Mucho Mental Manatee Mentors--CLOSED (Pop Tarts?) (Page 6)

The other thread  had one argumentative person stir up a lot of people.  Some of it was handled well.....others probably heard from moderators.  It is an embarrassment to see something turn into an internet brawl.  The argumentative person--well there's no saying why he posted like that.  It is embarrassing to have a relative newcomer to the site start a thread and have it turn to shyte.

Well, I feel like it would probably be weird for me to not address these comments, as I was one of the main contributors to that thread. 

Interestingly, the only two people I have heard from about it are LB, and a gay man on BT thanking me for standing up repeatedly for the LGBT community in posts.  I am actually a little surprised I didn't hear from mods, but I am going to PM Ron and apologize.  My BT has been extremely slow to load for the last two days, and I wrote the last post (which has been deleted)  in that thread not having seen Ron's request to make it more civil. 

Perhaps I should have kept it more civil and focused on Trigirl.  That certainly was an approach many others took, and I think, in general, that's a good technique.  However, I also believe that the reason that others could take that approach is because a couple of us were directly taking on the problem. 
It may not be your style--that's totally cool, and I totally get that--but it's also not my style to let people get away with saying the things that were said there.  If my responses made it escalate and you don't think it would have gotten as out of control as it did, you may very well be right.  I need to own that. 

POD, I will say this: I am fiercely loyal to my friends and the things that are important to me. I stand up to hateful language like that because it is extremely destructive and hurtful.  An excerpt from the PM I received yesterday:

...Sometimes peoples words can be so hurtful. I often wonder how they can say the things that they have said.I have pretty much just within the past few months come to terms with being gay, after knowing for years. It is those peoples words who wouldn't allow me to accept who I was... too many people (including myself!) are not vocal enough. I grew up with an extended family (my immediate family is awesome! Thank GOD they are the black sheep of the family) that is quite homophobic and always makes horrible remarks. They don't know I am gay and have no idea how much those words can hurt someone, especially when I was younger.  

I'm sorry if you disagree with the way I handled things in that thread.  My intent was certainly not to bring down the BT community.   Quite the opposite.

Peace.

I have noticed that posts sometimes get reacted to, rather then digested and discussed. It is one of the reasons that I am slow to respond in TT and CoJ on posts. I was taken to task (rightly so) for a flippant answer at one point and it gave me pause to think about how I want to be perceived, who I want to be.  I try now to answer as positively and upbeat as possible, as that is who I am (or at least who I want my dog to think I am). I took ownership of that faux pas, which I think is important as well. Whether we are on the internet or in person, I try to own my stuff. I have noticed that you are a proponent of that, which is one of the things I appreciate about you. One other thing I learned here early on is that a thick skin and an ability to slough off stuff is very helpful. Just like IRL, not everyone is nice, so I choose to associate with the folks that are (thus the reason I am in this mentor group). And the others I don't waste my time with, I don't think my blood pressure could take it. There are a lot of people wrong on the internet, I can't fight them all , although your desire to stand up for what you believe is admirable.

Oh, BTW, Great weekend of racing for Manatees! Congratulations everyone!!!!!!!!

1. WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!

2. Agreed.

I read over on ST (from which I was briefly banned this weekend! It was very exciting, but not as exciting as this ... ) that this little guy was on the B2B run course! NyNy, Tangerines ... way to psych out the competition.

ETA: so what did you do to get banned at ST? Seems like it would be a hard thing to do!

Edited by amd723 2013-10-28 8:49 AM

YAY JANYNE!!!!!!  You, as always, ROCK!!!

Eh, it's still a short break, not like you were taking minutes in between.   Question for you with regard to your Garmin use in the pool - do you hit lap or stop at the end of each 100 or do you just let it run?  I'm asking because I'm not sure of the best way to do it.  30 x 100 is awesome!

Super job, Monica!!! YEAH!!!!!  You rocked it!

BIG congrats, Jonathan!!  PR!!!   Nicely done!

Well, I missed all the hubbub, thankfully. But I can imagine. What is wrong with people? Just so you all know, I make it a practice to NEVER think about ANY of you having intimate relations with ANYONE. I try not to think of your "bathing suit" parts at all. Just for the record.

And I'd appreciate it if you did the same for me. Believe me, you do not want to know what goes on in my bedroom or kitchen or living room  . . . . Oh, wait a minute.

Never mind.

That's what I thought too, but someone, I managed to get behind.

I need a pacer.

Dorothy, you are so awesome. You were the F in my alfabet prayers on my long walk this last weekend, as you often are.

Awesome!

My boys love hats, and my 17 year old has a fedora. He would be heartbroken if I told him fedoras aren't cool. At least it's not a fez.

Congratulations! I loved your pictures on Facebook.

thats great!

Exactly. I didn't know they banned over there.

BTW -- ^^^^ Cute little guy up there.

x2.  I wrote several replies in that thread, and posted none of them.  They were all waaaaay too emotional and none said as eloquently what yours did, Elesa.  And, on top of that, the thread became about the shyte disturber, rather than the OP.  I too very much appreciate when people stand up to bigotry, hatred, homophobia.  But I think once that has been done, just don't engage any further responses/comments by the SD.