Ebony's Pearls

First off, a quote from my profile. It's been there a while, so if it's new to you,it's because you haven't read my profile. Here, I offer only my personal experiences and opinions on public affairs. I'm not going to go seeking validation and further documentation to satisfy you - that's what you're supposed to do on your own.

I would like for each of you to decide for yourself, to do your own research. Don't just take my word for it, although, if you want, you can. Just don't blame me if I misunderstood something or made a mistake - please notice the copious typos and poor grammar - even though English is not my native language, it is my primary one, and I still mess it up. If that's not some sort of indictment on my opinions, and you still want to take my word for it - on your head be it.

Doubt my data all you will, I won't be offended if you seek second opinions. In fact, I urge you to do so.

I will be offended if you call me names or cast aspersions upon my character. If you must call me names, please be so kind as to do so where I'm not likely to find out. I don't google my name, so feel free to say what you will.


Now, with that out of the way, let me also say I am an adherent of The Numenous Way. More, I am an Elder in The Numenous Way. One of our tenets is that if you don't like something, we urge you to not have it or do it. If you tell us you do not want to do something, we will not help you do it. If you insist on doing it all the while protesting that you do not want to do it, you will get no support or sympathy from us.

If, for instance, you antagonistically post a comment saying you do not want engage in antagonistic discussion about a specific topic, I will support your desire to refrain from that by not engaging you in discussion about it. I'll post a brief, supportive comment encouraging you not to do whatever you said you didn't want to do.

If you then post an angry comment accusing me of not answering your unasked questions, know this: I considered the discussion closed. I am not going to parse your antagonistic comment seeking for your unasked questions in order to civilly answer them. In my experience,it doesn't matter how neutral or civil I am, you will twist my words to suit whatever anger you have in you. I may, if I'm feeling generous, remind you I am supporting your expressed desire to not engage in an antagonistic discussion of the topic. In my experience, any discussion of the topic from this point on will be antagonistic on your part. This is your problem, not mine.

If you then post a third antagonistically worded comment on the topic, I will not respond at all. I will not delete your comments. I will not delete my responses. I will not delete other people's comments or responses. If you choose to delete your own comments, that is entirely your affair. I would hope it means you have reconsidered your angry comments and your immature behavior in someone else's journal, and that is what I am going to choose to believe. I would prefer that you not enlighten me if it is otherwise.

Remember that what I post here is personal opinion. It is not a factual newspaper, a scholarly dissertation with supporting documentation, or in any way purporting to be anything other than what it is: a personal journal full of personal notes. You get to read what I write only because I leave my posts on a public setting. You are not privileged to read my private blog (this is true of every single person reading this blog; my private blog is available only to me;nothing personal,but it's private).

If you want documentation of what I note in this blog, I usually provide enough information for you to google it yourself and arrive at your own conclusions. I encourage you to write a post about what you think of the data in your own blog. If you wish to link your post and opinions with mine, you can put a link in my comments or yours to let me or others know why you posted it, but you don't have to do that.

Most of the people who choose to read this blog are mature, civil people, and we sometimes engage in controversial and sensitive topics in civil and mature fashion.

I do not apologize for those who choose to behave immaturely here. Neither do I respond to encourage their inappropriate behavior.

I do not encourage antagonistic or rude comments or discussions. If you want to go all ballistic, please use your own blog for that sort of needless drama.

I hope I have made my stance clear. I will not encourage people to engage in behavior they have stated they do not wish to engage in. I will not feed antagonistic behavior.

This was long and redundant,but there you go.