Hi seeker and Guest_Guest.

This is the "Liberation Brew." We brew things here. Interesting things. We explore topics that can go beyond support for counseling issues. We nibble away at the edges of our won expectations and conventional knowledge.

The Jesus and Buddha Comedy Show? That was priceless, original, fresh material. And many people would find it patently offensive. Too bad. I liked it. It was liberating. It was a heady brew. It was inspiring and thought provoking and funny. I like funny. I keep tuning in hoping for an encore.

“If Evolution is True?” That thread could be soundly condemned by orthodox religion and also condemned by orthodox evolutionists. I am glad that I protect anonymity and don’t tell my little scientist friends about the cool thing we have going here. Do you have any idea how much ridicule and condemnation I would be subjected to by many scientists for even entertaining the arguments that we have had there? I say they need to have a sense of humor and read another thread if they find the “G” word to be so offensive.

"Lesbian and Christian?" That is a priceless conversation. And to some people, the very title of the thread is offensive. But if I find Leviticus being quoted in anger there I am going to have a royal conniption.

We talk about all kinds of things here in Liberation Brew. We can tell jokes. We can share recipes. We can talk about God. We can talk about evil. We can talk about science. We can talk about sex. We can talk about our spouse's and lover's ridiculous sexual demands. We can talk about all kinds of crazy crap. That freedom lets us accomplish some actual philosophy here.

I have made my boundary and limits very clear. I ask that people trust in my good intentions, respect the fact that I go out of my way to do research when I post here, and that I go out of my way to bring intellectual integrity to my posts.

I ask that we try to display maturity and a sense of humor and try to manifest acceptance. This is a gigantic “one room schoolhouse” and the student body here spans continents and generations, includes people from diverse cultures, from every economic class and of every ethnicity. Like the Supreme Court of the USA has said “One man’s profanity is another Man’s lyric.”

If we can accept that our own personal sense of political correctness is not universal, or even necessarily socially consensual, then we can see our way clear to civil behavior—to acceptance. A sense of humor goes a long way. In other words, we do not have the right to impose idiosyncratic values and standards of behavior on other people, no matter angry we are.

For example, by my stated values, it would be inappropriate for me to make a big deal out of someone incidentally using language like “male weaknesses” or the stronger sex,” or the word “weiner.” I hope that someone would notice that even though the “W” word was used in the context of intentional, sexually explicit denigration and humiliation of all men, that nobody, including me, had a cow about it. We just waited for the poster to self-correct, to return to center.

Really, I am not interested in fighting. There are cool conversations here that I would rather be engaging in.

But I am tired of having conversations diverted into personal attacks and anger directed at me.

That is three conversations that have recently been intentionally diverted and derailed by the controlling behavior of a few persons who prefer to attack and humiliate me rather than engage the interesting and worthwhile subject matter at hand. That is a form of trolling and it is, in my opinion, antisocial behavior. It is incredibly distracting. It is rude. It is not consistent with the guidelines.

And it pisses me off.

I hate being pissed off. It makes me stupid. It consumes my emotional energy. It clouds my mind. It delays me from responding to people who ask me direct questions.

But my anger and the anger of other people can also serve as a “flag,” a pointer to other very rich and worthwhile conversations. That is what I meant by “transforming” this thread. To let the conversations here stimulate not only our minds, but also our hearts. And that is where I want to go next.