said it's become a habit. On my daily route through the Internet. Also I love the countdowns.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

It should also be said that the forum is set up well, the new mentions, rep, post comments don't exist on a lot if other forums, and thus forum benefits from a smaller community.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

i come to post here in my two review threads 'ashdoc's movie reviews' and 'ashdoc's bollywood movie reviews' . my bollywood thread gives a unique perspective to westerners into bollywood films , something that no other reviewer on this forum can do .

the other thread that i am active on is 'terrorist attacks' . i started it because captain steel was starting a new thread for each terror attack and would have soon flooded the 'intermission , miscellaneous chat' section with terror threads . so i decided to bunch all terror attacks in one thread .

This. It's like having friends all over the world that you can have chats with when you have a bit of time during the day. I came here 12 2/5th years ago (according to the stats) after the BBC film boards closed down, and my fellow poster there Tacitus invited me here. I left for months once after I was having a tough time in my life, but I came back and everyone was so lovely and welcoming now I can't ever leave. I admire and respect Yoda and his mods for the intelligent way they balance the greater good of the site with the people within it.

Wow I had no idea you and Tac knew each other for so long and before mofo, Christine.

Yeah we had a lovely community on the BBC film board. Have friends in real life from there even now. One of them came to stay with us from New Jersey recently.

Speaking of Countdowns I think it's fast becoming time for another "All Time" top 100 countdown, the last one was 2010 I think just before I came here and now many of those voters have gone and a new wave has come in, plus the imdb refugee's. Of course you could make it a once a decade event and start the countdown in 2020, votes to be in by 31st Dec 2019 and post the results twice per week or thereabouts so it last the whole year.

Now that the terrorist attacks thread is closed I hope you will also discuss movies on this forum :D

Every act of censorship is another victory for terrorism.

https://image.spreadshirtmedia.net/i...-s-t-shirt.jpg

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Kinship. I've always joined many groups, sometimes to take one thread and post it everywhere, to see the comparisons. And in the Craigslist group, someone sent me a message saying a lot of people like my type of movies, and then I came, and it was true!

Aside from the movies and other topics, I like the people here.

If you're implying the thread closure is censorship, that's utter nonsense. First, because this forum is private property. Second, because the thread's been open a year and has over 1,300 posts. And third, because all of those supposedly "censored" opinions are being left up, in perpetuity, for anyone to see.

So what's being censored, exactly? Seeing that exact same opinion expressed again? You think if you express an opinion 100 times, but don't get to do so a 101st time, you've been "censored"?

FYI: this post should not be taken as an invitation to litigate the decision. But I need to point at, if only once, how utterly ridiculous this charge is. I'm sure people will whisper and gossip and re-affirm to one another that they're all martyrs for the cause. I can't stop such self-serving myth making, but I can point out how irrational it is.

That result is unavoidable when you close a thread with a topic that has a worldwide agenda against it from being discussed honestly. It is a topic that is consistently stifled all over moderated forums because it is too volatile in the sense that a large portion of the population does not want the truth even as they are horrified by the recurring consequences of trying to avoid, ignore, deny or excuse it.

As said, the thread's been open a year with 1300 posts - how is that a reason to close it? (I know, it's the same thing over and over - reaffirming positions is the nature of debate, plus the fact that the attacks keep occurring over and over, thus reigniting the outrage, the condolences and the discussions.)

The thread is (or was) a current events news and discussion thread within the Miscellaneous Chat section. What's being censored is the conversation. If new threads are formed after the next attack, are they also to be closed? If not, then why close one that consolidated new news items in one place?

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

When I joined in 2012 I was very much into film and I though other places like IMDB and that arthouse site whose name I forgot (oh yeah, Mubi) were boring or pretentious (Mubi).

By late 2013 I lost serious interest in live action film. Now am I mostly interested in graphic novels and animation yet I still like to post about what I have been reading and watching.

