America - The Official Thread

[-Fred-]

And you wonder why I bow out of conversations.

Because when someone refutes your observations or opinions with facts that are either against your beliefs or your opinion, and instead of seeing it as a debate or a form of conversation, you "hide in your shell" and retract, more ot less claiming you're a victim. It's a strange way of going about, that's all.

 

[TexRex]

On the other hand, I interpret the song (and it's very, shall we say, "creative" music video) as championing for the expression of one's sexual freedom, which I do agree with in a general sense.

I can appreciate a song's implicit message without liking any aspect of the song itself.

 

[UKMikey]

Because when someone refutes your observations or opinions with facts that are either against your beliefs or your opinion, and instead of seeing it as a debate or a form of conversation, you "hide in your shell" and retract, more ot less claiming you're a victim. It's a strange way of going about, that's all.

 

[ryzno]

Because when someone refutes your observations or opinions with facts that are either against your beliefs or your opinion, and instead of seeing it as a debate or a form of conversation, you "hide in your shell" and retract, more ot less claiming you're a victim. It's a strange way of going about, that's all.

I don't consider being talked down to as a debate. Famine has even commented on my "middle school English comprehension" or something along those lines and then has the audacity to expect me to answer his questions when I'd prefer to tell him something that would get me banned, so I just have to sit here and take it.
Tex is another person who loves to talk down to me and expect me to respond.

I bow out cause there are users here I really don't like and I'd love to tell them where to shove their opinions.

Did you miss the whole bye falicia debate? After all that BS, no apologies, no "you're right", just BS and ignoring my point for days. Pointing out my mispelling of Eazy-E is obviously more important. As grammaticaly incorrect as my posts are I am sometimes correct. But hey let's point out the flaws in his post since we can't dare admit dumb ol ryzno is right.

You wonder why I give a rats ass about a number of peoples opinions here...

Edit 4:20pm, time for something more important.

 

[Rossell2]

I'm not entirely convinced that Es are indeed good, but it's an absolute banger of a song.

But as a great philosopher once wrote... Naughty, naughty, very naughty.

 

[MatskiMonk]

You wonder why I give a rats ass about a number of peoples opinions here...

Edit 4:20pm, time for something more important.

Because they are not junkies like you are?

 

[ryzno]

Because they are not junkies like you are?

Quit the habit 16 years ago TYVM. Weed doesn't make you a junkie, which I still smoke.
Welcome to the list of peoples opinions I give a rats ass about. I respected you till now and thanks for the insult asshole.

Edit: I've reported your post, if it's not removed I'm done with this site. That kind of insult was completely uncalled for especially considering our what I thought, was a good relationship.
Anyone who gives your post a like will be joining the list too of peoples opinions I give a rats ass about.

 

[UKMikey]

I'm not entirely convinced that Es are indeed good, but it's an absolute banger of a song.

Well, they are very much maligned and misunderstood.

But as a great philosopher once wrote... Naughty, naughty, very naughty.

Shamen you all. (PS: Got any vera's?)

 

[Famine]

I don't consider being talked down to as a debate.

Which very much begs the question of why you do it so often.

Let's take your "Easy E" post as an example - where, despite not being part of the conversation, you responded to a user you claim to have ignored and who is harassing you, in order to belittle them:

Do you even know the relationship of Ice Cube, Easy E and NWA or do you just post trending gifs?

That is talking down to someone. Completely unprovoked, you just jumped in to say "Guh, don't you know THAT? DUUUUH".

Which is of course additionally comical because in your attempt to condescend you didn't even get the dude's name right... and it wasn't the dude in the gif. It's even funnier that you think that somehow you have this magical piece of information that you know but nobody else does for some reason, given that you were three years old when NWA released SOC; I was already in secondary school, and I'm not even that old compared to some O&CE browsers.

You're literally a Millennial. Stuff in the 1980s is my childhood and young adulthood, and you were somewhere between an egg and a romper suit. We heard of NWA before you heard of sleeping through the night dry, but you want to talk down to people about it (while not being able to get the name right of one of the literally four people in it)? Risible, at best.

And then there's all the "you got no life", "get a life", "I got better things to do" crap...


It's not "talking down" if it's simply someone smarter than you speaking. It's "talking down" when you act like you know stuff that other people don't and deride them for it. Which is what you do all the time, and then play the "dumb ryzno" victim card.

Famine has even commented on my "middle school English comprehension" or something along those lines

The fact you think I said that is evidence towards it being true, because I didn't.

