Dang... I'm re-washing the sheets right now!





































(Kidding!! Thanks for your post, Juston, I really appreciate it. And I really enjoyed our hike!)

Edited by ben2world on 03/23/2011 14:34:12 MDT.

Roger,

I enjoy a good joke too, but not at the expense of a person or group. Satire is wonderful if done in good taste.

The US is a very wealth country, and there is a large disparity between groups. And it is not just limited to the US either. Predjudice denies many groups access to education, jobs, and other benefits that are available to the "haves." Your country has some of the same problems, probably worse for the Aborigines. Yes, members of disadvantaged groups can overcome the predjudice, but it is a hurdle that should not be there.

Unfortunately, here is the US, we are seeing an increase in hate crimes against Gays (even deaths) and recently several Gay teenagers have commited suicide because of it. My comments are not about being "politically correct," but the mind-set that a joke or satire about a specific group is not damaging, where I (and others) think it is.

"Methinks you have read way too much into this supposed racist exchange."

It was an exchange.
It was racist/orientation/ethnic demeaning.

And was obviously seen by some in that light.

Which is why even as a 'joke' it has no place.
A joke doesn't make it OK. It pursues acceptance, but at a great cost.

Miguel, my brother of the same name.. I was not joking, not even close when I brought up the idea that hypocrisy of some United Statesians (do we truly think we're the only country in "America"?)is nothing i forget very soon. the average memory of history of our fine citizens is likely around 3 weeks, at best. just a guess.

"Humor is a good thing, but not once did anyone even take a moment to consider the plight of people here, not seriously, to spare them a moment of consideration. Someone had to bring up atomic bombs on Hiroshima."

my stab was directed to the hearts of my neighbors, either real or virtual. and for the record I stated we bombed the Japanese Twice. that, is a part of our united statesian history that not only embarrasses me, it makes me want to vomit.

now, on the lighter side, cant all you Chinks and Faggots get along? Jesus.

Edited by mikeinfhaz on 03/23/2011 16:31:57 MDT.

> Note to Miguel -- no mere words can assuage the sadness you are feeling. Just know that Japan will heal.

Which is the real point of this thread.

Sincerely
Roger

te-wa:

Vomit? And people accuse me of being unAmerican!! :)

It's really beginning to sound like a bunch of children who have just discovered cussing around here.

Repeating slurs ad nauseam to try and prove what?

Weak.

Some people can't resist the opportunity to show off how offended they can be.
Some people can't wast an opportunity to show how self examined and self aware they are by belittling where they are from or who they are. It proves how evolved they are and how they are "one of the good ones". Its very 1990's.
Just say united stasian once and the mystery of why people in the USA call themselves American is solved.

Chaff, as i understand it, is a place where we can and will discuss anything we wish, and that should be self evident. fat, skinny, rich , poor, ugly, beautiful.
brian you have a problem with my views? take it up with yourself, stroker.

te-wa, I have have a problem with all forms of bigotry and hypocrisy, Short stroker

.nevermind. man. some peoples kids.

Edited by mikeinfhaz on 03/23/2011 20:46:44 MDT.

I am Defiantly not a republican. 100% Independent for life.
"your opinion of me is none of my business"
I like that quote. Take it easy

I feel dirty. I've taken twelve showers but I still can not wash this thread off me.

I just want to the see Ben's pictures of Mongolia.

And maybe have Roger announce another article about stoves.

Or imagine if you can. Imagine all the backpackers. Image all of us joining hands and singing kumbaya. Then discussing whether or not to wear underwear and how to wipe with no TP.

Now I must go take another shower.

"I just want to the see Ben's pictures of Mongolia."

OK, Matthew, you got it. But just a quick intro beforehand. I went on a 7 month RTW trip back in 2009. I had wanted to get a first hand "feel" for just how big our world really is. So on this trip, I used only surface transportation (no flying):

o Amtrak train LA - New Orleans - 2 days
o Greyhound bus - NOL to Ft. Lauderdale - 1 day
o Cruise ship - Ft. L. across the Atlantic to Lisbon, Portugal (with a stop in the Azores Islands) - 9 days
o many train rides - Portugal-Poland-Ukraine-Belarus-Russia-Mongolia-China - 6 months
o Cargo (container) ship - Shanghai, China across the Pacific back to LA - 13 days

So, if you truly have nothing better to do, click here for my travel pics.