I got into many fights here as well, mainly because of my lack of understanding of anglophone culture. And now since I understand Anglophone culture better (since this is an anglophone forum) I understand now why they happened. And I hope I will use this knowledge so that fights will not happen again.

No, it's too volatile in the sense that people can't discuss it in good faith. It inevitably devolves into repetitive, apocalyptic rhetoric and personal attacks, as it has here. This can't be laid at the feet of a "worldwide agenda," because nobody makes people do those things.

No, responding to counterarguments is the nature of debate: reaffirming your position is the nature of proselytizing and stonewalling. The thread was closed after examples of this (as well as the repeated, overt personalization of disagreements) had manifestly increased.

What I'm not seeing in your response is any attempt to reconcile these facts with the "censorship" charge, by the way. You say why close it now: I'll throw the same question back. Why close it now, if censoring this view was the idea? Why leave those views up, if censoring them was the idea? It doesn't make a lick of sense, which means "censorship" is just a loaded term used to express displeasure with the decision, but not something which actually describes it.

I've never been a member of another forum and I never had any interest in joining any. I don't use Facebook or twitter either. I happened upon this site by accident and spent some time looking at the movie questions sub forum. I joined for some reason and didn't post much for about the first year and a half. Then I joined a song tournament and MoFo has been a part of my daily life ever since. It's my biggest hobby, even more so than movie watching. The most important thing is it allows me to have a social life while maintaining a busy schedule.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Personally, I began posting post the past public forums I posted in 'cause it was practically impossible to post postive posts that was passable as anything else than prejudice and problematic pointlessness 'cause of poor personalities in people and poor presence within the platform, which was a pain and I pulled the plug on my past postings to pursue paralleled places with added patience and personality, which made me pass the public place of MoFo, which prior to the point of this thread was perfect but now treads previous problems predominantly... pretty paradoxical, right?

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

LOL MM. I read that with explosive pronunciation.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Sorry everyone, now that I'm not allowed to complain about The Terrorists anymore, I guess I have to quit this place forever.

MM, did you go to the Stan Lee School of alliteration? ;)

Because I need something to do in between porn sessions while I'm on the internet.

But no, there's a lot of really cool, knowledgeable people on here that really make you feel welcome. I've actually been on here for around 3 years now, this is actually my second account. :p

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Another movie based forum was closing due to the site being bought by some company and them not liking the un-moderated aspects of it. Literally typed in movie forums into google, came here, haven't left.

Been here almost 12 years now. I feel like MoFo has been a part of and witnesses a lot of important moments in my life (Graduation, Marriage, Death of pet, First Child, etc)

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I used to post on rottentomatoes yeeeeears ago before they changed the format from a catchall listing to segregating then to only the associated movie pages. Oddly, I never migrated to IMDb. I guess I was just so bitter that I never bothered looking. Too, I guess IMDb was the enemy on some branded matter of principle or something. I guess? I don't remember.

I bounce around between gaming and political forums. Both are ghost towns now. A few months ago I googled a description of a movie I saw back in college during a campus movie night, hoping to find the name of it and this site came up with a dedicated questions forum. That got my attention.

I pop in here probably more than I should, stalking the top-posts of each tab to see if I have anything interesting to add. Mostly though, I'm just watching, or sniping low-hanging fruit for a quick laugh. I can see this becoming long term though, growing into something more. I love movies. Always have, since I was a kid. Mom would often take me to a Sunday afternoon matinee. We both found escape there, and I always enjoyed spending time with mom like that. Matter of fact, whenever I go visit for the holidays or whatever, I make sure to take her to a least one movie while I'm there.

Movies are an escape for me. If ever I get stressed the hell out, I can buy a ticket to any underrated or older movie at the end of its cinema life cycle and just disappear for an hour or three. It always clears my head. Coming to these forums I see that, while you may not have the same sentimental reactions as I do watching movies, you all in one way or another have a deep love or respect for them. For whatever your reasons are. I can appreciate that on a weirdly deep level. And I can in an even weirder way, feel part of something---at least in ways that I don't normally experience within my local circle of friends and acquaintances.

