crwmike

...but words can get you banned here ...unless you're a bud of the moderator, then you can pretty much say what you want. Michael

Wendy, I am most impressed with what you wrote. I am essentially in agreement with the 70's version (though I prefer the term 'humanism' to include us all. Somewhere along the way, many women sold out. Your employment search is evidence. Where are the proportionate numbers of women in Congress, in the board rooms of corporate America. in the work force (outside service industries). Everyone deserves an equal shot at success or failure. I somewhat disagree on one point. Men have to change. Men have to realize the basic unfairness of our present system. To suceed, we need to examine our lives and our values ...course the natives ain't gonna like it much. Creating 'specialness' categories for women was the equivalent of offering trinkets and beads while continuing to deny true equality. Women bought it! While hiring, layoffs, salaries and job opportunities all treat women unfairly, many want to hang on to a 'we're special' mentality and angrily attack anyone who tries to point it out that the trinkets of social privledge and protectionist legislation are holding us all back. Michael Sexism, Feminism, Genderism ...all just buzz words for the microcosm till we start doing something about it.

Man, I'm hearing all sorts of good things about Jumptown. Never been there but it sounds like a good place to have an annual CRW Boogie. CRW Skies, Michael

It is a much appreciated service for skydivers. All of you have done a good job and pretty much fairly and eqitably. With this in mind, I posed my questions. Nope, can't pin that on me...but if being Minder does it for you, go for it! For me, I look at intent and not let myself be swayed by society's buzz words. Your way will have more support, however.

QuoteI obviously touched a nerve! How can anybody advocate open drug use in this country? Aren't we supposed to care about freedom; except when it comes to the slavery of drug addiction? Step away from your keyboard and go down to your local junkie haven and spend the evening. Ask a few hypes 'should drugs be legal?'; you might be surprised by their answers. ------------- Yep, just look at the problem it's created in Amsterdam. AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - While debate simmers in the United States over legalizing drugs, the trend in Europe is toward increased tolerance for the user - and tougher penalties for the trafficker. -U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders set off a storm by suggesting America's streets might be safer if drug use were legalized. In Amsterdam, you don't have to go far to find evidence that supports her argument. In the red light district, for instance, elderly tourists mingle freely with junkies and let their pocketbooks dangle freely. In a city known as one of Europe's major drug bazaars, purse-snatchings are rare and drug-related crimes of violence are almost unheard-of. But permissiveness toward drug use may be less significant than other policies - such as strict gun control - in explaining low levels of crime and violence. ... European officials oppose outright legalization. ... Police have focused their war on drugs on traffickers associated with organized crime, even as tolerance toward possession and use makes drugs cheap and easy to get. The Dutch government eliminated penalties for drug possession in 1976, setting a policy that possession of up to a gram of heroin (.035 ounces) or 30 grams (1.05 ounces) of marijuana or hashish was not a punishable offense. Even though heroin is readily available, the Dutch addiction rate is one of Europe's lowest, with about 15,000 hard drug addicts and 600,000 marijuana and hashish users in this nation of 15 million

See, that's the point. Why is one an attack and not the other?

I'm actually quite serious. The words we use and the words we wish to ban tell us everything about our culture and our values. I was hoping for good discussion on the matter.

Re: [TheAnvil] Jumping with White People Rocks [In reply to] Really? Ban? Ban?!? You would actually kick a skydiver off a discussion board for skydivers for the use of a word not on the tribal elders approved word list that describes behavior and attitudes that promote one race over another. How bout 'feminist', Bill? Will you ban skydivers from open discussion for calling someone a feminist? What were you smoking? Michael

Please stay on topic. If you want to talk about your homosexual behaviors, start another thread. Michael

I'd decide what I wanted to do and then do it. Michael

Just because I recognize reality, doesn't mean I adhere to it. Thanks for the insult, though. Good point, I had already changed it. Michael

