Coffee, Donuts, & Spite?

[Insanis]

Do people look at this subforum and ever consider how it appears to others?

There are four threads attacking me by name, three from a single poster (1, 2, 3) who isn't even professing the faith fully, and one of which contains a false accusation, and another which has a lot of "thanks" on it from someone who has this to say about himself, this forum, and all Catholics, and another with a poll which started out inoffensive enough, but descended into yet another anti-Catholic trolling, and it was just closed with a sigh. Someone who continuously professes blasphemy is kept around, and others are more happy to have him around, despite all the things he wrote about Catholics on this forum, saints, and those who defended the simple truths of the faith.

Is being a Catholic who posts more than others the biggest offense this forum sees? Have I or Jayne done anything but use the forum to inspire such accusations and spite towards us, yet, you welcome non-Catholic trolls and blasphemers as long as they don't "flood" the forum?

Is that how it works here? One can post anything, as long as at first glance it doesn't dominate any particular forum?

Do these grave moral issues just get accepted for years, as long as the posting rate is low?

Everybody will come out to thank a post which makes false accusations against other Catholics, yet, when someone is posting blasphemies, people respond only at their leisure until they give up and decide to tolerate it?

Are there so few?

I slowed down posting (after pausing entirely for a bit) and the forum barely moves. Why is using it so offensive, yet, evil things are tolerated and even overlooked? The biggest topic, the one that draws the fastest and most diverse attention from the most people, are ones that are attacking me for posting. So what if my posts are more numerous? I wasn't drowning out other posts. So what if my threads were posted frequently? They were on topic and responding to things going on or of interest to Catholics. There are so few posts, anybody willing to post a thread every other day can dominate a forum simply because there is no activity.

I don't understand it, and it seems like after all this, it is clear how this forum works. It is, at best, a test of patience of Catholics, and while I hope I have learned something here in defending the Church against blasphemers, and dealing with all the false accusations and personal attacks, it is not good to willfully have oneself tempted to evil just to resist it.

When I die, I don't want any forensic investigation (hypothetically) to find I wasted time here.at the end of my life.

This is a very strange forum no matter how one looks at it.

Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world.

But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat.  For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves.

[Jayne]

Do people look at this subforum and ever consider how it appears to others?

I do.  As a housewife, my mind runs to house-keeping analogies and I think of this sub-forum as a sort of front entrance for greetings and farewells.  This is an especially important area of the house to keep tidy and one of my top priorities.  I see it as a problem when people dump their drama posts here and create clutter. 

Way back, there was a policy on this forum to not allow subject lines that called out members by name. I would like to see that revived.  At the very least, I would like to see it applied in C&D.

[clau clau]

Do people look at this subforum and ever consider how it appears to others?

No.

[Jayne]

I always suspected that Marcus Aurelius did not do house-keeping and I am even more sure now.

[Insanis]

Do people look at this subforum and ever consider how it appears to others?

No.

You thanked this post which clearly does show you look at the forum and consider how it appears to you and you let it affect you, even to the point of being flippant and disrespectful to me (and others) by forsaking intellect and just posting Internet images and videos in response.

It is a very emotional reaction to your perception of others.

Furthermore, I am still Roman Catholic, and the advice of a pagan Roman emperor is not at all what I use in matters of the faith and the Christian community.

[Insanis]

I always suspected that Marcus Aurelius did not do house-keeping and I am even more sure now.

In his famous writings, he congratulates himself for not using his personal slaves for his own venereal pleasure. In fact, he sort of uses his reflections to justify the condition of everybody, because if everybody were a Stoic, none of those distinctions would matter, after all, if one is free in one's own mind, one can just ignore the condition of the slaves and the abuses of them. And there is no real distinction between emperor and slave to him. It is just coincidence he is the emperor and the most distinguished and powerful individual in the Roman Empire.

He may have some nice quotes for people to reflect on when considering the Stoic philosophy, but he is not a model of virtue, especially not theological virtues which he did not possess.

[clau clau]

Do people look at this subforum and ever consider how it appears to others?

No.

You thanked this post which clearly does show you look at the forum and consider how it appears to you and you let it affect you great, even to the point of being flippant and disrespectful to me (and others) by forsaking intellect and just posting Internet images and videos in response.