So that's neat. I guess. The politics are a bit distracting as I catch myself floating around those posts more than the movie-themed topics, but I'm sure that's mostly out of practice and newness of the site in general to me. Hopefully I can learn more about the motives of some of you here, as I find most of you terribly interesting.

So yeah. I know this may not have been the exact intent of the OP, but thanks for posting the question all the same.

Genuine question here, what happens next time there is an attack, maybe even a really big attack? Just don't discuss it here or what?

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

What everybody else did before that thread opened - still talk about it rationally (if possible).

It's a fair question. I was planning on taking it case-by-case.

Obviously, if something monumental happens, it would be ridiculous to ask people not to discuss it. Discussing terrorism is not against the rules. The issue is with having a de facto log, where literally every terrorist attack (any incident, actually, even if it turns out not to be terrorism) is used to call everyone back from their corners.

And in that event (God forbid), hopefully the relative rarity of the topic, and these past experiences, will help people engage thoughtfully and tread lightly.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I post here because I can and I like it here. It isn't my right however. I take so much for granted nowadays that sometimes it takes me a few weeks to come up with an opinion about how I feel about something. This is a private site and I think Chris is in a kind of sh*tty position, really. He has to moderate the human condition most days. Good luck with that.

I think his decision the other day was a good one. I don't pay dues here, I shouldn't be able to just attack people, even if I want to. Chris does a really good job balancing that out. And remember folks... you can go round and round with him for days. But ultimately, he's doing this because of US. Not because of him.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I can run this place for him if he would ask me. :cool:

I would change only one policy: disliking Miyazaki means permanent ban.

I want to hear more about Anglophones.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

I decided to use the term anglophone instead of anglo-saxon because I felt some people might get offended by the term anglo-saxon.

In Brazil we use the term "Anglo-Saxon America" to describe the US and Canada. We use the term "Hispanic America" to describe Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and the other stuff that speaks Spanish and "Portuguese America" to describe Brazil.

We call the countries that speak English, "Anglo-Saxon countries", that is, US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Also, I have a Norwegian friend who also used the term "Anglo-Saxon countries" so apparently it's not unique for Brazilians.

Not sure why you keep trying to pick a fight with me. I'm not the one you're pissed at. If you don't like his policies, you're free to leave... as you have on numerous occasions if memory serves. I can be just as nasty as you, you know...

Perhaps I'm mistaken, kinda thought you'd been a little snarky towards me lately.

I post here for a few reasons. One reason is that I enjoy attention. Another reason is that I like to know what other people think about movies. I also like being entertained with reviews by others and hearing stories. Another reason I post is so I can continue to succeed with online friendships, which I have sort of found here after many years of being a freak at bluray.com. At bluray.com I'd usually give my 2 cents about a movie and ask lots of technical questions. Well, a lot of those users over there have no sense of humor and are just plain miserable and snotty. So I called them out and got banned a few times for it. So I came here..to behave and try to be an adult, and talk movies (since I learned about technology of film transfers etc, earlier). I like the set up here. It has a nice interface. I dig the notifications. It's like a FB without the old obligatory high school friend requests and judgemental family members watching you carry on and..and judging you. No one knows me here even though my name is already out of the bag. I also like to make myself laugh by typing. So far, I haven't chuckled once. Maybe next time.

You lost me a little bit here. What are we talking about? I apologize, I'm on now more than I have been for the last two years or so I may have missed something and not realized it. I like to think I "get" you probably more than maybe most of the folks on the board. This seems kinda private. Wanna pm me?

Americans speak English? :cool:

That's an interesting reason to post here.

Serious?

Poor things don't know their fannies from their bums. :lol:

LOL. Or their g strings from their flip flops. Awkward.

