Random Encounters

[DontMindMe]

Did you accidentally smack your head against a very hard surface? How and when do you reckon he sounded sexist? He was sounding literary???? So anyone whose vocabulary exceeds the 100 words you know is not allowed to write freely? The hell with that. He was being tremendously empathetic and sharing his experience. Maybe you don't understand it but some people have good feelings. He never said anything bad about those women looking tired and sad. He was siding with them. You need either some perspective or to go back to elementary school so they can teach you how to read properly.

Chill out, I can read just fine. Whether he sympathized with those women or not, he was perpetuating the trope that women's lives go downhill once they start to show signs of aging. Oh, those poor things. I have a gray hair but somehow my life is better than ever, I must be deluded! It may not have been intentional on his part, but considering women are bashed over the head with this message pretty much from birth (there's that head smacking you were wondering about), I didn't much like reading about it on the forum from someone who has posted 283 times in three weeks, and will surely keep posting much more.

Please remember that this is a forum where people do things like post pictures of a woman with a zipper for a mouth because ha ha, women just love to talk and isn't that annoying? Oh I know, it was a joke. No need to tell me to simmer down and drink a cup of tea (yes, words someone actually used on a different occasion.) I didn't write anything then and I don't probably 90% of the time that I see stuff like that on the forum. But it does get old.

Redpossum, if you are wondering why I liked and then unliked your post, it's because apologizing that someone was offended is not an actual apology. I am sorry you went through a hard time and I'm even more sorry that you don't seem to have anyone to talk to about it other than internet strangers. I have nothing else to say on the subject.

 

[internationalguy]

Chill out, I can read just fine. Whether he sympathized with those women or not, he was perpetuating the trope that women's lives go downhill once they start to show signs of aging. Oh, those poor things. I have a gray hair but somehow my life is better than ever, I must be deluded! It may not have been intentional on his part, but considering women are bashed over the head with this message pretty much from birth (there's that head smacking you were wondering about), I didn't much like reading about it on the forum from someone who has posted 283 times in three weeks, and will surely keep posting much more.

Please remember that this is a forum where people do things like post pictures of a woman with a zipper for a mouth because ha ha, women just love to talk and isn't that annoying? Oh I know, it was a joke. No need to tell me to simmer down and drink a cup of tea (yes, words someone actually used on a different occasion.) I didn't write anything then and I don't probably 90% of the time that I see stuff like that on the forum. But it does get old.

Redpossum, if you are wondering why I liked and then unliked your post, it's because apologizing that someone was offended is not an actual apology. I am sorry you went through a hard time and I'm even more sorry that you don't seem to have anyone to talk to about it other than internet strangers. I have nothing else to say on the subject.

Good, you're giving Redpossum and I the final say then.

1. I'm really sorry the world is a misogynistic junkyard. It's really sad but it's a reality. I completely sympathize with that and I'm sure Redpossum does too. I don't think he meant to say that age makes a woman decline. I think he meant that women age a lot faster because of the unfair conditions they're subject to and because of that and the aging he noticed a certain sadness and longing in her eyes. How is that anything but empathetic and caring? Either way we all decline after 40, men and women start looking good for their age, both genders start watching what they eat at night, both genders start taking more pills as time goes by. Aging is decline and I don't see how that is sexist at all.

2. This is in line with what I said previously but I don't believe in women's rights. I believe in human rights. I think it's very sad that women are treated the way they are but trying to make this a radical (again, us vs them fight), isn't going to solve anything. The ideal would be to have human rights respected across the board. I don't see how creating a separate category (in doing so you're subconciously inserting a wrongful sense of inferiority in women's minds) that only polarizes and really does much for women.

3. Why do you make a point of alienating people who really care about you and try to make us look bad? I've seen a billion sexist posts that should have been removed. I could mention some examples but what's the point, we all know which ones. Redpossum is not your enemy. Your enemy are the men who use you and often say what you want to hear but go behind your back and do the opposite. Women also have other enemy and I very seldom hear any woman say anything about it. Women are frequently their own enemies, and it's sad. Instead of crying sexist at the slightest misunderstanding and blaming all men, you should really learn to pick your fights.