What I said was "Most of the time it just seems like you don't comprehend English to even a middle school level.", referring to the fractured, multipolar nature of your posts and the way you express yourself and interpret others. I also said "I don't know if you simply don't know the English language at all, or if you're chemically influenced when posting on here (and you have mentioned both alcohol and weed before), but your ability to string a sentence together and understand what other people are saying appears to be inadequate to engage in communication. If it's just the latter, stop posting when you are under the influence."


And yet here you are, dropping in hilarious weed memes (which obviously no-one but you has ever heard of because we're so book-smart and you're street-smart), and posting.

then has the audacity to expect me to answer his questions

I expect nothing but a response that misses out 90% of what anyone said to you, misreads that, and drips in victimhood and abuse. Even then I'm disappointed.

when I'd prefer to tell him something that would get me banned

You're absolutely obsessed with being banned. What is it about being banned that gets your blood pumping? Why is it always "I want to do this, but I'll get banned", "just ban me", and "well if I said what I really thought I'd be banned" with you? You've literally never been banned from here, even temporarily, ever, but you seem absolutely tumescent at the concept.

Do you get a gift card at Target with every GTPlanet ban or something?


And this is the third night in four that you've decided to kick up a fuss over literally nothing. Get some better weed and mellow the **** out.

 

[ryzno]

Do you get a gift card at Target with every GTPlanet ban or something?

I wish, I'd prefer Wal-Mart though, there are no Targets up here.

Get some better weed and mellow the **** out.

I'll work on it, the medical cali stuff is rediculously expensive here though.

Regardless I have nothing else to say until I see Monks post removed.

 

[McLaren]

I'll try again. In the video a group of 4 guys broke into the house and continued to break in several more times. Obviously you are stuck on the words and didn't watch the video.
No shotgun was put in anyones mouth.
You are taking the lyrics way to seriously.
And no I don't think putting a shotgun in someones mouth and pulling the trigger for trespassing is reasonable breaking and entering, grabbing my wife after breaking in my house is. Something you'd know about the video if you actually bothered to watch it instead of playing word games.

But dude, lyrics are what you're supposed to take away. Music videos are usually only there as symbolism(?) of the lyrics.

My absolute, favorite song is Kickstart My Heart. But, if one went by the music video, they'd think the song is just about being an adrenaline junkie. It shows drag racing, a race car crashing, sky driving, motorcycle riding, doing crazy antics on stage. It gets used for scenes in media to convey the same thing. Even the rhythm of the song might make one want to drive a little bit faster.

The reality is that the song is written to convey Nikki Sixx's feelings when he was given an adrenaline injection to revive him from an overdose he had, bit of, "live fast, die hard".

 

[FPV MIC]

But dude, lyrics are what you're supposed to take away.

But it can be from the writer or listener's perspective can't it? I've lost count of how many artist/songwriter's of heard say something like 'it's about what you as the listener take out of it' or 'whatever it means to you'.

 

[McLaren]

But it can be from the writer or listener's perspective can't it? I've lost count of how many artist/songwriter's of heard say something like 'it's about what you as the listener take out of it' or 'whatever it means to you'.

True, probably depends on the artist as you've noted & how they see their music. The song I referenced, I go by Nikki's interpretation of the song as much of his music is meant to convey his life. If one wanted to take away it's about getting a thrill, that's fine. But after reading The Dirt & Nikki's reflection on the night he OD'd that led to the song, it's easy to see what certain lyrics in the song are conveying. Kind of like, a double meaning I suppose, since it's about getting a thrill of a different kind.

 

[NotThePrez]

But it can be from the writer or listener's perspective can't it? I've lost count of how many artist/songwriter's of heard say something like 'it's about what you as the listener take out of it' or 'whatever it means to you'.

Slightly off topic, but you just reminded me of my High School music theory teacher. He hated the concept of music videos, for this very reason.

 

[ryzno]

Post is still up about Monk calling me a junkie, my news post was ignored and y'all are still talking about music. Y'all are really something.
This site is biased AF and hypocritical.

 

[NotThePrez]

Post is still up about Monk calling me a junkie, my news post was ignored and y'all are still talking about music. Y'all are really something.

Eh, it's not the first time this thread has gone off-topic. There have been several occasions where the America Thread became the Food thread for at least a week, and there was never a major concern about off-topic discussion (and, honestly, the discussions about food were much more positive, so it was a welcome change of pace).

That being said, I'm speaking for myself here, but, with all due respect, if it's the news article I believe you're referring to, it's coming from Fox News and uses Project Veritas as a source, two entities that imo have an individual worth equal to the rotting banana peels currently in my trash can. Also, the news article links me to a FB post, which doesn't help. If you're able to sum up the text, or insert the text of the article into some quotes like I and other users have done previously, I'd certainly be able to give a more thorough response. But I personally won't, in good conscience at least, give either Fox News and/or Project Veritas a single click or view.