What are talking about here again? lol

EDIT: Ohhhh...pussy butts,..right, right...

Oh? I haven't heard that one.

LOL I stuffed my wording. I meant Their g strings from their thongs. Derp. Joke fail.

(I think you're missing the joke...the joke was that Americans actually got the meaning of the word "fanny" wrong, and continue to do so. I don't think they confuse meanings of the words you offered). ;)

I used to post here mainly about movies about 12 years ago. But the reason I stayed was because there's a particularly anti-muslim anti-arab feel on the miscellaneous part of the forum and I felt it was my duty to show anyone who stumbled upon this corner of the internet that: NO, we do not all hate Muslims. Islam and Arabs are an important and welcomed part of our world and I will always stand in the way of bigots, racists, anti-Semitism, islamophobia, and all other similar things that prove our species is not as evolved as we think it is.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

As an American, let me step in to clarify the confusion on the confusion.
Fanny (round these here parts, at least) is what we call a kid's arse. We don't want to to say, "I'm going to beat your ass!!" to a 5 year old that just knocked over the 52" flat screen. Instead, we command the kid to go get a switch so that we may whip their little fanny, where a switch is usually a short green leafy branch off of a hedge or other similar yard plant.

A bum is a guy living on the street.

Flip-flops are the cheap stringy rubber things you wear on your feet at the beach or lazily around the house, while thongs are what we call particular women's under pants. Or as we like to call them in the south, butt-floss.

I find your views most ironic in light of your chosen screen name. There is a happy medium. The PC crowd mouthing off all these “isms” constantly cheapens such to the extent that they become meaningless; cheapens the usage of “Islamophobia” in the context of the recent terror attack directed at Muslims in London in an apparent revenge strike. (In fact, "Islam hatred" would be more appropriate in this context.)

The problem with the PC police is that they come off as extreme, totally unreasonable. “Islamophobia” means “fear of Islam.” Is that an unreasonable reaction in light of constant terror attacks by Islamic extremists? There is no other religion that employs such tactics. Is it unreasonable to be afraid off being butchered at random while simply going about one’s daily business? Is it unreasonable to want to maintain one’s culture within in a country where one's ethnic group has inhabited and shaped it for millennia? If I became homeless and you kindly offered me refuge, would it be unreasonable to expect me to conform to your house rules, no smoking, for example? What ever happened to: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do?”

There is no great animosity towards Arabs per se, no racism. In the United States, the majority of Arabs, at least as of now, are Christian, like the late, beloved Danny Thomas. For those that are Muslim, then if they apply to live here then they should be willing to conform to our cultural norms by, for example, limiting religious dress in public to a minimum, such as a head scarf for women, not unlike a Jewish man wearing an yarmulke.

Yet the PC crowd denounce those who want to preserve the cultural standards of their ancestors as “tribalists.” If you and I shared and owned a house jointly, then I don’t think that you on your own volition should decide to take in a bunch of homeless people without my consent. You seem to feel otherwise and thus there is conflict. We will (not “shall”) fight back and thus we have Trump. We will not cede the moral high ground to those like yourself when we feel are demands are reasonable. If our culture is so corrupt and rotten to its moral core of being, then why do so many want to quit their own ancestral homelands in favor of ours? Muslims, for example, already possess a vast amount of territory. Those that we do accept here must make reasonable concessions such as adapting to our cultural norms and assimilating in time as they have not done in Europe whose decadent, indigenous population will not fight back as they labor under that mass psychosis known as political correctness.

So go take a bow and pat yourself on the back for how so very tolerant you are. Attaboy! As I said, we “deplorables” will fight back!

Why is the fear of being butchered lumped in with not wanting people to dress differently? The first is reasonable, the second is not.

This analogy doesn't make much sense. America is not your house. And the "house rules" are the laws, not vague, fluctuating cultural norms about clothing.

