Rated M for Misunderstood

This isn't as much a singular topic as it is something that crops up in all topics. Usually the most interesting ones have conflict, in which case often someone is offended whether offense was meant or not. Such as the recent Bill Clinton comment that was taken worldwide as a racist remark, or whenever celebrities apologize for saying stupid things on air.

Now a few points I'd like to give my opinion on, just to spark discussion. Someone says something, thinking of one unoffensive thing and not another person's take on it. The other person is offended. They state that person-A should be ashamed of themselves for saying such a thing. Person-A thinks long and hard, and finally comes to the all-answer conclusion, "Oughtn't you be ashamed when I was saying something entirely innocent?" They've hit the nail on the head and caused concussion.

Now you may agree with that, but here's where is gets controversial. There are many innocent things said on constant occasion, just as 'dern' was considered cussing in Huck Finn. I've witnessed all of these pointed out negatively when their statement was entirely innocent. I'm afraid I may have been this person at one time (I'm getting better all the time), though if you're offended by my stating hipocrisy in this it's kind of my thesis, eh?

The F-word
The Lord's name in vain
GD!
The three letters S, E, and X
The response of 'Yeah' or 'Yep'
Getting yelled at for calling someone 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' rather than 'Sargeant Captain Major so-and-so'
Sitting down during the pledge
Telling an authority they're wrong
The N-word
Little kids giving the finger

I honestly only see language as a means. The hate or the love hops along through intention and/or interpretation, and no society can make that fact false. The true offense is, in my opinion, being offended. How is anyone offended if they don't get offended? Telling people not to offend you is an awful odd request.

Any other opinions I'd like to hear. Even debating, as long as it doesn't turn into an uncontrolled debate (ie, at least one member is offended). So if I tell you not to get offended by anything on this thread, by golly, that's the basis of my proof.

Oh wow. I just blew through Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in like two days (and just wrote an essay on it today as a matter p fact, gawdbless sparknotes!) and I'm kinda shocked to learn that it was banned in some places. I think it'd be disrespectful in the context of the novel not to call them that "n-word" seeing as how that's how they talked back then. And anyone who has read the book can tell the only really honestly decent person in that novel was Jim the "runaway" slave.

The Lord's name in vein

I suppose you mean the Lord's name in vain?

I don't suppose I really get insulted by things. More like annoyed by ignorance? I mean anyword can be spiteful in said in proper context and delivered with proper ah... enthusiasm. And in some circles "bad" words are used with great fondness towards others.

I suppose you mean the Lord's name in vain?

...let's go with that.

It's my opinion that humor is an entirely serious matter, so when Twain pulls out a satire it's promoting something positive, whereas the incorrect 'serious' take on it is that it's a racist piece o' tarnation. I rather consider the latter take the real joke. Now people read this book front to back, and enjoy a lot of good art, and agree with statements by civil disobedients. But the same people take offense from every one of those things in the list. Do you think Thoreau asked for an end to war and a law in line with nature's own only for the exact same hate and fear to crop up when someone simply thinks the syllable 'Jap' sounds cute? That's a hipocrisy I especially can't stand, the one that insults all our great works as the one unified being we are. I see love inside The Bible, but why doesn't anyone else?

Example: A mom all but disowns two of her sons, the oldest and the youngest. The youngest seperated from the church only recently, but the oldest has been gone for a while. The mom doesn't like this fact, but she's perfectly willing to let them do the GD! as much as they want under a superstition that says that once a 'Christian', always a 'Christian'. So she lets us believe there's no heaven or hell but just a perfectly wonderful earth to live on with distaste and belief in a superstition. I admit this may be a little personal of an example to use without conviction of bias, but the woman that just handed me a cheeseburger is guilty of not completely acknowledging her son's existence under the influence of an authority that tells her I'm wrong.

I don't suppose I really get insulted by things. More like annoyed by ignorance? I mean anyword can be spiteful in said in proper context and delivered with proper ah... enthusiasm. And in some circles "bad" words are used with great fondness towards others.

You got that right! I like your tuba.

You got that right! I like your tuba.