If I absolutely had to guess, the teacher was probably fired for pushing a single political agenda with no regards to objectivity, and that probably also circled back on the school board at some point. if that is indeed the case, I don't necessarily disagree with that decision, but I also don't have any context. In any case, we should push for our educators to be thorough and objective in what they teach, not just in political ideology, but in things like American History, sex education, personal rights, economics, etc, many of those subjects are topics that the Conservative base is falling over itself trying to block objective teaching in. The lack of solid education and objectivity is (again, imo) 2 big reasons why we're having issues with misinformation and actually defending democracy at the moment.

However, given the political climate, and both Fox News' and Project Veritas having a history of being complete dog🤬 when it comes to objectivity (and PV's methods to "expose" individuals is straight-up dishonest, deceitful bull🤬), I highly doubt your article is trying to present its content in anything resembling good faith, especially since conservative outlets like Fox News and PV tend to be anti-Antifa to begin with.

Anecdotally, my humanities teacher in high school was very left-leaning (and honestly built the foundation for a lot of my current beliefs), but would only get deep into that stuff off-the-clock 1-on-1, and not during the class period, and would also entertain arguments that he didn't agree with, because he knew he was having a discussion. I think the worst thing he ever did was try to encourage students to learn about voting and who represents them, which my classmates tried to complain to my principal about, thankfully to no avail. That, and jokingly shouting "We are the 99%" though a megaphone at a random skyscraper in downtown St. Pete during a field trip.

This site is biased AF and hypocritical.

As someone whose 2 most visited websites are probably GTP and Reddit, no, not by a longshot.

 

[Imari]

Post is still up about Monk calling me a junkie, my news post was ignored and y'all are still talking about music. Y'all are really something.
This site is biased AF and hypocritical.

I mean, as a response to someone making a post that strongly insinuates that that they smoke weed every day, "junkie" isn't so much abusive as it is just an observation of the facts. If I say "well, it's 5.30, time for a bottle of wine" and someone calls me an alcoholic then I've not got much to come back with as much as it might feel bad. They might have even intended it as an insult, but if it fits the facts then you've kind of made your own bed.

If you enjoy weed, cool. If you enjoy it everyday, fine, whatever. But if you're taking it every day then either you're self-medicating (which I should point out is a perfectly reasonable use) or you enjoy it so much that yeah, you're functionally a junkie. Which you seem to take in the same vein as someone accusing you of eating babies while raping them, but actually is not even that big a deal. So you like the ganja. Big whoop. Just ****ing own it, dude.

If your reply had been "they wish they could be junkies like me" then that would have been both a slick shutdown and a statement that you're not such a snowflake that you get triggered over being accused of using drugs. There are times when the best response to just not take the insult as an insult. You're already obviously fine with admitting to using the drug. What's wrong with leaning in and going "mate, junkie is like three tiers below me, I'm off to blaze a cubic foot of stinky dank, if you see smoke coming from my house don't call the fire brigade"?

 

[ryzno]

I mean, as a response to someone making a post that strongly insinuates that that they smoke weed every day, "junkie" isn't so much abusive as it is just an observation of the facts. If I say "well, it's 5.30, time for a bottle of wine" and someone calls me an alcoholic then I've not got much to come back with as much as it might feel bad. They might have even intended it as an insult, but if it fits the facts then you've kind of made your own bed.

If you enjoy weed, cool. If you enjoy it everyday, fine, whatever. But if you're taking it every day then either you're self-medicating (which I should point out is a perfectly reasonable use) or you enjoy it so much that yeah, you're functionally a junkie. Which you seem to take in the same vein as someone accusing you of eating babies while raping them, but actually is not even that big a deal. So you like the ganja. Big whoop. Just ****ing own it, dude.

If your reply had been "they wish they could be junkies like me" then that would have been both a slick shutdown and a statement that you're not such a snowflake that you get triggered over being accused of using drugs. There are times when the best response to just not take the insult as an insult. You're already obviously fine with admitting to using the drug. What's wrong with leaning in and going "mate, junkie is like three tiers below me, I'm off to blaze a cubic foot of stinky dank, if you see smoke coming from my house don't call the fire brigade"?

Where I'm from a junkie is a crackhead on the corner begging for your change. I never begged anyone for anything. I earned it. I've been working since I was 15.
While I've admitted to doing crack and cocaine, anyone that knows anything about addiction, knows even 16 years later it's still in the back of your head. If he'd called me an alcoholic or a stoner, I'd probably say "and what".
I'm proud to be clean of that **** for the last 16 years and to have someone slap me in the face with that comment is, well I can't even put it into words here.

