I've been trying to decide how I want to respond to everything that's been said here and to address just why I've been acting like what many of you perceive to be an asshole in Anarchy. I decided the best thing to do would be to just copy and paste the reply I gave aberkok when he asked why it's so important to be free to give personal insults. Here is my reply:
Quote:
It's not that it's important to be free to give personal insults - it's that I'm free to not be censored from doing it if I feel so inclined. I appreciate and respect level-headedness and in most circumstances, level-headedness prevails and earns respect, but not all the time.
One of the reasons that I'm not concerned with how I'm perceived in the rest of the other forum is that I do not live my life based upon the approval I get from strangers. This isn't an insult to anyone who does, either. I just don't see the point of trying to please everyone just so people think I'm nice. I'm not interested in "nice" for the sake of being liked. I'm also of the mindset that those who think everything in life should be treated level-headedly are missing out on one the things that makes humans different from the other animals: the ability to feel and express emotions. We talk about level-headedness but we never discuss a balance of emotions. If everyone is always expected to be nice or to disguise their ire, then our emotions remain unbalanced. This is not level-headed at all.
I can easily understand the argument that I'm being childish. Hell, if I were the observer and it were someone else involved in this, I'd probably think the same thing. The problem with this thinking, though, is that idea that some people have that we will stop if we feel others view us more poorly than before. This flies against how I live my life. Shame or guilt don't work with me. I'll stop when I'm ready to stop, which will probably be when I get bored.
Does this make me less of a person? Why? Because I don't adhere to someone else's notion of what acceptable is? Does everyone adhere to everyone's notion of acceptable behavior? Is it even possible for us to? Or is the the notion of acceptable behavior held by the masses that we should adhere to? I've been called a lemming for going along with a few others here who are engaged in the same behavior, but insinuate that I'd stop being a lemming if only I'd do what the majority of people are doing. That's abusrd.
Since there is no way in hell I'll ever please everyone or be able to adhere to everyone's expectations of behavior, I decide to follow my own. If that means that a group of people are disappointed in me, then so be it.
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And while we all rally around particular people, I just want to reiterate spec's comment: there are no innocent victims in what went on over there. We may choose to pick sides, and that's fine, but don't for a second think that the person you may choose to support is an innocent victim.