Forget it, tomsk, it's Chinatown.

Or the Internet.

Andrew:

Please don't wait for an apology, life is too short. I am sorry that my comments sounded like preaching from above, I guess my feelings have affected my ability to be understood.

First, I said nothing about dementia- those were your words. Grandma sends us mail from time to time, and is obviously quite rational and sane. She is also rich, and has always wanted to travel. Frankly, I envy her.

My comments stem from my belief that what we say in the present becomes what we do in the future. My belief comes from my experiences and observations.. I don't expect anyone to agree with me and I did not start this thread. The real sadness for me is that you feel someone should be shamed for speaking their mind.

Jim

Part of that post makes it appear you got Andrew's joke...and the rest of the post makes it appear it went over your head....

But you didn't NOT say anything about dementia either. How insensitive!



Oh please. After all the shaming that Acer's been the target of for making a joke?

I suspect the point has very little to do with shaming you, and very much to do with illustrating how many jokes could potentially be construed as offensive. Would most people find your signature offensive? Certainly not. But I could see how one who is particularly sensitive to a situation like that might. And unless you really think that nobody could, by leaving it in your signature line, you sort of illustrate the general opinion of most on the thread - if you as the joke-teller find it funny, then you'll tell it, and anyone who might be hypersensitive (I use that term descriptively, not pejoratively) to it will just have to deal with it.

With regard to your last paragraph, are you saying that the writer (or any of his readers) is more likely to assault a disabled person now than before that joke saw the light of day? If so, I disagree.

French drop-

I did enjoy the humor of the first part of Andrew's post. Then it seemed to turn a bit vitriolic, to me. Perhaps I am getting thin-skinned.

Lobo-

Enjoyed your post. My last para was not meant as specific as it may have sounded. I was trying to relate my experiences with those who look rough, or talk rough, or act rough. I believe people do things they would never ordinarily do because of spoken, or written, or visual influence. I believe a group of non-viiolent people can, as a group, be violent. I believe if we speak kinder, we will be kinder.

To me, the sentence under discussion was a cheap laugh. How long could it possibly have taken to come up with something kinder?

Finally, I rather feel I need to take my comeuppance from Andrew, and will remove my sig!

Jim

Argh... I was advocating the opposite. Keep the sig, and in turn lighten up about what other people joke about.