Thanks but it's not a tuba. It's a euphonium. Which in turn is not to be confused with the baritone horn. :D

When I was reading Huck Finn I found sometimes Twain's humor was in the irony of seperating a white child from his father was bad but it's okay if they are black. It's not exactly a positive thing to me @_@

Sometimes I really don't understand what you are saying but from what I gather (correct me if I'm wrong) but wait... I have no idea what you just said. My brain fails me.

Either way I hope that cheeseburger tasted good. I mean if the oldest has been gone for a while does that mean to imply that he was part of it at one point? Shouldn't the same argument concerning the youngest also apply to the oldest? Or is it just that since the youngest just recently split they figure they can bring him back in the fold easier?

Either way I hope that cheeseburger tasted good.

Haven't eaten it yet. Haven't worn my retainers for months and now I slip them on and my jaw's burning. Even if I take them off I'd have to wait a while for the strain to settle down.

I mean if the oldest has been gone for a while does that mean to imply that he was part of it at one point? Shouldn't the same argument concerning the youngest also apply to the oldest? Or is it just that since the youngest just recently split they figure they can bring him back in the fold easier?

The youngest is still living at the house and isn't off at a big IV league school. The oldest holds the most hipocrisy if you ask me.

I'm basically saying: My mother disowns me, and I've used the opportunity to see the hipocrisy and improve from it. My oldest brother is more hipocritical than the others in that he has had the experience and yet he conforms to the house setting during breaks, and asks me to as well. That may be called a personal bias - I whine about home issues and therefore my points are stained by them. I think often there needs to be a personal experience, not a bias necessarily, that proves wrong and sets you on the right track. Misinterpretation of an event is what causes it to be repeated. For instance, Twain writes racism into the book and achieves the satire. Others find that he wrote racist slurs as well, and categorize him as racist. If someone's not racist, you'd be accusing them of hate they're not guilty of. Which is the relative same thing as racism. It's almost like some are speaking off of what they see in a mirror.

I find it a little odd people get insulted in a word... i mean... weve been taught since kindergarten: Sticks and stones may break our bones but words will never hurt us...
wtf kinda logic is that??? o.O i dont get it... words dont hurt u and yet u knife sum1 for calling u the N word? or u fight sum1 for saying F off? and S.E.X. dont even get me started... its human nature, if u make it taboo for youngsters they want it MORE, did u know that a school gave condoms to every person there(OMG DYING OF LAUGHTER) and after that there was literally NO sex caught IN school(that doesnt include home and stuff lol) see... the Teenage mind is very curious... u take something away and our minds will wander and try to find a way to do it because its so... taboo, awesome, whatever reason... i mean, its sick and shouldnt be done, but if u make it taboo then people will want it more, hell, its human nature, u think someones gunna give up human nature? then ud be a robot or something lol anyways, u get what im sayin right?

You're actually right on-topic. That's conformity, when someones's forced to deprive themselves of their conscience. If you learn from something and don't do it again, it's not conformity. At least not the bad kind. I have a white teacher in AB that announced that no one should utter 'that word' in her room. This followed a black guy chatting with his friend. I got along with the guy pretty well a lot of the time, and so did the teacher. And then he went and said 'that word'. The rest of the things you're mentioning fall under the California steriotype, which is true in some instances. I've listened to Tool's third studio album so I know places can be chaotic like that.

Sex is human nature. The main reason its currently so taboo in society is because of all the puritans that try to keep it suppressed, mostly because they fear falling into temptation. So rather than have strong willpower to control their impulses -- according to how their God tells them to act, they decide its better to ban all of society just to so they can feel protected from their own perverted minds.

You're right. When I did use facebook a guy made a comment on a wall saying that kids should be forced to consume alcohol to see if they like it or not. The girl replied with agreement. I say that business distributes it, drinks it, and says no sharing. I'll just lay it out that addiction is often negative, unless it's like your hunger that makes you eat a rational amount. The worst addiction is the addiction to all those flaws encompassing society.

just like those homophobic republican senators that try to block homosexuals from getting rights, yet go to airport restrooms for a little bit of fishin' with your fingers under the next stall. or preaching ministers who tell everyone they are going to burning in eternal lake of fire if they even think of playing with the same team, and then go meat up (pun intended) with a local male hooker for some coke and blow (another pun intended)

hypocrites, that's all they are...

