TommyO

Gadget, sorry I went away and forgot my follow up. It was some time ago that I made my last post and I had planned to respond to what I thought would be your reaction to my post. I have lost interest in this forum a bit and do not come here often any more so did not respond. My intention was to show how rhetoric dialed up to a high level, does not work, in fact it often has a counter affect. It would seem this would have been a more effective plan had I followed up with you immediately after you responded to my post. That, in the very least would have made my attempt at making a point much less feable than this. Cheers TommyO P.S. to all who care to listen. I have had the band for over 3 years and have lost over 120 lbs. I am very happy with the band and would do it again for certain. My satisfaction with the band is not the reason I don't participate here at the LapBand forum. I believe my reason for staying away is that this site becomes less relevant, as a support tool as you get further along in your journey. One day you realize that you are spending your time at the site arguingwith some crazy fundamentalist christian about abortions, it's then you realize that it may be time to move on. I pop in for a visit from time to time but hopefully this will be my last post. Good luck eveyrone and to all the Pro-Choicer's keep fighting the good fight!!

See there you go, I make a statement that I disagree with your methods and I am evil but you call people murderers and still you get to judge me. Your rhetoric is fine to you only because you believe it to be not because it's right. You choose to intepret my words based upon your pallet and as such you tell the world more about you than you do about me. Your arrogance and hate creates a blemish on what is a beautiful world but you will never understand this because you think your beliefs make you right. You are no different to me that any other religious fanatic and as such you scare me. Spewing your hatred against those you disagree with, yes you can paint me as the bad guy but in truth I think I know where evil lurks.

FYI writing chalk notes on the sidewalk and praying to a mythological deity outside any building is freaky enough for me. You don't have to be yelling and screaming to appear odd this sounds like the behavior of fanatical religious zealots from where I sit. You know Gadget your last comment to me may seem to be a positive statement but it feels quite patronizing to me. You have no problem calling those in the pro-choice movement baby killers and murderers but when I call those of you on the religious right crazy you depict me as a negative person. You expect me to dial it down but at the same time you keep it dialed up adnauseam. Fundamentalists use a deity and a holy book to justify their bad behavior at the same time to proove the bad behavior of those they disagree with. I don't have a god so bad is bad and good is good either way it's up ones to interpretation. The only difference is I don't feel compelled to include a higher power to justify my side. What if I told you I was proud of you for behaving better and that I was praying for those poor wretched souls that don't know any better, would you think I was being patronizing?

Gadget, I'm not going to be here long but it is good to see your still fighting for what you believe in. I disagree with your beleifs but I commend your commitment to them however misguided I may believe you are. But you must realize that this is a fight you can never win. Even if abortion was made illegal in the United States (highly unlikely) it will still be legal in many other places. It seems to me there must be a better approach cause the one that you folks on the pro-life side are taking just doesn't seem to be working. Maybe dialing down the rhetoric might help!!!

Just kidding, I take it back please ignore my last statement.

I've been away for a while good to see that this is still in full swing, Hey Gadget are you still pushing that Ark thing too. Welcome to the dark ages!!!

To Which god do you refer??

Before you leave could you re-read your posts and try to imagine why they may be taken offensively

My Goodness you sound very angry, I just wanted to have a little fun but your anger seems to make you incapable of seeing humour. I think you need to get over the whole Moses thing, as much as I can understand how that would make you angry, especially when you include that he had to spend time with idiots, still this episode in biblical mythology seems to have impacted your outlook.

All the pretty flowers guarantee that God exists, I was an athiest until just now. How could I have forgotten about the flowers. I am not trying to offend anyone but what about the pretty flowers?

Comments like that suggest that you do vote for political candidates because of the the colour of their skin or their gender. The problem with the far right is no matter how hard they try and pretend they have a political agenda based on a high moral order it's hard to hide the racism and sexism lurking behind the curtain.

Actually it would appear, that a healthy women has a choice before and after getting pregnant.

Just to be clear, the decision is an individual one, Gadget gets to decide for Gadget and Flipflops decides for Flipflops. They do not get to decide for others, they can have an opinion but they don't get to decide. They will never get that and I understand that, it's okay to think you should be able to force your beleifs on others as long as you are not actually able to do so.

The lady was placed on a ventilator, it would appear that being hooked up to a man made machine that provides oxygen to the lungs might have had something to do with it. As well oxygenated blood can be moving to the brain without a detectable pulse. I would say this is definitly an unusual occurance but explainable.