America is a country founded on an idea, not a race or a tribe, so what's expected of people who come here is simply that they respect those laws and, ideally, buy into basic American principles of democracy and equality. That's it. It debases the very idea of America to suggest that it can be undermined by something as superficial and transient as headwear

The "cultural norm" in America is not expecting other people to adhere to your idea of cultural norms. Nor them you.

You really undermine your own arguments about Islamic terrorism, which are worth addressing seriously, when you try to include these general cultural restrictions along with them, as if they were part of the same issue.

While my post obviously addresses two separate issues, it does not conflate them. I nevertheless feel both are equally valid. Rightfully or wrongfully (considering our horrible aggression against the indigenous American Indians), America was founded by people of European, Christian cultures. That foundation is now over six hundred years, and I see nothing untoward let alone immoral about wanting to preserve it any more than I see anything immoral about wanting to preserve Saudi Arabia and the vast lands of the Arabic conquests by the Islamic people, religion and culture.

Unfortunately, you seem to feel otherwise. I’m disappointed. I suppose we must agree to disagree.

Who it was founded by is not what it was founded on. If the ethnicity and culture of the founders were important, they'd have enshrined those things in the Constitution, or at least the Declaration of Independence. But they didn't. Instead, in their wisdom, they made it about ideas.

The problem is what you think "it" is. You seem to believe, for no reason whatsoever, that the "foundation" of America is the skin color and mores of the people who founded it, rather than the laws and principles they founded it on.

So did the founders you're trying to appeal to. When you suggest that America is about these other superficial things, you're not disagreeing with me, you're disagreeing with them.

I notice that you didn’t quote let alone attempt to answer my question:

“If our culture is so corrupt and rotten to its moral core of being, then why do so many want to quit their own ancestral homelands in favor of ours?”

Maybe because the answer wouldn’t be very “politically correct.” They’ve made such a mess in their own ancestral homelands, despite being blessed with such natural resources as oil, that they want to come here as a refuge. Why? So the process can begin here anew based upon their cultural mores? .

To all: hear me now! People try to break out of a hellhole, not into one!

No, it's because it is completely immaterial to my argument, which does not defend any specific culture, let alone that one. Instead, it disputes the notion that America is based on these things at all, and I notice you didn't quote or attempt to answer anything I just said to you about that.

I'll go ahead and reply to it anyway, though:

People who choose to leave those situations generally aren't going to be the ones who thought it was a good way of doing things, by definition. Otherwise, your logic would apply to the founders themselves, too: why expect them to start a free nation when they came from a monarchy? Answer: because where they came from was far less important than the fact that they decided to leave.

Well that came as a surprise to me because I saw them in NYC so I looked it up. Are you referring to Goldman v. Weinberger? If so that's a bit of a stretch. And I don't think you quite understand what the headscarf is about.

I cannot see how someone wearing that on their head has any more of an impact than someone wearing a beanie or baseball cap.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4tasQWYdSp...54pto1_500.jpg

I can understand people being confronted or suspicious of niqab but a piece of material covering the head?

Hope this isn't starting to feel like "jumping on Don day," but just want to point out - the key word you left out when discussing any "phobia" is the word "irrational." When actual dangers are present or patterns of behavior have presented dangers, then fear is not irrational, rather it is a natural and necessary function to survival. It is only irrational if the fear has no basis or is manifest in a reaction so extreme that it outweighs any outside chance of even the slightest potential danger.

By analyzing our discussion heretofore, it seems to boil down to that while you concede that he or she who holds a valid title to a house owns it, the same cannot be said that Americans own America. I unequivocally reject said assertion. Since our two viewpoints are patently irreconcilable, it is pointless to continue the discussion.

