...I respect these posts:
Hetemti:
I see rape as worse than murder. With murder, its done and over with. With rape, not only is the memory, possible scaring, and emotional damage permanant, there's also the prospect of STD/AIDS, and in some cases, having to choose either abortion or birthing the spawn of her assailant.
And...
Mr.X:
Rape is SO much worse than murder.
Murder is most often a crime of elimination- the murderer doesn't often kill for FUN. A murderer kills, usually, to get rid of someone that jeopardizes his/her well-being, be it an enemy or a witness. A murder victim doesn't have to live with the scars. They get on with whatever's beyond the veil.
Rape, on the other hand, is comitted out of sheer brutality and hate. Those who do it, do it because they hate women, and as it was stated before, rape leaves severe psychological scars that almost never heal. Imagine not being able to have sex without recalling something horrible that someone did to you.
As for Columbus, he was just like any other jerk of the time period. Any other European sailor would have done the same thing. It was common practice.
Columbus got his punishment for it, though. Death by Syphilis.
Then we have something like:
Rando:
DUke, you have proven your stupidity, youth, and ignorence with that post. Read a book and learn a little more about the aspects of life you know nothing about before you post such uneducated drivel.
I disregarded this post because it was more like a personal analysis of me rather than a correction to my so called "stupidity" and "ignorence." It was more like a direct attack...and nothing more.
Other responses, like:
Arhar:
Yet another pearls of wisdom from my best buddy Duke.
Apparently, rape is a lot less important than murder, and most women get over it. After all, it's just sex - hey, might as well relax and try to enjoy yourself?
You sick, ignorant piece of oink.
That...I can respect *more* than Rando's response. He simply stated his opinion of me, and was *not* telling me who I am, like Rando's above quote. See, in this case, I respect Arhar a lot more...way more than *I* even expect of myself.
Another response was, Almindhra's:
Almindhra:
I cannot believe what I'm reading...I cannot believe this...Possibly, if you, Duke, were a woman, you would consider rape something more than just, I don't know, however you're claiming it not to be something devestating in a woman's life...I hope this isn't one of your sick, S&M sh*t, that women want to be raped or something (yes, I have heard that out of someone's mouth before)...Rape is something that leaves physical and emotional scares...And did you ever think, that for married or dating women, some husbands will leave them because now their wife is "dirty" and has been "used" by some other man...And how about when a woman becomes pregnant from rape?...Either an abortion, which should not be the answer, or having the baby is an option...Now lets just say she doesn't put it up for adoption, do you know how hard it would be to look at that baby, and try to feel love for it, while you're looking at a part of your rapist's flesh and blood?...Sexual crimes, really against anyone, are terrible, and I truly feel sorry for it's victims...
You really underestimate the effects of rape, Duke...I hope now everyone truly sees what an idiot this kid is...
For the first time, I thought I was going to respect Almindhra's opinion, because truely, it was her opinion -- I respect mostly all opinions. However, you see that bold part at the bottom of the quote? That took the whole seriousness of Almindhra's reply, and just made it another shameless attack at me. However, I still respect her response more than I respect Rando's.
Mr.X and Hetemti's responses are what I call the *normal* responses, because they actually stated their opinion exactly as I did, without insulting anyone, exactly as I had done. No needless name-calling, and none of that premature action. *Those* are the replies I can consider into my argument, because they were serious without the flaws. You want me to listen, state your opinion and argue like a mature person...otherwise, I will be the a**hole that I am.
So in response to your latest, Spiderman:
Spiderman:
Why should you be corrected? It was around your first post, hence I would think most readers took it to be your opinion )and probably the storm of criticism that followed was meant to be your "correction").
The reason why you got so many mixed reactions is because of it's uncaring tone. To you, as the author, it might have seemed clear, but it should be evident from the storm of "disagreement" that it wasn't. The way you describe may have sounded that way to you and what you actually meant, but that's not what came across to most everyone else.
Hence, and this is not meant to sound condescending because Lord knows I do it myself, especially in real life (or so my wife tells me
), but it's important to see how others might view your words as they don't have telepathy to glean what you may have actually meant
As I said above, there was a better way of expressing what you really meant that (I don't think) sounds as uncaring or blase. Obviously it's in hindsight, but it's just one of the dangers of writing on The Net.
I didn't realize that I would create such a "storm," because seemingly from Hetemti's response, I thought I was just gonna get some simple opinions, just a wind breeze, not a storm. Mr. X's response was just an opinion too...just a gust of wind...no storm here. The storm comes in, if you notice, with the people that I usually make storms with -- that tells me that, although it may have had seriousness in it, it was also seen as a chance to storm at me yet another time. I really don't care though, some people are meant to hold on, and some will always live in black and white. Look back and figure out who's who...so easy to tell...
Everything is hip though, as long as we got this resolved now, I hope.