4. What exactly seems to be the problem if he posted 10, 20, 200, or 2,000 times in three weeks? Does that affect you? Does that harm you in any way? Does that make his ideas any less valuable? Shame on you for insinuating that. He is not going to be sorry because he did nothing wrong. Even after doing nothing wrong he still acknowledged your feelings and that's how you repay him? I don't think you have any way to defend any of it.

 

[Chet]

Whatever someone else says or does the choice to be offended or not is entirely the person that listens, or reads.
Everyone may or may not be offended by very different things.
If we do not speak for fear that someone might choose to be offended then the world would have to fall silent.

 

[Somewhereinba]

 

[sleslie23]

Exactly! I don't even live in Argentina anymore, but I can't stop watching.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Hmm, it is very nice reading Redpossum's writings. However, I most of time wonder if what he is relating is all done in Argentineans or is it that those he speaks to, all speak english language.?

If all his stories are unravelled in "castellano" then my hat is off to his command of the language !

 

[Markgeezer]

like.. what happened to his other leg ?

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Damn, you're right, it was David and not Solomon! Thank you for correcting my misapprehension on that.

I'm not a Christian these days, I'm not even very religious at all. It's just that these ideas were pounded into my head so hard when I was small, that it's impossible to forget them completely, (although I obviously have issues with confusing one king of ancient Israel with another).

And I like Matthew 7 in particular because even if taken in a purely secular sense, it contains some very good advice on social interactions, and getting along with people, and avoiding hypocrisy, to such an extent that it is humanly possible to avoid hypocrisy. I know and freely admit that I myself am often guilty of being hypocritical, and all I can say in my defense is that I try to avoid it, and I try to resolve it when it's pointed out to me.

And as for Solomon, can you imagine having 1000 wives mad at you all at once? One can be scary enough, from what I've seen in the marriages of friends and family.

Religious indoctrination continues to clutter almost everybody's mind, including my own (though I've made a good faith effort, so to speak, to get rid of it).

 

[Redpossum]

Hmm, it is very nice reading Redpossum's writings. However, I most of time wonder if what he is relating is all done in Argentineans or is it that those he speaks to, all speak english language.?

If all his stories are unravelled in "castellano" then my hat is off to his command of the language !

Except where specifically noted otherwise, the conversations were all in Castellano. That's not to say I speak it very well, but I have been fumbling my way along in Mexican Spanish since I was 6 years old. Mostly, I think my salvation is the fact that I have reached the point at which I have enough vocabulary to get around the words I lack, or ask what a word means, or ask how to say something. Jut a few handy phrases like, "Que quiere decir..." or also "Come se dice...", can go a long way.

So, it's not that I'm some linguistic genius, it's just that I have a lot of practice in working around my limitations.

 

[ElQueso]

In many (most?) parts of the world, women take a greater hand in child-rearing and house cleaning than men do, at least in lower wage-earning families. On top of that, in many places, women are required to work to contribute to the household income as well. In upper-level income families things are a lot more even because either the woman doesn't "need" to work to help support the family or people can be hired to take that burden off the woman. In some societies, men have been "trained" to take up something closer to equal responsibilities.

Here, its a certainty that women from lower economic classes have a difficult life. If one thinks that stating facts is tantamount to making misogynistic comments, then I think that person is too deeply rooted in politically correct dogma.

And if one doesn't think that a hard life ages one, mix a little with the older people (30+) of lower economic classes here and in places like Paraguay. Mixes where men are machista and the women often end up supporting the family both economically and maternally.

I couldn't find any fault with what Redpossum had to say. In fact, I love to read a well-written post that comes from the heart and it's difficult to write well (both grammatically and emotionally) without drawing on personal experiences and feelings.