What an awful thread

[Tempo Gain]

How exactly does the OP not allow people to talk about the subject unimpeded?

The same way any OT posting does, for a start, though it obviously goes farther than that in suggesting the topic at hand is unworthy of discussion.

[Tigerman]

How exactly does the OP not allow people to talk about the subject unimpeded?

The same way any OT posting does, for a start, though it obviously goes farther than that in suggesting the topic at hand is unworthy of discussion.

Say what? Again... How exactly does anything the OP posted not allow others to continue, unimpeded, discussing the subject?

Your post above is nonresponsive. It answers nothing.

Also, how exactly does an OT post not allow others from continuing any conversation?

[Tempo Gain]

Yes it does. It's simple. I see the post as OT. These aren't allowed because they impede discussion. If you disagree that the post is OT fine, and thanks for the feedback; it is appreciated. However, I can't see why you're asking how an OT post impedes discussion. I'm not going to try to explain that to you.

[Tigerman]

Yes it does. It's simple. I see the post as OT.

A post that adresses the topic of discussion is OT? OooooKaaaaaay...

These aren't allowed because they impede discussion.

Criticism, by way of an alternate opinion, often impedes a particular flow of discussion. I wouldn't say, however, that it necessarily impedes discussion. It may change the course or attitude of the discussion. But, that is hardly the same thing as impeding discussion.

If you disagree that the post is OT fine, and thanks for the feedback; it is appreciated.

Of course I disagree that a post critical of a subject of discussion is OT with respect to that discussion.

[Super Hans]

And to think this is the first time I looked at this thread because I thought it was about Lady Gaga.
Seriously.

Reading through the thread, I can't understand why Superking's post was temped. Splitting it to start a new thread, but not in temp, would have been a better course of action if the concern really was about impeding the current discussion, surely. Superking's comments are valid, the same as every other comment in the thread is valid.

[Tempo Gain]

For me, it's a tired issue. People are sometimes going to discuss things that may portray aspects of local culture in a negative light. There are limits to that as noted in the site rules. I don't think we need reminders about the appropriateness of such discussions. I see it as tempable in that light, but I'll move it to Feedback.

[superking]

It doesn't, of course. He merely wishes people wouldn't and expressed an opinion as such. Apparently, that's not allowed, and the mod has decided to delineate the limit of discussion. Its a bash the Taiwanese thread and therefore only Taiwanese-bashers should post, I suppose.

I just love it when someone understands me!

I'm awake again! Yay, I understand you too buddy. I sort of get what TG is driving at. I'm upsetting the smooth ride of the apple cart. Most of the posts in that thread are quite balanced. I just happen to find it a particularly fruitless topic of discussion and one that does the individual no favours from a 'I have to get on with my life, this sort of observation is probably holding me back' point of view. Maybe its not racist, as I later assert, but in my opinion it is defeatist. Surely I should be allowed to say that with the topic. Maybe my assertion that they check the anuses of the elderly is seen as ridicule. I guess it is, but it is also saying, "If you pick one pointless variable, why not pick another?"

[Steviebike]

'I have to get on with my life, this sort of observation is probably holding me back

What does that mean? I can maybe see a meaning just not sure...

[superking]

'I have to get on with my life, this sort of observation is probably holding me back

What does that mean? I can maybe see a meaning just not sure...

When you walk about in (I think you are English Steve, right?) England you don't try to cobble together theories about the people around you, they are just people. You don't walk through the high street and say, "these old English people... these young English kids..." They are just people who are in your way, or who are not in your way. You might notice a girl you fancy, or a guy who looks like he might be a douche, but you are not grouping these people. (Arguably this is because you grouped them as a child.) Now, when you go to Taiwan they are just also people. It serves you no purpose to try to further group these people in some arbitrary fashion too. In fact what it does is isolate you from having pleasant experiences with people because you have liberally applied some sort of grouping construct which will then bias your behavioural interactions with them. An old person is an old person, a pregnant woman is a pregnant woman. There is nothing specific about their ethnicity which you need to be observing in your day to day life. Putting it all together and telling everyone about it is also quite a silly thing to be doing, in MY opinion.

I was talking to another poster who asked me why I bother to mention this stuff. I suspect it is because I did exactly the sort of thing I am warning against. I biased myself OUT of so many opportunities to engage with people because I made up stupid grouping stuff and then stuck doggedly to it. "I'm not talking to that old man, he looks grumpy for some reason." But when I am in the shops here in England I will talk to anyone I happen to be near who I want/need to interact with. No such thoughts enter my head, they are just people I want to interact with. I'm probably projecting, and it is serving me some sort of help my attempting to address these things through reparations to the Taiwanese, who I thoroughly failed to engage with. Shame on me. It's also probably because I live with two Italian guys here in England and they are doing the EXACT same thing. They both speak good English, but they talk all the time about, "You English," "Why do all old English people..." "What is it with English people in fast cars?" It prevents them from fully engaging with the people around them. When we are out and I casually talk to someone in the street for some reason their jaws drop open because they think, "WHY are you TALKING to that person, don't you know what they look like?" The answer is a resounding NO. These people represent nothing other than a human occupying some space in my field of vision. If I started isolating sections of society and defining them I wouldn't be able to get on because I would be so busy making groupings and then revising the models of those grouping based on flights of fancy that entered my head about that group.

Just get on with it. The people in your life currently are just people. Stop observing their habits and mores because it's making you an observer and not an actor. Don't look at life, get stuck in. That's what boots are for. Go get mucky.

[sandman]

When you walk about in (I think you are English Steve, right?) England you don't try to cobble together theories about the people around you, they are just people.

Unless they're travelers. Or Rangers supporters. Or any number of the millions of groupings we Brits are wont to use. I'm happy to share your views, Superking, but I 'aint under NO illusions that its a mainstream view. On the contrary, its "live and let live. Unless they're cunts or soapdodgers." And which groups of people constitute cunts is as long as your arm in Britland, IMO. Everybody from Afghan refugees, to travelers, to crustys, to toffee-nosed gits... you name it, there's a group for you. Probably has its roots deep in the class system, I expect.