NEWBIES ON TBP

Solutions are obvious,

I hope that you will take my comments in the good spirit in which I intend them. I am a relative newcomer here myself. I had read TBP on a frequent, but not daily basis for at least ten years before deciding to make it a daily read.

I spent the next six months reading both the articles and the comments daily just to get a flavor of it all before making my first comment. Even at that, I fucked up a few times and got my ass chewed for my mistakes. This place takes no prisoners.

In reading your comments these past few weeks I find that we come from similar backgrounds, but as is always the case we take different paths.

I grew up on Long Island, NY. My dad was from Brooklyn. After graduating from high school in 1970, I spent a few more years on LI, a year or so in New Jersey, about six months in Connecticut before moving to Buffalo, NY. After a dozen years up there in the frozen north, I moved to Texas, which has been my home for the past 33 years.

My mother was a confirmed Catholic and subjected me to all of its doctrines and rituals growing up. I even kid here that there is a flat spot on the back of my head from where Sister Mary Sheila used to slap me upside the head for my constantly questioning their dogma. I left the Catholic Church behind decades ago.

You say that you are an atheist. Although I rarely mention it, I am a deist. Albeit what I would call a modified one in that, I believe that we do have guides, although I do not attribute any angelic qualities to them. They might be right and they might be wrong. Kind of like student teachers. To me, it’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves how we live our lives here in the physical world and it is those decisions that we make that we will be judged by. There will be no saying that our guides told us to do this, or that our priest, pastor, parson, or rabbi told us to do that. Each one of us is responsible for how and what we do.

We both read and comment on this TBP site that is largely Christian.

Starting to sound familiar?

BUT

I never try to pursued anyone here or anywhere to change their spiritual beliefs. I think that everyone should have the right to believe whatever gives them comfort as long as it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s right to do the same. Certainly none of this ‘you’re going to hell’ for what you believe, or killing of infidel’s thing. Whatever someone’s spiritual beliefs are I am happy for them that they have them and that they can take some comfort in them. There is only one way that any of us will know for sure and we won’t know it here.

Even though I am not a Christian, I enjoy in many of the Christian holidays and festivities. I love Christmas carols, and will be headed outside to put the Christmas lights on my house later this afternoon. It’s all in good spirit.

Since your computer skills are far better than mine are, you can do a search for my articles and comments. You will not find a single instance of me speaking in a derogatory manor about Jews, blacks, homosexuals, religions, or any group. I have learned to take people one at a time.

When Hardscrabble Farmer (HSF) posted an article about falling out of a tree and breaking his foot, I commented my best wishes for his speedy recovery and even referenced a story from the Jewish Talmud. That went over like the proverbial fart in church here. I responded by posting the entire of that story for all to read. Regardless of anyone’s opinions about ‘Jews’ or their Talmud, my comment was meant to offer something to make HSF feel better. You take the down votes with the up here, and I do pay attention to them. They give us a feel for those that we share this site with.

The comment count is less of an indicator than you might think. Some of the articles that I have posted have had a high count and others almost ignored, but I write for myself. Whenever I get a wild hare about something, I write about it. My article about ‘The Changing of the Guard’ on 08-Nov-2017 and its follow-up, ‘The Changing of The Guard II’ on 16-Jun-2019 are ones that I spent a great deal of time writing and only got a cursory response. Others that I wrote in less than an hour saw more responses and were even picked up by other sites.

As Doug ‘Uncola’ wrote, “and so it goes”.

The point is that I am writing them for myself and simply sharing them with everyone here. They are free to like them or not, acknowledge them or not, comment or not. In any case, I respond to some comments and not to others. Commenters here can be brutal, and some will always try to bait you.

My advice is to always stand up for yourself, but don’t take the bait.

Someone commented to you a few articles back that we judge you here by how fiercely you defend you opinions not how well. There is a lot to be said for that.

You refer to your NYC background as giving you a thick skin, but you come off as a know-it-all and that is sure to ruin the point that you are trying to make. You still have that NY habit of talking ‘at’ people instead of talking ‘to’ them.

TBP is very different from any other site on the Internet. Admin gives us free and unrestrained access to express ourselves, but that also comes with a warning. If you decide to jump into the fray here, you had damned well better know what you are talking about, have a thick skin, and be able to defend yourself.

I have been a regular for about three years now and have not only survived, but admin has even given me posting rights for my own articles. I wrote one after a poster here named Hollywood Rob (HR) was finally and mercifully banned. That’s a rarity at TBP. You have to be a real first class asshole to achieve it. My article was about this place being like a big family. It might be of some help to you understanding this place. You can find it here.

Perhaps you need to just push yourself away from the computer, take a deep breath and think about not just what you want to say, but ‘how’ you want to say it. Talk to us as if we are people, not as if we are subjects. Don’t talk down to us. It makes any otherwise intelligent comment to be dismissed and you lose the point you are trying to make.

You seem like a genuinely intelligent guy and I think that you have a lot to share with us. I hope that you will stick around, but understand the what and where of this place. TBP is different, but it is oh so worth it.

doG I love this place!