You quoted a part of my post out of context. Here is the relevant paragraph in its entirety:

“The problem with the PC police is that they come off as extreme, totally unreasonable. ‘Islamophobia’ means ‘fear of Islam.’ Is that an unreasonable reaction in light of constant terror attacks by Islamic extremists? There is no other religion that employs such tactics. Is it unreasonable to be afraid off being butchered at random while simply going about one’s daily business? Is it unreasonable to want to maintain one’s culture within in a country where one's ethnic group has inhabited and shaped it for millennia? If I became homeless and you kindly offered me refuge, would it be unreasonable to expect me to conform to your house rules, no smoking, for example? What ever happened to: ‘When in Rome do as the Romans do?’”

I don't know what you think it means to "own" a country, but if Americans own America, they express that ownership through laws. So the "house rules" of Americans are the laws, not the amorphous culture.

If you want to talk general American principles instead, they're based in individual freedom, not superficial things like race or dress. And if you can think of yourself as defending America while simultaneously ignoring what's in (or, more tellingly, not in) its founding documents, then indeed, it is pointless to continue.

Hi Don, I wasn't making a criticism, just submitting an addendum.

The problem when people attach the suffix of "phobia" onto a word is the indication that those expressing concern or who are simply discussing it are somehow so irrational that they should not be taken seriously or that they are suffering from some sort of brain imbalance.

This act of placing the stigma of some kind of mental derangement or illness on people who demonstrate awareness is being used as a way to silence others - it's a labelling tactic.

Fear and terror are synonyms, so there is nothing irrational about fearing terrorism, those that commit it, or the ideologies that utilize it.

Upon further contemplation, I see where the core of the problem lies. That is, what is this discussion about? Is it about exiling American citizens who are Muslims? Of course not. That would certainly be unconstitutional and immoral. What it is about is the future. By owning America, Americans have the right to defend its borders and decide whom we will admit as immigrants. This is what Trump is all about. Aliens who are not in this country have no constitutional rights; therefore, we can ban any such immigrants for any reason including that their values and cultural mores are antithetical to our own. And who these people are is decided upon by Americans through the democratic process that you speak of.

The things you initially said, and which I replied to, were about culture and head coverings, not immigration policy. You went well beyond merely stating that we have the right to restrict who enters the country (true), stating instead that immigrants should suppress their culture and religion to reflect predominant American culture and religion (which isn't particularly homogeneous to begin with, but one thing at a time).

Not only are these initial comments about more than immigration policy, but your follow-up response, which invoked the founders' religion and ethnicity rather what they actually wrote in our founding documents, confirms it.

As I said, you're free to disagree with what I'm saying. But you should direct that dissent to the faces on whatever coins or bills you have lying around.

Re: Why Do You Post Here?
 

Yoda and I don't always see eye to eye but I really don't want to respond to the above posters because I'd probably ruin his near perfect responses. So I'll just say I agree 100% with his assessment.

He's pretty wise for a lil green guy.

Absolutely. One that is being used more and more to silence anyone who doesn't agree with PC. Social media is partly responsible for this, IMO. Witness the hysteria over the man who shot the lion in Zimbabwe (or thereabouts) and that poor mother whose kid fell into the gorilla cage at the zoo. Strangely enough, when it was discovered the mother was an African American, all criticism was immediately halted. A case of conflicting PC, I guess. :D

Cyril the lion. What that hunter did was wrong. Just wrong.

He paid to hunt lions. Maybe he killed the wrong one - but did he deserve death threats? Threats to his livelihood and family? You don't think that was maybe a teensy bit over the top? If you don't want animals to be hunted, then stop licenses from being issued for hunting. But the problem is, these licenses are huge revenue earners for very poor 3rd world countries. They are probably a means of survival for local populations.

And what about that poor mother whose kid fell to into the gorilla cage? She was insulted, called every name under the sun, there were petitions to have her children taken away, calls for her to be shot or jailed when, in my view, it was the Zoo's fault their security was so lax a four year old was able to breach the exhibit's defenses. But the ultimate hypocrisy was how the barrage of insults and OTT outrage immediately stopped when it became widely known she was African American. Yup, conflicting PC.