I like your figurative ability. Not to mention that just about all of the big name preachers get the smaller product because it's often for free.

Hmm... Prelude.. guess you didn't know yet HOW or WHO created it.

Someone's mom and someone's dad, probably.

Nope. But it's close though, Thilian.

The way I see the beginning of time is, really, who cares? Time is all connected, past, present, and future, so constantly debating about 'The Great Beginning' is unnecessary when you consider the fact that the beginning is when something starts, so when you're born is when you're life started and that's all you really know. There are other beginnings and other ends, so why the first one? I believe it could be The Big Bang, something scientific, I really don't care. I'm not of a religion and I'm not a deist. I'm not agnostic, atheist, or anything that you tell me I am. I just want to enjoy life without bloodshed over who created the earth. The Bible has good messages, but people stiffen their meanings until you can't interpret them yourself. All literature is connected, all life is, but humans seperate out of unsatisfaction for their present state. They want to do and won't just be.

Sounds logically.

What's your spiritual preference, while we're talking?

You might have another word for it. You believe that someone created it somehow. Who, and how?

Oh great I leave for a bit and the conversation enters both sex AND religious territory?

Wow. All of you are good at debating a point. my spelling isn't that good, but, i am a person who will arue the point. you go guys!

same here wit ana's story

yama u talk toooooooooooooo much O.O
and u say ur a shy guy ^~

lol

Oh great I leave for a bit and the conversation enters both sex AND religious territory?

Hey, at least no one's offended yet! (That we know of!)

for great beginning of human life:
haha, to be honest, for me i dont really know, if i start to believe the cell theory i'll try and find out who i really am, after all if we r made up of zillions of cells... which one is me? @_@ they're all me, but nobody can think in that uniformity... so wtf? it just confuses me, I believe cells, but i dont believe they are the ONLY thing we are, i think theres something... deeper then that... u cant just go kaput when u die, theres gotta be sumwhere were ur thoughts and emotions and everything go... those cant be generated by cells... thats just too freaky...

The way you put it reminds me of the theory of the Oversoul. I think your thoughts are well-put. For me, when you die, life itself continues, eh? So did any real death occur? You get what I mean, right?

as for the 'great beginning' I am an aetheist, but i have some spiritual belief, but not religious belief... but i dont think nothingness can explode and make Something... thats just wierd... well its not nothingness, but u know what i mean, but, there is definite proof that the explosion is there... the universe is moving i a ripple affect, constantly growing from some sort of explosion... but i dont really believe it started planets and everything... I dont really know about those...

I get this analysis. We have some proof, but none of us were really there when everything was nothing. :)

but... let me make my point:
y the hell do people care:
religionwise:
why the hell do u care if anyone doesnt believe ur religion, its not a demand, it may have threats, but people can take those threats, they dont HAVE to change... nobody really knows whos right and whos wrong, but whoever is the loser will be laughed at in the end rofl
Theory wise:
does it matter? y do we need to know the world's complete origins? we have no evidence or proof as of now, so y not just stop arguing

Yama, if anyone's caused concussion, it's you. This is exactly what everyone should realize. Anything good or bad that happens leads to some sort of wrong. A perfectly acceptable book is written? People take the worst from it. A perfectly unacceptable leader takes the throne and monopolizes? People aren't just satisfied to see him off, he has to be flogged and beheaded. You're right about people needing to lighten up. That's pretty much the idea of 'M for Misunderstood'.

wow

wow

You know, sometimes I wish Tom didn't delete these kinds of posts, because I get a kick out of 'em every now and then. :P

@Thilian
Now I got it, I'll tell you.
I bet as in the bible, God created the world and started the great beginning. Uhm, there are few slideshows that show what people think of "The Seven Days of God".

Cool. And the different slideshows show different interpretations, right? That's what's great about The Bible (and others). Different eras with different authors allow for different views of how it went down. Post those slideshow panels onto a Bible Books page if you can.