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Being Polite

Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
edited June 2008 in Flamewars
in opinion is conducive to ignorance

Comments

  • SailSail
    I am so confused.
  • jccjcc
    edited June 2008
    ...and being rude in opinion is conductive to violence. :) Whatever floats your boat, really.
    Post edited by jcc on
  • whateverwhatever
    YOUR MOM.
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    edited June 2008
    ...and being rude in opinion is conductive to violence. :) Whatever floats your boat, really.
    Only for people without self control.

    I'm really just itching for debate, it has awoken.
    Post edited by Magnum_Opus on
  • jccjcc
    edited June 2008
    ...and being rude in opinion is conductive to violence. :) Whatever floats your boat, really.
    Only for people without self control
    That may be so, but many people would rather not go looking for trouble. Being polite isn't usually very hard.

    Best choice though is to see what they're used to and go with that. If they live in an area where people threaten to sodomize your unborn children if you take your time at the grocery self check-out line, chances are that their skin will be so thick that any sort of subtlety will be totally lost on them. :) On the other hand, most events that people end up regretting seem to start when they open their big mouths and say something they probably shouldn't have.
    Post edited by jcc on
  • Your MomYour Mom
    edited June 2008
    YOUR MOM.
    Why must you people always use my name in vain?

    *cry*
    Post edited by Your Mom on
  • chaosof99chaosof99
    YOUR MOM.
    Why must you people always use my name in vain?

    *cry*
    Now you know how God feels.
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    ...and being rude in opinion is conductive to violence. :) Whatever floats your boat, really.
    Only for people without self control
    That may be so, but many people would rather not go looking for trouble. Being polite isn't usually very hard.

    Best choice though is to see what they're used to and go with that. If they live in an area where people threaten to sodomize your unborn children if you take your time at the grocery self check-out line, chances are that their skin will be so thick that any sort of subtlety will be totally lost on them. :) On the other hand, most events that people end up regretting seem to start when they open their big mouths and say something they probably shouldn't have.
    What do you mean '...skin will be so thick...'? Truthfully, I don't remember what it means, so what happens is that I read your post but I can't seem to understand any of it because I get caught up on that colloquialism, you only have to explain that and my mind should click.
  • rhinocerorhinocero
    "I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.

    This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture - this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper."

    "Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best."
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    If they live in an area where people threaten to sodomize your unborn children
    What kind of place is this? It doesn't seem very friendly.

    I believe what Magnum_Opus was referring to was the act of accommodating Randy Bullshit, instead of pointing it out. True, people will remain ignorant, but it does smooth relations. I tend to only point out bullshit if:
    1. I want to be an ass to someone.
    2. It is relevant to the topic at hand.

    For instance, if I'm at a funeral, and some grieving mother invokes a god, I don't saunter up to her and belittle her religion. But if someone starts extolling the virtues of chiropracty, I will calmly inform those around him/her that he/she is spouting nonsense.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I got to get me some randy bullshit.
  • ......
    YOUR MOM.
    Why must you people always use my name in vain?

    *cry*
    *pat pat* You'll get used to it.
  • jccjcc
    edited June 2008
    What do you mean '...skin will be so thick...'? Truthfully, I don't remember what it means, so what happens is that I read your post but I can't seem to understand any of it because I get caught up on that colloquialism, you only have to explain that and my mind should click.
    "skin will be so thick" was referring to the term thick-skinned, used in the sense of 2a and 2b here.

    Why did they stick you on probation? Your English usage doesn't seem so bad to me... I know people who understand less, and they're native speakers. :)
    Post edited by jcc on
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    edited June 2008
    They put me on probation because I got lazy late last night and posted an incomplete thought so as to remember to finish it today, which I did.

    Anyways thanks, I really did forget thick-skinned. YoshoKatana is closer to my idea.

    Rhinocero, what are you quoting? I think it's a quote, because it doesn't quite follow the argument. Like there may not even be this symptom that is mentioned in the beginning, or at least I cannot discern what what it is from what the quote says. Most of what it mentions is loss of courtesy.

