Living in Hawaii

[PaulW]

whatreallyhappened? Balanced? You must be joking. The 5th grade spelling mistakes reveal it must be the work of one person.
What does it have to do with Hawaii anyway?

[MarkP]

It is the anonymous nature of the internet that allows stuff to get said online that would never be said face to face. Some form of moderation is necessary to limit how wild the gyrations get. Without it the loudest and most vocal poster would be the last one standing.

[Greg]

Provocateur- One who provokes. A person who creates controversy for its own sake.

Synonyms: demagogue, exciter, firebrand, fomenter, incendiary, inciter, instigator, kindler, agitator, rabble-rouser.

Sometimes a post is designed more to provoke than to contribute an idea. We should all try and recognize this and not take the bait. When a provocateur manages to create a flame war, he/she is successful; He/she will continue and possibly escalate this disruptive behavior.

Ignore em, contact the moderator, but please try not to respond in kind; They win.

[silverpenny10]

As Rob said, don't feed the trolls...sometimes tough to do, but good advice.

[LeeE]

LaniA, I'd forgotten that, but yes, "blood libel" was a European term, directed at times against Jewish folk.

Here in Puna, many local people may not even be familiar with the Jewish religion and probably very few people have any interest in it or it's followers, from a religious standpoint.

Interestingly, many of the people I've met here who say they came from a Jewish background, claim to be pagans or some other variety of nature oriented religion.

To me, that makes a great deal of sense, since, growing up in a Jewish household myself, I was taught that peace, social justice and tolerance were cornerstones of the religion. Those seem to be values that pagans and nature folk, (along with Quakers, among others), revere.

Funny, I tend to associate anti-Semitism with people who hate Arabs, who tend to be popularly thought of, (rightly or wrongly), as Semites. I've never understood why folks of European descent, would refer to themselves as semites. I guess if Armenians are semites, as some on the web claim, then maybe Armenian/American Jews are semites?

Anti-Semitism... not a term one here's often in these parts.

Regardless, thanks for the interesting interpretation of that comment and subsequently inspired trip down memory lane.

Aloha,
Lee
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

[DanielP]

Rob, Get well soon

[hawaiideborah]

I also hope yu have a speedy recovery Rob. Having the flu is no picnic.
thank you for all you do as moderator.

[kalama boy]

Greg, sometimes you have to provoke to stimulate discussion there by contributing your idea, If not people will never discuss the hard issues only the ones they are comfortable with. How can someone "escalate this disruptive behavior" on their own, you can only make a post someone has to respond to it. Have you ever noticed the posts you are describing seem to always have the most views and replies.
You ignore what you want and call the moderator but please let others decide for themselves what they think may be provocative or wish to respond to.

With Aloha.

[missydog1]

Sorry about the flu, Rob!
I started feeling funky last night, am not sure if it's the vog or flu, but reminded me of how icky it feels to be sick.

Thanks to those who said nice things.
My tone when I write here is typically composed in a thoughtful, unemotional "tone" -- so the best way to get my intended meaning is to read it as friendly and low key. I am not berating anyone, not shouting, not taunting, nor sneering, lecturing, condescending, nor waving a finger. Always I am struggling to find the right words and feeling happy to halfway get it right.

I read your posts in the same tone, unless I get keyed in by certain words ... []

Tone is a problem on the net, but we can control it a bit from our end with our word choices. What we can't control is when someone who already doesn't like us (or our ideas) reads our posts with a tone that isn't there in the words.

I assume the best of people here that we all know how to read and interpret the English language. The word-twisting thing gets me the most. I feel like if you're going to argue, debate, have at it, but keep it a rational argument and don't misquote people so that you can argue with words they never said, that they would never defend, and then say HAH I'm right. []

[Rob Tucker]

Three things I would like to point out to everyone:

1. On any given day people show up here in good moods, good health, bad moods, bad health and stinky drunk. You never know what's going on for sure. Assume the best and ask questions.

2. If you go to a dance and the person you are dancing with has bad breathe and steps on your toes..... stop dancing and find another partner. It takes two to tango.

3. Communication does not require winning. It is an exchange and winning/losing approach simply does not help.


Assume the best and ask questions.

Punaweb moderator