Plain, I am a left leaning Liberal who believes strongly in a socialist agenda. I have always had a huge problem with authority and that is why I may appear Libertarian. My issue with authority is based on my belief that respect is earned not a birthright. This may have something to do with my Irish heritage. I believe in government although I also believe that government must work for the people and because, in a democratic country, governance is earned through election I have no problem with that authority. My issue is when one individual believes they have the right to make decisions for another without being asked. So it doesn't matter if it's the bossy kid in the school yard who takes the ball unless everyone follows their rules or if it's some tryannical dictator I stand opposed. I was the kid in the school yard who said "take you ball and shove it up your a*s, we'll just play with this rock" :wink2:

I call Bull**it, show me a post from someone who has been banded asking what a fill is. I will admit that I have seen post's from people considering the band that asked what a fill is but I have never seen one from a banded person. When I first came here 3 years ago I was considering the band and asked questions while doing my research. For example I had no idea what a PB was or what slimeing was so I did a search and found some information. I can honestly say however that I did not truly know what they were until I experienced them first hand. So show me that post or I say Bull**it

Now we get to decide what ranting and raving is. Not buying it!!!

Why is it that, in the R&R section, people are aloud to only rant about certain things!!! For example if someone says "I hate when people ask dumb questions" For many, that type of ranting is fine. Now on the other hand when someone makes a statement like this "I hate it when people tell other people they are asking dumb questions" the response often goes something like this. "This is the R&R section if you don't like it piss off" Seems to me if this is the Rants and Raves section one should be able to rant about whatever they choose. It all comes back to my original provocation, you can rant however you want just don't tell me how to rant. Now on the other hand if you don't like what I just said then don't read it, this is the Rants and Rave section don't ya know! :thumbup:

Fanny, sorry I have been away or I would have responded sooner. Apology accepted and returned.

I think that problems arise in a forum such as this when people assume that one poster is speaking direcly to them. Now there are times when this is obviously the case but at other times it is less obvious. I think a good rule of thumb is to assume that a post is directed to the group unless it is obvious. When I read through a thread I don't seperate the posts by individual so most of my responses are to the group. The exceptions to this would be when I use your name or when I respond specifically to a single poster who has responded specifically to me. One of the things that I am going to try to do from know on is to change word text, so for example, I will try to avoid using the term you and replace it with one. Here is what I mean, I often will write something like "when you attempt to" from now on I will try and remember too write it like this "when one attempts to". I have always assumed that people undertsand I was using the term "you" in a generic fashion but too often folks have read it like I am talking directly to them. One might see that as somewhat narcisistic but I will try and do better. It seems that I have offended many folks and I guess I can put that down to my communication style. It is kind of funny however if you consider what I am like in person. Oh well one things is for certain we will never know if that really is true.

"The only part I can be bothered to respond to is" seems an odd way to respond and for that matter why respond at all. I was posting to no one in particular, I was just trying to participate. Sorry If I have offended you in some way, maybe I should have asked a question that meets with your approval. I would ask you the same question and will, Well DUH have you read the title of this particular forum lately?

I think you will find that there is a common thread in my posts or maybe even a common post in my threads, now I'm confused. My point is that I am fine with whatever your position is as long as you don't think you have a right to impose it on me. How does this apply here you may ask? Well if you say "I hate it when someone else does something and ask that they not do it" You are in essence telling that someone how they should act, You are attempting to impose your rules on someone else. On the other hand if you say I hate it when someone does something so I vow never to do it myself then I'm okay with that. Although that sort of thing is then an internall comunication and as such does not need to be broadcast publically. I know that in some ways by making this post I am contradicting myself but this is why I have tried to stay away from replying on this thread. I also expect however that this post will have little if any impact on how much time people spend getting other people to change their behavior hoping they will behave more like them. When we set out to change how people participate we are embarking on an excercise of extreme futility and we know it. With that in mind, our motives must only be to throw a little mud at an intended target. If I had a nickle for every post that mentioned how I should interact on this site I would have a lot of nickles so I guess this behavior has no impact, at least on me and likely on most others. So post whatever you want, ask whatever you want, think what ever you want and fling mud at whoever you want, I'm okay with that. On my end I will decide what I read, what I reply to, what I contemplate and who I will fling back at. One final thing, I do have one pet peeve, how come no one gets my sense of humour?

Comments like that in the literal bible are the ones you can't take literally, from what I have been told it's like reading the sports section of the newspaper. Geesh!! don't you know anything!!!!

In reply to post 1 to an much earlier post by me, you are correct, you are missing the point. On reply 2, I will leave that to you to decide but I bet you are the only one who doesn't know the answer to that question.

You continue to miss the point, it is the tree's!!!!!!