Basically because of conditioning and mind set. Whether the discrimination still exists or not, the subject of sexism is not a burning sociological issue in the US these days. Race, however, is. And furthermore, you're comparing an all woman jump to all white jump. You're comparing a group that was the opressed party, versus the group that was a privelaged party. Apples and oranges. First of all, discrimination oppresses us all. Secondly, your point is absolutely correct. You are merely calling up the imprinted views of the tribal collective. Damn dude, that's not thinking inside the box ...that ain't thinking at all. So I guess we're all just waiting for the tribal elders to tell us what is important. Michael

Perception. Yes! I agree with you. They are perceived differently. Why do you think that is, Phil? Michael

Really? Please quote what you are calling personal attacks. Michael

ROFL It's this kind of hate-based "short bashing" that holds back the maturity of the planet. Do you care when Anvil gets pulled over for "driving while short"? I didn't think so. But, then again, how would the cops know other than seeing his fingers over the top of the steering wheel? That could be anybody. I'm going for a couple aspirin. No, but he's got enough problems appealing that Public Ugly conviction. Michael

I am soooooo busted :( What gave me away? Michael

Comparatively speaking, it's a blast of fresh, clean air from 15K. Thanks. Michael "..freedom has a twofold meaning for modern man: that he has been freed from traditional authorities and has become an 'individual,' but that at the same time he has become isolated, powerless and an instrument of purposes outside of himself, alienated from himself and others; furthermore, that this state undermines his self, weakens and frightens him, and makes him ready for submission to new kinds of bondage. Positive freedom on the other hand is identical with the full realization of the individual's potentialities, together with his ability to live actively and spontaneously." Eric Fromm Escape from Freedom

Terraserver kicks ass! Here's my house. They even got my car sitting in the circular drive.

Dude, I used a Berkely think tank exercise from the 60's and substitued 'white people' for 'women' from the original post. The point was to see if people would react differently ...well I guess we can see they did. :) I was (am) hoping for a good discussion on how our subconscious socialization will allow us to accept discrimination for/against one group and not another. Instead, we get responses stating I hate women, am against curtural diversity, the overcoming of childhood illness, and family values. Let's just assume I'm guilty of all that and discuss the relevance of the post. Do you agree that the posts were received differently and why? All I'm asking you to do is first realize there is a box and then try to think outside of it. Absent relavant discussion, it might as well be locked. Michael Life is short, dance naked and shake you ass!

Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk. Willy-nilly (adj.), Impotent. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightie. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash. Flatulence (n.), the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you Are run over by a steamroller. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam. Rectitude (n.), the formal dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts. Frisbeetarianism (n.), the belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there. Pokemon (n.), A Jamaican proctologist. -----

Rosa, Your 'provocative' opinion was just fine with me. It was honest and straightforward. I expect that from skydivers as it promotes open discussion. I recently reported a nurse (woman) who was sleeping while her patient choked to death on an untended tube feeding. She felt that I hated women also ...so you may be on to something. Michael

Cause it's a post about blatant discrimination and how easy it is to see other people's bigotry. I got that; I was kinda bein' sarcastic... That explains that 'whoosh' sound I heard flying overhead.

I have no reason to think you stupid, Kelly. Sexist and saparatist? (and a flair for alliteration :) ...most definitely. In all seriousness, Kelly, we all live on this planet. We need to let go of some of the attitudes that we grew up with in order to share it peacefully and equally. Do you disagree with this??? It's usually pretty easy to see bigotry in others (intentional or just societally imprinted), it is more difficult to see it in ourselves. I grew up in an area and an era where racial and gender discrimination were a way of life. I saw the wrongness of it and have tried to change the way I live. Let's say I wasn't holding up the Women't forum post for examination and was just sincerely posting my comfort and pleasure of only having white people on my skydives. Would you see something admirable in that? I'm not trying to fight you, Kelly. I sincerely believe we are entering the time (finally!) where we all can be equal partners in this world ...but it's gonna take some soul searching, work and sacrafice on all our parts. I'm hoping you (and others) would share this belief. I am a humanist, not a feminist. Michael

Cause it's a post about blatant discrimination and how easy it is to see other people's bigotry.

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes. Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway. There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead. Life is sexually transmitted. If quitters never win, and winners never quit, then who is the fool who said, "Quit while you're ahead?" The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks. Some people are like Slinkies . not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to? Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism. Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents? In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?