Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
I stand by everything I've ever said to you. You are a vile, venom-filled snake who has no sense of compassion for your fellow man.
You can put that insult up your ass and light a match. If it blows you to kingdom come, good riddance to bad trash.
Hmm, the irony of this conflict is certainly not subtle anymore.
I myself believe that how a man treats the actual people he personally comes into contact with is what determines his supposed "compassion" for others. Along those lines, a man who is charitable with his own wealth is far more virtuous than a man who would pretend to be charitable with wealth that does not belong to him. Perhaps these views make me a "vile, venom-filled snake" but I'm having quite a bit of trouble seeing how.
I don't believe that jumping to conclusions about strangers is ever a good thing. While it is certainly virtuous to stand against that which we understand as wrong (and I truly do commend ADM at this point), it is far more virtuous to first act with humility and treat others with respect until you can be more sure of their faults.
How ADM found it so easy to pass such extreme judgment on my morals in this thread (and the politics thread) is very confusing, I must admit. How he could then go on to whine about how I'm the one who supposedly targeted him for "character assassination" (on this forum) is completely beyond my comprehension however.
Maybe ADM is far more perceptive of bad behavior than I am and perhaps he was perfectly right to harass me from the very start like this, but I am forced to doubt that after the last few months of observing him. As I see things, I'm the kind of person who spends my life asking questions, challenging beliefs, and trying to be passionate (while not taking life too seriously). ADM on the other hand has shown himself to be the kind of person who prefers telling others how things are/should be and then either hates or fears having those statements be questioned. Even now that I know the type of person that ADM is (and I now see why he continually reacts so negatively toward me) I still don't see how the actual origin of my bad relationship with him could be anyone's fault but his. Sure, I've added plenty of wood to this fire myself (hehe), and I certainly don't claim I should be excused for that (as ADM surely would), but when it all comes down to it, I didn't start this, he did.
In the end now, I suppose that I should only feel sorry for ADM. He has a very negative view of the world in general and of the people he has disagreements with. The fact that he clearly doesn't see me as a fellow human being is perfectly illustrated in the way he expresses his paranoia about me:
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Funny how I never talk that way to anybody else, and I defy anybody outside of the NeoCons who hang out in this room and offer virtually nothing else to this community to say this is "in character" for me. Liberals have a reputation for rolling over and taking the punches and until recently I've fought to maintain decorum in this room.
But I will defend my good name against flaming insults about deep character issues. In this room I've been called Communist, Hypocrite, Gay and Pedo by Tiptup. All of which deliberately inflammatory lies attempting character assassination. Now Tiptup admits he himself is into teenage girls. I'll give no quarter to any self-admitting pedo who tries to project his own issues onto me. Consider my tirade a lesson in "you reap what you sow."
I stand by everything I've ever said to you. You are a vile, venom-filled snake who has no sense of compassion for your fellow man.
You can put that insult up your ass and light a match. If it blows you to kingdom come, good riddance to bad trash.
Hmm, the irony of this conflict is certainly not subtle anymore.
I myself believe that how a man treats the actual people he personally comes into contact with is what determines his supposed "compassion" for others. Along those lines, a man who is charitable with his own wealth is far more virtuous than a man who would pretend to be charitable with wealth that does not belong to him. Perhaps these views make me a "vile, venom-filled snake" but I'm having quite a bit of trouble seeing how.
I don't believe that jumping to conclusions about strangers is ever a good thing. While it is certainly virtuous to stand against that which we understand as wrong (and I truly do commend ADM at this point), it is far more virtuous to first act with humility and treat others with respect until you can be more sure of their faults.
How ADM found it so easy to pass such extreme judgment on my morals in this thread (and the politics thread) is very confusing, I must admit. How he could then go on to whine about how I'm the one who supposedly targeted him for "character assassination" (on this forum) is completely beyond my comprehension however.
Maybe ADM is far more perceptive of bad behavior than I am and perhaps he was perfectly right to harass me from the very start like this, but I am forced to doubt that after the last few months of observing him. As I see things, I'm the kind of person who spends my life asking questions, challenging beliefs, and trying to be passionate (while not taking life too seriously). ADM on the other hand has shown himself to be the kind of person who prefers telling others how things are/should be and then either hates or fears having those statements be questioned. Even now that I know the type of person that ADM is (and I now see why he continually reacts so negatively toward me) I still don't see how the actual origin of my bad relationship with him could be anyone's fault but his. Sure, I've added plenty of wood to this fire myself (hehe), and I certainly don't claim I should be excused for that (as ADM surely would), but when it all comes down to it, I didn't start this, he did.
In the end now, I suppose that I should only feel sorry for ADM. He has a very negative view of the world in general and of the people he has disagreements with. The fact that he clearly doesn't see me as a fellow human being is perfectly illustrated in the way he expresses his paranoia about me:
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Funny how I never talk that way to anybody else, and I defy anybody outside of the NeoCons who hang out in this room and offer virtually nothing else to this community to say this is "in character" for me. Liberals have a reputation for rolling over and taking the punches and until recently I've fought to maintain decorum in this room.
But I will defend my good name against flaming insults about deep character issues. In this room I've been called Communist, Hypocrite, Gay and Pedo by Tiptup. All of which deliberately inflammatory lies attempting character assassination. Now Tiptup admits he himself is into teenage girls. I'll give no quarter to any self-admitting pedo who tries to project his own issues onto me. Consider my tirade a lesson in "you reap what you sow."
First, notice how he talks about the "neocons" as if there were some collective conspiracy on this forum that he's been forced to fight (as apposed to the far more accurate view of general people simply sharing their general viewpoints on given issues). Then he talks about how "liberals" have been "taking the punches" as if that dark conspiracy (that all of us "neocons" are involved in) has been successful in persecuting people like himself.
Now, should I take it that he considers me to be some sort of a "fascist" out to purposely silence and suppress supposed "liberals" like himself? (I've always defined myself as a liberal.) This is strange since, as far as I can tell, I've always gone out of my way to emphasize ADM's point of view and to answer his different arguments point for point. Heck, I've always even taken his silliest and most personally-offensive arguments seriously by even giving them their due responses.
I guess just really don't understand what this is all about. I ask him a silly little question as a complete joke about Foley's attraction to teenage boys and suddenly I'm casting "deliberately inflammatory lies" at ADM in an effort to personally destroy him?!! What the hell?
Part of me wants to believe that this is all just a joke and that ADM doesn't seriously believe this nonsense, but I've yet to see any evidence backing that hope up. So, for now, I'm going to avoid him and hope that someday he learns to lighten up and be more optimistic about the world. I honestly hope his life goes well. :\