It is a very emotional reaction to your perception of others.

Furthermore, I am still Roman Catholic, and the advice of a pagan Roman emperor is not at all what I use in matters of the faith and the Christian community.

Meh.

[Insanis]

Meh.

I'll check what Marcus has to say about this.

[Melkor]

Aurelius has some excellent principles; and although ultimately Stoicism is flawed as a philosophy, there are some good takeaways. The Church has always taught to take the good while rejecting the evil.

[Insanis]

Aurelius has some excellent principles; and although ultimately Stoicism is flawed as a philosophy, there are some good takeaways. The Church has always taught to take the good while rejecting the evil.

Yes, for dealing with bad weather, the mindset can be very helpful.

For dealing with virtue and Christian living, it can easily destroy it.

The Stoic philosophy is for oneself, not to use to disregard other people's perceptions selectively.

[nmoerbeek]

"But the servant of the Lord must not wrangle: but be mild towards all men, apt to teach, patient" 2 Timothy 2:24

Having been a forum member here for a long time I think the forum very much values mildness.  It is possible to be a character and thrive, but a person needs to  be somewhat mild.  This has to be clearly perceived by others.  Some people who stop being mild or struggle with it wind up not lasting and either dramatically quit or get banned.

I understand mildness to be a moderation of justice that avoids actions that could provoke anger, resentment, etc.  So, it is possible then to be fully armed with Catholic truth but present it in such a way that it provokes other people. 

I can tell you are distressed because of your zeal and the reception of your ardent words.  If you are looking at a way to examine them for why they might be provoking a certain reaction from this online community perhaps (and I could be wrong) consider if they are presented in a suitable mild way.  The way we treat people who are strangers, eager to help but at the same time formal, friendly and reserved.

[Jayne]

Having been a forum member here for a long time I think the forum very much values mildness.  It is possible to be a character and thrive, but a person needs to  be somewhat mild.  This has to be clearly perceived by others.

I am sure that you value mildness, but I question whether this is an adequate explanation for recent forum dynamics.  Many of the people criticizing Insanis have not been mild at all. Some were not even civil.  I would expect people who genuinely valued mildness to be mild themselves.

[nmoerbeek]

Having been a forum member here for a long time I think the forum very much values mildness.  It is possible to be a character and thrive, but a person needs to  be somewhat mild.  This has to be clearly perceived by others.

I am sure that you value mildness, but I question whether this is an adequate explanation for recent forum dynamics.  Many of the people criticizing Insanis have not been mild at all. Some were not even civil.  I would expect people who genuinely valued mildness to be mild themselves.

Perhaps I should have said: I believe a person will do well on this forum if they are of a more mild disposition, and that mildness is Catholic and compatible with fervor.  The members of this forum seem to almost universally get along well with posters who are mild in their presentation of Catholic teaching.

[Jayne]

The members of this forum seem to almost universally get along well with posters who are mild in their presentation of Catholic teaching.

I suspect it is more than forum members who respond this way.  It seems that your observation corresponds to Proverbs 15:1:

"A mild answer breaketh wrath: but a harsh word stirreth up fury."

[Insanis]

This forum is very odd, with long periods of inactivity, and times of great focused activity.

A normal functioning forum would indeed be best if people were mild and of one mind.

But the issue is that this does not describe this forum. It has had known blasphemers for years, who post horrible things about Our Lady and a saint, and resist any correction and attack those who offer it.

There are anti-Catholic trolls, who are known to provoke and hassle Catholics.

And there are a few who are not Catholic, but try to pretend they are, at least, during discussions, and introduce their own errors and novelties into Catholic discussions.

These sorts of things cannot be met with mildness: they should be met with harsh rejection.

Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world.

But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat.  For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves.

You'll see that normal interactions among Catholics don't have any harshness with me: I disagreed several times with Jayne, yet, nobody remember it, because we didn't make a big deal out of it. I have a lot of personal opinions on the political and vaccine posts, yet, I don't make a big deal of it, as it isn't worth the discord it could create.

A lot of these things won't be visible unless you look for it, and people are just seeing my posts and threads, and reacting to that.

But a lot of them don't even seem to be reading what I write or looking into the background much of the time.

Posts that are responses to something don't exist in a vacuum.