    Politeness has the connotation as more superfluous courtesy. 'Common courtesy' is courtesy for small manners and such; politeness is not saying 'you're a bigoted hick' just because one is rich. Mind you I don't mean to offend, I was just saying this hypothetically to explain my lexicon.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • rhinocerorhinocero
    Two quotes from Heinlein. I was assuming you meant 'polite' in the sense of common courtesy - that is, of being gracious and considerate in everyday interactions. And that sort of politeness is very important for social lubrication. If you were referring more to politeness in the sense of 'sitting quietly in the face of ignorance', then that is a different matter. Although I would argue that even in those sorts of cases, except in rather extreme cases, it's probably better to just let people be wrong - they have that right.
  • SchnevetsSchnevets
    edited June 2008
    I really don't see your correlation between politeness and disobedience. If the average person is taught to speak their mind and show no limits, I doubt they would suddenly band together against corruption. There would just be more cursing on the parkway and fights on the street. Even if they did band together mercilessly and, say, impeach a certain president of the United States, they'd probably be just as outspoken and discontent when the next leader does something they do not enjoy.

    With the exception of war (and that's only in some circumstances), the most efficient and effective groups always had a level of decorum, organization, and professionalism, all things which are related to politeness and learning common courtesy at a young age. Furthermore, following rules, like grammar, is very conductive towards debate and the exchanging of ideals!
    Post edited by Schnevets on
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    Who is this mysterious Oz who re-writes my posts? I wonder if he is a regular user that I have offended or if he is truly a neutral entity. I admit the "you're" mistake is reasonable and that the changing of 'its' for possession when I meant to put 'it's' as a contraction and even the somewhat complex use of commas is even okay, but changing 'he is' to 'one is'? Isn't that not correcting grammar but changing the words that I said? Isn't it grammatically correct for me to say 'he is'?

    It would be very nice if I could see my original post as well so that I may defend myself accordingly. For example, I do not believe myself to have ever forgotten to put the 'the' in front of connotation.

    Do not think I have given up on trying to debate the affirmative but I must attend to one matter at a time.
  • whateverwhatever
    Who is this mysterious Oz who re-writes my posts?
    Mr. Period, mod, all around grammar nazi.
  • JasonJason
    edited June 2008
    Whether the corrections are warranted is not up for debate. Do not waste breath or time arguing about them. Just use the corrections to make your next post stronger. We'll be measuring you by it.

    Also, put away the thesaurus.
    Post edited by Jason on
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    I beg your pardon?
  • ......
    Question Magnum_Opus, if you were lazy and it was late, why the hell did you bother posting an incoherent piece of crap when you could've just as well copied it to a text file and finished it the next day? Instead you made the stupid decision and posted the incomplete nonsense. If you hadn't done so people here wouldn't think you to be a moron as Scott said. My advice, stop acting like an idiot and post smart if you really want to be a part of these forums, if you don't want that, just say it, I'm sure there's not a single person other than you who would care if you're gone.
  • VigaViga
    I beg your pardon?
    He's saying you sound like a troll looking up long words to sound smart. You do sound somewhat unnatural.
  • ProfPanglossProfPangloss
    Allow me to say, Magnum, that we're not merely focusing on your one foolish unfinished post.

    The main thing that's bothering us is your apparent incapability to form a proper English sentence, with adequate grammar and punctuation. We are giving you plenty of opportunities to change your posting habits for the better, but you don't seem to be taking them, or even paying attention. Mr. Period is one of the moderators on this forum, with the intent/purpose of correcting posts that have poor grammar, punctuation and spelling. If you see that one of your posts has been corrected with red text, that means that
    Mr. Period got to it. I suggest (and I doubt that the others would disagree) that you take heed of Mr. Period's corrections, as they may help you to better yourself in the future. If you change your posting habits, you may yet become a respected contributor to this community. That is all, for now.
  • jccjcc
    He's not really that hard to understand, you guys...
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited June 2008
    Hey, Is this Magnum Opus person the dude who one of the fast karate people was talking about? The one on the WoW forum.

