dave

Here's the problem with you, Nic. You are <b>so sure</b> that you are 100% right. And you're not, as I'm about to clearly demonstrate.

Without speaking for him, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you <b>again</b> missed the sarcasm.

And again, you are wrong. I didn't see his "apology", and I haven't spoken with him since Monday. I didn't encourage him to retract it because until you just posted it, I didn't know he'd written it. That having been said, I'm willing to bet that I picked up the meaning whereas you did not - mainly because I, unlike you, am not totally ignorant of what Paul means when he says something.

I can see how he'd get that idea; most people around here are not you. Most people find some tasteless jokes funny because most people have an appreciation for dark humor. They do not celebrate the travesties of the past; they simply realize that life isn't worth living if you're not having a good time.

He does have support for his post - because it's <b>funny</b>. There's nothing wrong with poking fun at one's history.

No. I don't aspire to be anything. I look to enjoy life and that's about it. I don't know where that will take me, but I'm comfortable knowing that I'll be smiling when I get there.

People choose to see that message. The message I'm sending is "it's okay to laugh; laughter helps ease the pain." Whether or not you choose to see that is your decision.

Regardless, I'm not at all attempting to make racists feel at home here. I despise racists more than you can imagine. I don't like people that hate. I have a half-Chinese friend, three black friends, a lesbian friend, a Jewish friend... and a few others. One of my African American friends, Mike, is coming over to my house this weekend to LAN - "If your woman doesn't mind having a negro in the house " (his words). Yes, I suppose he is also racist, by demonstrating that it is okay to refer to an African American as "negro"; to instill in my impressionable mind the idea that separation of races is normal and okay.

Now, I'm not telling you about Avi saying he hates Jews and Mike refering to himself as a "negro" and implying segregation because I want to justify my actions on the basis that I have minority friends and therefore it's okay. I'm telling you because it shows that even those who have the most justification for being insulted by such words <b>are not</b>. I don't know a young black man that hasn't joked about being a young black man.

I get it - I simply don't care. I have no interest in knowing someone who can't laugh at the hard things. I don't like people who are <b>that</b> serious. I don't need to know people that have that much guilt. I didn't kill the Jews. I didn't round up the Japanese. I've never owned any slaves. I think all of those things are despicable (as I've stated here before), but <b>I am not guilty of them</b>, and I refuse to let you make me feel as if I am.

No. Racists and haters get caught up in hate crimes. Those that truly don't hate <b>don't</b> get caught up in them. It's pretty simple, and I'm not sure how you figure that a few tasteless jokes make me a cross-burning KKK member. Hey Rho, better look out! Nic says sycamore is a racist.

What you are teaching Paul is that older people are not worth listening to. People like warch and Tony and Griff post thoughtful messages that actually try to help. You come off as arrogant. You tell people how they are when they know differently. Paul isn't going to learn that joking about how Germans hate Jews is wrong from you, nor is he going to learn it from the courts and on the streets. It's not a problem for Paul. There's nothing wrong with joking around, and since he doesn't actually feel as though Germans should be "blaming the Jews", he's not going to learn that's wrong either. He already knows it's wrong. He jokes about it and that's it.

No it did not. My Tasteless Jokes thread created an area of the Cellar where people could enjoy dark humor. If someone isn't racist, a tasteless joke isn't going to make them so. I'm not changing any minds and I'm not espousing hatred. I'm laughing at the hard things.

If you had been paying attention, you'd know that Paul's profile had the "anti-Semitic" view ever since he signed up. He didn't change it because of my thread. It's a way of making fun of the Germans, not the Jews. It's not his fault that you don't get it.

This is perhaps the only part of your argument that I will mostly agree with, though I'd submit that you created it more as a potshot at those making the jokes.

People here at the Cellar <b>are</b> decent folks. Some of them just aren't as tight-assed as others.

No, I think Paul attempted to get a few people to chuckle.

I think that the original image in this thread is a waste, simply because everyone has seen it before. It's nothing special. The second one you posted was something special, and I recommended that another thread be started with it. You read too much into what I'm saying. I was simply doing what you've done many times before - suggest that a rather dull and tired image be deleted as "not worthy" of the title "Quality Images".

By "we all", I'm assuming you mean "everyone else". I've seen no indication whatsoever that you're actually willing to learn. You seem quite content to pretend you're omniscient. Well, you're not. There are things you don't know and things that you don't understand. So maybe, instead of dismissing my notions outright, you should sit back and consider them. Perhaps you should consider that I know David Ham and Paul Lastname better than you do.