And **** you Mikey for laughing at his post.
I'm literally sitting here WAITING to go to jail and y'all think my problems are funny....
Y'all really are something else.

I never bothered anyone here and I received nothing but ******** insults.
Y'all can claim of victm rant but really y'all need to take a seat and look at yourselves in the mirror before you say something you wouldn't have the balls to say to someones face.
(That wasn't meant at you)

Edit: I have no problem saying I'm a proud stoner with alcohol problems.

 

[UKMikey]

And **** you Mikey for laughing at his post.
I'm literally sitting here WAITING to go to jail and y'all think my problems are funny....
Y'all really are something else.

I just thought his suggested response was sensible and funny instead of the World War III act whenever someone responds to you. I'm not laughing at your situation. How dare you judge me based on what posts I respond to on the forum? You're always playing the victim while dishing out the foulest abuse and treating the AUP like toilet paper. Well, after that post, I'm out of sympathy. Don't try and dictate how and where people can and can't respond to other people's posts, okay?

 

[TB]

Post is still up about Monk calling me a junkie, my news post was ignored and y'all are still talking about music. Y'all are really something.
This site is biased AF and hypocritical.

"That thing I don't agree with wasn't deleted, you're not discussing the thing I want to discuss but are discussing something else instead."

 

[Imari]

Where I'm from a junkie is a crackhead on the corner begging for your change. I never begged anyone for anything. I earned it. I've been working since I was 15.
While I've admitted to doing crack and cocaine, anyone that knows anything about addiction, knows even 16 years later it's still in the back of your head. If he'd called me an alcoholic or a stoner, I'd probably say "and what".

Right. So while the word "junkie" has a specific connotation for you, there's no way for anyone else to know what baggage you're carrying in your head. And it's unlikely that "junkie" has that same mental image for everyone, I have absolutely called my stoner mates junkies in a fairly affectionate way before. Their response was to giggle rather than punch me in the face, which is what it sounds like you'd do.

Matski's profile says Britain, so I'm going to guess that the UK idea of a junkie is probably more akin to the Australian one than the US one, just based on cultural heritage. You say weed doesn't make you a junkie, in British English that's really not the case.

I'm proud to be clean of that **** for the last 16 years and to have someone slap me in the face with that comment is, well I can't even put it into words here.

And good on you for being clean, it's hard and few people make it that far. People who haven't been through it won't necessarily understand, and even ones that have didn't have the exact same experience as you. Only you know what a big deal it was and is for you to achieve that. But this is an example of where instead of just getting offended and raging at people, you might have been better served by explaining exactly why the comment had more baggage for you than it seemed.

Without any other context, I'd assume that Matski was taking the easy jab at the target you presented given your last page or so of complaining about being the victim. I don't assume that he knew your drug history and was trying to go for deep emotional damage based on your being clean for 16 years, but I could be wrong.

But it's entirely possible for what is ostensibly banter to sometimes unintentionally hit too deep. Saying to a single colleague "John will never have a wife and kids because no one would take him!" is a mildly edgy jibe until you find out that his wife died in childbirth. And while people will often apologise for having gone too far by accident, you have to give them the context so that they can see what they did wrong instead of just raging at them.

If people can't see or understand why you're responding so violently to what seems like a pretty mild comment, they will assume that you're either having a bad day or are just easily triggered (or are an arsehole, but let's keep it simple). Whereas the reality that they're not seeing is that you've been through a lot and expend a lot of effort to stay clean, and that particular comment holds a lot of weight for you personally because of what you've experienced. Just as you can't really joke about the war with someone who has PTSD, you can't really safely joke about addiction with someone who has fought their way out of addiction. Some people might be fine with it, but for others it's completely fair and reasonable that this isn't something that they're emotionally able to shrug off any more.

Just tell people what's going on. You'll get a lot more sympathy, because you'll look less like a snowflake keyboard warrior and more like a real human who actually has experiences and emotions. It's not other people's fault that they're not mind readers with total access to your entire life history, and sometimes you're going to have to make allowances for that.

 

[Keef]

Because they are not junkies like you are?

Quit the habit 16 years ago TYVM. Weed doesn't make you a junkie, which I still smoke.
Welcome to the list of peoples opinions I give a rats ass about. I respected you till now and thanks for the insult asshole.

Edit: I've reported your post, if it's not removed I'm done with this site. That kind of insult was completely uncalled for especially considering our what I thought, was a good relationship.
Anyone who gives your post a like will be joining the list too of peoples opinions I give a rats ass about.