    In relation to the topic at hand; I was at work when this girl came up to the counter and started talking really politely which set me off. Imagine two Touru Hondas talking to each other with Leeds [Richard smith from MYSS] accents.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    edited June 2008
    No Omnutia, I am not. I don't even know what or who that is, though it's probably something in the news that I haven't heard of yet.

    Prof., I seem somewhat refusing of this aid because I was, and still am very slightly, indignant, pure and simple. Now I find that it is too hard to try fight the onrush of people against my attempts at justifying what I have done, so instead I will try to make amends.

    Here is my apology for all who care to hear/read it
    I didn't realize the extent that Mr.Period would go to. Even before that, with my first topic, I was informed of my terrible grammar when I made a list using only commas, from that point on I knew this was no ordinary forum. I knew I would have to better my online grammar. Most of the forums I once posted on weren't so critical on grammar, albeit they almost never required even moderately long posts. But as I said, I did not know to what extent.

    My critical miss, that unfinished post, which I will now address, was out of character. I believe my reasoning at the time was, well, hell, I don't even know what my piss-poor reasoning was. I guess it was that I was pressed for time so I just pressed enter instead of copying the unfinished post to a word document. I didn't expect this to be that popular of a forum which is and was a completely thoughtless belief seeing as there are so many listeners of this podcasts.

    Scott is Apreche. Now I am humbled almost beyond words because, no offense, but all of you have a comparatively low amount of respect because of how little I know of you. Scott is different, I have heard over 60 episodes of him and Rym after giving much effort to catch up. They have gained an amount of respect in my eyes from the laughter I have gotten out of them and the opinions I have heard and value. The fact that I tried to underhandedly insult him baffles me. After my snide remark I feel like some street urchin in a play who has mocked a disguised emperor.

    From this point on I will try without end to either post a complete, edited, re-read, etc., post; save it for later; or post nothing at all. Should I fail at this and post something that is lacking grammar or quality, so long as I am on probation I am sure that Mr.Period will be there to find it, fix the problem, and give me something to work off for the future. Once I am off probation, which I know is possible if I give some effort, I will still try to post complete and coherent posts.
    I end my official apology/resolution.

    I assume that while I am on probation what happens is that Mr.Period gets a notification every time I post. I would just like to know if this is the case

    Oh and Sochalist, point out my correlation between politeness and disobedience.
    If you change your posting habits, you may yet become a respected contributor to this community. That is all, for now.
    ...and with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can be your city as well.
    Post edited by Magnum_Opus on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Magnum_Opus, I'm going to give you another hint. Stop testing to find out what you are doing wrong and just find out. See the Forum Rules thread. One more hint, read the last post in that thread and work out what is accepted and not accepted with line breaks after quoting.

    People say the best way to learn is by your mistakes. I say that is bollocks; nobody learns to drive by making mistakes. The best way to learn is by other peoples' mistakes.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    After my snide remark I feel like some street urchin in a play who has mocked a disguised emperor.
    Pretty awesome, I should think.
  • MitchyDMitchyD
    Hey, Is this Magnum Opus person the dude who one of the fast karate people was talking about? The one on the WoW forum.
    I just lol'd
  • Magnum_OpusMagnum_Opus
    edited June 2008
    I already read those rules, quite awhile ago. Thats how I knew who HungryJoe was talking about when he asked whether or not I was Flammingeek. I even made sure I didn't mess up with the blockquotes that I entered to differentiate between my regular post and my apology.

    I just seem to have messed up where I actually had quotes, irony appears.

    Edit:
    This is closer to what I'm talking about
    Titanium Joint Aid
    this is where being polite would unnecessarily allow ignorance. There are some occasions that do require one to be civil, but in this one it would not be courteous, considerate to be civil.

    Its difficult to explain when definitions partially overlap
    Post edited by Magnum_Opus on
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