Ben, I wouldn't ask that the thread be taken down. Not at all. I know not a single one here meant any harm. I can't imagine that people would be heartless.

But you haver to remember that humor is seen in different ways around the world. The Japanese rarely use sarcasm and I don't know how many people would see the humor in what people have posted. Even though I'm a native English speaker, when I first went to the States from Japan when I was 19 it took me about two years to finally "get" what my American friends were joking about. Before that it just seemed like a bunch of people being heartless and mean. That's the way a lot of Japanese would interpret stuff here.

To give you an example, just imagine a week after the planes hit the buildings in New York and I put up a site, for the benefit of my friends who were nervous about more crazy stuff happening, jokingly depicting graphic alternative ways for the buildings to have been destroyed. Would all of you have thought it was funny at the time? I mean, I was vehemently attacked by several American friends when I quietly suggested that they try to stay calm and not jump onto an immediate outcry to attack Afghanistan. I still stand by what I said back then, two days after the New York tragedy. But, I also understand the immense grief everyone was feeling (I felt it, too, after all), and how my suggestions could easily have been interpreted as being insensitive.

This disaster has hit people very hard here. A great many people, including my partner, are in complete denial. It was too big to get your mind around. And unlike 9/11, it wasn't a single incident, it was practically half of the country's landmass, everyone going through a truly awful series earthquakes that continue even now (just had a real shocker yesterday that I thought would be another huge one), though not as bad as the area up north of Tokyo. Then the tsunami, which was far, far worse. The images on the TV brought it home in a way that no other way could have. Then the nuclear power plants. It was really too much.

I need a laugh... MAN, do I need a good laugh! So please, continue with the horsing around here. It's great to see people enjoying one another's company, everyone good and alive (I REALLY appreciate that now). But please, all I ask is that you tone it down a bit about things here. That's all. At least until the enormity of all this gets processed a little and we have the capacity to rib one another and stop breaking down weeping every time we see images on TV.

Craig said:"It's really beginning to sound like a bunch of children who have just discovered cussing around here".
I learned around third grade to cuss my friends and I could make a truck driver cry by the end of third grade. After school I was able to turn off the cussing around family and adults.
By the the time I reached 8th grade only cussed when from a cut finger or sprained ankle from hiking or skateboarding.
Then I found out that the good hot looking girls they don't like truck driver language so I quit using it.
I grew up.
I have noticed now days cussing just goes on with most people that were born in the late 70's and 80's and is still part of their everyday language even when they are adults,I guess they have not grown up yet.
Terry

Standards change all the time. Nowadays, something about the general 'dumbing down' of our society -- or the increasingly infantile behavior of adults?

Every generation of old farts look back to their own glory days and curse the present. It's what old farts do. Maybe that's it. Or maybe society really is going down the toilet. Methinks probably a bit of both. But with every change, there are usually both pluses and minuses.

Sometimes cussing can be shortcut ; a quick way to get something across without using many words. It's different if you slam your finger and cuss, that's just a learned reaction. Cussing is as lazy a way to say something, as is saying that someone is "nice", for example.
I think a good part of this thread has been a tit for tat, carried on from another thread. No problem calling someone on an offensive word that can hurt, irregardless of intention. Insinuating that Ben is unsympathetic , or worse, to those of us that are either minorities or underprivileged or otherwise have a hard time in our society, seems unfair to say the least.
I agree with Miguel that toning it down would be good, and it seems like it already has; I just had write something as I am taking shelter for a few minutes from this pretty impressive storm
; )



edited to fix the very important smiley face that was split between two lines.

Edited by Kat_P on 03/24/2011 10:50:40 MDT.

Hi Katherina:

Cussing can indeed be a shortcut. But IMHO, what I think is far worse is the seeming laziness of thought amongst some people here -- and in society in general. The laziness I am talking about is something along the lines of: If A, then B and always so -- without bothering with any further thought as to intention, situational context, nuances, etc., etc. -- but certainly with great haste to make instant conclusion and render swift judgment!!

I expect this kind of thought process from a child or a teen, who hasn't yet acquired the experience or the maturity of years. But adults should have no excuse.

To me, there IS a great difference between a satire and a slur. And folks, the difference is NOT in the wording used. The wording can be (and often is) one and the same. Think about that.

"Think about that."

How do I do that again? I lost my notes ...
: )