To me, the word "junkie" implies an ugly addiction to something. I don't know what habit you're talking about Ryzno but it seems MatskiMonk was referring to your addiction to bad-faith arguments and twisting others words into something other than what they actually mean. You're a junkie for bad arguments. But that's just my interpretation of the situation.

 

[Tornado]

Not for nothing, but there's absolutely a habit of members to try and bait people in this subforum who they know have bad opinions into giving one about whatever the topic of the day is so those members can wind the person up.

 

[Chrunch Houston]

Spoiler: Welcome to my House, music video (profanity warning)

I love short films, see my signature. I would give this a 2 out of 5. The sound track isn't very good, but it's not annoying.

 

[McLaren]

Lauren Boebert may lose her congressional seat during re-election as a new Congressional Map proposal could put her district in Rep. Joe Neguse's, which is reportedly, a solid-Democrat area.

The version made public on Friday split the state into four safe Democratic seats, three safe Republican ones and a new swing seat north of Denver.

It would slice the western slope in two and join the northern half to Boulder.

Conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert would now be in a solidly-Democratic district occupied by liberal Rep. Joe Neguse. The district would run from Adams County to Greeley.

New Colorado congressional map proposal would put Boebert, Neguse, in same district

Colorado’s nonpartisan redistricting commission has released its first map of new congressional districts based off Census data.

kdvr.com

Another source says Boebert could run in a different district, but would still be an up-hill battle.

 

[Danoff]

Lauren Boebert may lose her congressional seat during re-election as a new Congressional Map proposal could put her district in Rep. Joe Neguse's, which is reportedly, a solid-Democrat area.

New Colorado congressional map proposal would put Boebert, Neguse, in same district

Colorado’s nonpartisan redistricting commission has released its first map of new congressional districts based off Census data.

kdvr.com

Another source says Boebert could run in a different district, but would still be an up-hill battle.

I saw this. I believe this puts me in Boebert's district. Which will be fun (unless she wins), because I will absolutely vote for Neguse. I watched him during the 2nd impeachment and he was really excellent.

 

[Liquid]

Comiserations to everyone from the United States on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Despite having no personal connection to the event, it really had a profound effect on me. I was quite young at the time (10yo) and although it wasn't the first big news story I remember, nor did I fully understand the situation, I understood the magnitude of it.

I actually went and watched some of the live footage from the day; Bush being told the news and the second tower being hit. It was quite upsetting.

 

[JKgo]

It was around four in the afternoon in South Africa when it happened. I was at home watching the TV. The regular programming suddenly stopped, a grave looking news anchor showed up and then, scenes of a building with smoke pouring out.

I don't remember what the anchor said, but I still vividly remember watching the second plane hit the building. It was shown live.

I cried while watching it. My family watching it together with me all did. I still tear up whenever I recall those moments.

I think the world lost something that day. Something we can never get back.

 

[Rossell2]

I was still at school in the UK at the time, about 14. I went home later than the other kids so I'd sit in my parents car listening to some music. Then I heard the anchor say "two planes have crashed into the WTC in New York".

I thought it'd be like a cessna or something but my mind was like "how the hell do two cessnas hit the tallest buildings in NYC by a long shot?"

Got home I went to take my bag off in the kitchen, mum turned on the TV to get the lowdown. All I could hear is "you need to get in here." The rest is history. Didn't go to sleep that night. School next day was an experience I'd rather forget.

I'm glad that eventually there'll be a generation that didn't have to suffer the trauma of that day though they'll have to live with the consequences of it. I travelled to NYC for the first time 7 years after and have been there again since. Though it's woven into the city's fabric, it's a fantastic place, and it certainly hasn't been beaten by the events of that day. Big up New Yorkers.

 

[Blitz24]

I still remember seeing the WTC from my bus on the way to school about 1 hour prior to the attack. We didn't really know about anything other than some whispers that the Pentagon and WTC were hit by planes and most of us played it off because we didn't think it was possible. They called us into an assembly a little while later and it still wasn't made clear what happened, other than there was a terrorist attack. A few hours later, I was picked up early from school (there was extreme confusion in the area about if schools should remain open as a lot of parents wanted their kids with them) and finally learned what happened. My sister was in Boston at the time and my mother received a frantic call from her in laws asking if my sister was taking a flight back to NY (she wasn't). Add to that the firm my sister did some work for was located in the Towers and if she had been still working there, she might not have been alive (she left the firm a couple of years prior I believe). My closest friend at the time, his father was working as an EMT and was there when the attacks happened. He thankfully was not hurt but still something one cannot really fathom happening.

To add confusion to my emotions, 4 years later, my sister had her oldest son on 9/11, so the day now is a combination of remembrance and celebration.