Random Thoughts

I dunno, I honestly think it's a fairly healthy sign that in most occasions our members left or took a break following a heated discussion on cultural divides like sexism and income equality that for some people are their day-to-day life and no longer willing to not call out, rather than rage-quitting over a debate of whether or not Christopher Nolan ruined Batman by setting his origin at an opera instead of a movie theater, like the myriad of dumb stuff I've seen other movie forums blow up over.

I regret the loss of the people, obviously, because I am fond of everyone here even if they rankle me, but their decision is a stance that I support in the abstract, as someone who generally believes that encouraging a political contention to remain civil tends to favor one side by default.

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Originally Posted by number8

I regret the loss of the people, obviously, because I am fond of everyone here even if they rankle me, but their decision is a stance that I support in the abstract, as someone who generally believes that encouraging a political contention to remain civil tends to favor one side by default.

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Well said. Perhaps even truer about religion.

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Originally Posted by number8

I dunno, I honestly think it's a fairly healthy sign that in most occasions our members left or took a break following a heated discussion on cultural divides like sexism and income equality that for some people are their day-to-day life and no longer willing to not call out, rather than rage-quitting over a debate of whether or not Christopher Nolan ruined Batman by setting his origin at an opera instead of a movie theater, like the myriad of dumb stuff I've seen other movie forums blow up over.

I regret the loss of the people, obviously, because I am fond of everyone here even if they rankle me, but their decision is a stance that I support in the abstract, as someone who generally believes that encouraging a political contention to remain civil tends to favor one side by default.

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Agree with all of this.

Making this a separate post so as not to imply that 8 necessarily agrees with me.

"Just a discussion" doesn't mean terribly much. These discussions revolve around real things, be they aesthetics, economics, or oppression. Most of the recent blowouts have been about social issues (Davis didn't just leave because he didn't like how we were arguing about Baywatch, he reacted against what he saw as a political correctness overreach that was saturating the culture of the forum)). These things aren't abstract; they're concrete. They resonate in our lives on very deep levels. Otherwise, why discuss or debate? Discussion about art and entertainment can inflame passions, too, and I don't think it's absurd to want to withdraw over things besides major social/political issues.

Having ragequit this forum and others before (and if/when I quit in the future, I intend to make much less of a production about it than I did in the past (sorry about those), probably slip out quietly), it's rarely "a discussion" that sends me over the edge, but a combined and compounded effect of irritation, annoyances, offenses, and whathaveyou of discussions that have mounted over months or years. It becomes at least as much about the culture of the place as any particular instance.

We're all human, and as much as we may like this space, we owe very little to it.

This place is recreation. When it stops being fun, you disconnect. That usually requires a tipping point, but tipping points aren't the beginning. The culture of this place has changed a lot in the last ten years, for better or for worse (or rather, for better and for worse). And I and every one of us have changed too.

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Originally Posted by Sycophant

This place is recreation. When it stops being fun, you disconnect.

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This, for ALL social media. I get livid when a family member asks me if we're okay because I haven't 'liked' a lot of their posts lately. If I start to get angry at any site, I just take a little time off, and when I cool off I realize how silly it is of me to get huffy about how wrong people are about AvP: Requiem :cool:.

The political stuff...hey, the internet is what YOU make it. You are only exposing yourself to stuff you choose to see. Hence why I've unfollowed and blocked so many relatives on FB since the last election. I don't have to see your bullshit, I choose NOT to, and I can still be cordial IRL. And I expect them to do the same if they don't like what I post. If they start up with the bullshit IRL, I leave. The older I get, the lower my tolerance for putting up with irritating people. Life is too short.

Oh god I didn't even consider that opera shit.

Fuck, it's ruined.

This morning I nearly hit two cars and one person on my ten-minute drive to work. None of which was my fault.

My light was green, jogger crossed anyway and waved me to pass him while he was in the middle of the street, even though I am always supposed to yield to pedestrians.

One car turned into the left lane next to me, continued driving through the intersection (which means they were briefly driving in oncoming traffic), and they nearly swerved into my lane for a wider U-turn.

I stopped before taking a right turn because someone was already in the intersection taking a left into the same lane, then they waved me on, basically stopped in the middle of the intersection.

Got so frustrated and angry (and scared) I had to pull over for a few minutes just to calm myself down (the jogger especially freaked me out, he was doing literally everything wrong).

I'm sure you guys and gals have had one of those days where you never want to drive again. You just suddenly remember that we're all driving three-ton deathmobiles and our survival (both mortal and financial) operates on this broad assumption that the people around us aren't idiots.

[I'm certainly not immune to screwing things up; if anything, that just adds to the underlying uneasiness.]

Boy I do not miss city driving.

Not a day passes that I don't see some insane thing on the road. I drive 200-350 miles a day. Some times it feels like they're all out to kill me.

Loved not having a car in Australia.

My car basically has self driving capabilities. So driving over the last 3 weeks has been pretty stress free.

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Originally Posted by Ezee E

Loved not having a car in Australia.

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I can't imagine surviving in either Australia or New Zealand without a car, unless you lived in central Sydney.

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Originally Posted by transmogrifier

I can't imagine surviving in either Australia or New Zealand without a car, unless you lived in central Sydney.

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Stayed in Sydney and the tour groups I was in had buses that took me around :)

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Originally Posted by transmogrifier

I can't imagine surviving in either Australia or New Zealand without a car, unless you lived in central Sydney.

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Wouldn't want to live without one personally, but Wellington is doable without a car.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

Wouldn't want to live without one personally, but Wellington is doable without a car.

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Hope so; have a couple of friends (English and Irish) who are moving there soon for a couple of years, and neither of them drive.

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And that is why we play Cards Against Humanity.


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Sorry for my (embarrassing) flounce, everyone.

Just needed time to cool off.

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Originally Posted by megladon8

Sorry for my (embarrassing) flounce, everyone.

Just needed time to cool off.

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No apology necessary. Carry on.

No probbies, Meg.

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Originally Posted by megladon8

Sorry for my (embarrassing) flounce, everyone.

Just needed time to cool off.

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Welcome back. The biggest news since you have been gone is that Ezee doesn't like Jaws. Shocking doesn't do it justice.

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Originally Posted by transmogrifier

Welcome back. The biggest news since you have been gone is that Ezee doesn't like Jaws. Shocking doesn't do it justice.

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I thought I saw that.

That boy ain't right....


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Originally Posted by Scar

I thought I saw that.

That boy ain't right....

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Yep. The opinion by itself is bad enough, but if you lined up all of the contributors here against a wall and asked me to pick the one most likely to call Jaws laughable, Ezee would have been very far down the list.

I don't know what to believe anymore. It would be like Spinal hating Breaking the Waves, or Watashi hating a Brad Bird film.

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Originally Posted by Scar

No apology necessary. Carry on.

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Ditto.

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Originally Posted by megladon8

Sorry for my (embarrassing) flounce, everyone.

Just needed time to cool off.

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Welcome back. Sorry that I made you think leaving was better than staying.

University sucks. No one go back to it.