My 1st Month Being a Member of USMB!

[MaryAnne11]

Oh, you're writing a children's book, eh.

Lol I do have ideas for a series of children, pure gold my friend. But no seriously I am writing a fiction book and have a couple more ideas after this one.

I love fiction, but have to ask you at this time, can truth be stranger than fiction?

I just checked back in on the board and to be honest I see an awful lot of fiction here, but the same occurs on most Political boards.

Enjoy your stay.

 

[MaryAnne11]

I became a member Sept. 29 2017 and it is Oct. 29 2017. I must say I have learned a lot my first 30 days, I would be lying if I said I didn't. I have found interest in subjects and topics that I never even gave a thought or express any concern for.
Some of my thoughts and views on things have changed a little bit for the good and not so good, with the help of reading a variety of threads and seeing others responses, and also the responses that I received on my threads.
I am in the process of writing a book, and a I can say is that I needed a site like this to open my mind to see how different people think from one another on a topic. It for sure sparked my creative thinking, and its helping me with my book.
Thanks USMB I plan on staying a member for awhile and continue to be involved with this forum!

Yes, this site is very good for seeing how other people think, and if I were a writer I'd try and write characters and use some of the ways people do things to get more realistic.

Some of the things I've noticed are things like compartmentalization. How people can put one idea into one box, and another idea into another box and not find the two extremely contradictory.

For example many on the right (I'm more on the left so spend a lot of time talking with those on the right, I would find it harder to tell you what those on the left do) don't have a problem with the issue of guns where 10,000 people die a year from people killing them with guns, but they do have a problem with people dying from Islamic terrorism, even though these numbers are extremely low in comparison with those of firearm murders.

Those people (there are many) who can't actually make an argument for themselves, can't justify their arguments very well unless someone else has told them beforehand. Now, this sort of thing then goes back to people like the Koch brothers who spend massive amounts of money on telling people what to think. The people who regurgitate these ideas also believe these are their own ideas. That's how well the Koch brothers and others manage to get their views across.

Such people, when confronted with their inability to make an argument, will come up with a number of strategies to avoid feeling like they're stupid or something. They'll insult. They'll bring up points that are not relevant, usually by picking up on one or two words in a whole text and beating that to death, or even worse than that, pretending that the person they're talking to has said something different, something they believe the left usually says, and then they'll attack the thing they're comfortable attacking because the things they've read have basically given them the ammo in order to be able to attack such an argument (that isn't actually being said).

There's a lot of such stuff out there that would make good stuff for a book.

Great post! You did leave out abortion. The one thing that makes me wonder. Against abortion,against birth control, but against taking care of those children who live! How do they justify all that?

 

[mudwhistle]

I'm writing a book on how to trigger Snowflakes.

This site has plenty of them.

 

[frigidweirdo]

I became a member Sept. 29 2017 and it is Oct. 29 2017. I must say I have learned a lot my first 30 days, I would be lying if I said I didn't. I have found interest in subjects and topics that I never even gave a thought or express any concern for.
Some of my thoughts and views on things have changed a little bit for the good and not so good, with the help of reading a variety of threads and seeing others responses, and also the responses that I received on my threads.
I am in the process of writing a book, and a I can say is that I needed a site like this to open my mind to see how different people think from one another on a topic. It for sure sparked my creative thinking, and its helping me with my book.
Thanks USMB I plan on staying a member for awhile and continue to be involved with this forum!

Yes, this site is very good for seeing how other people think, and if I were a writer I'd try and write characters and use some of the ways people do things to get more realistic.

Some of the things I've noticed are things like compartmentalization. How people can put one idea into one box, and another idea into another box and not find the two extremely contradictory.

For example many on the right (I'm more on the left so spend a lot of time talking with those on the right, I would find it harder to tell you what those on the left do) don't have a problem with the issue of guns where 10,000 people die a year from people killing them with guns, but they do have a problem with people dying from Islamic terrorism, even though these numbers are extremely low in comparison with those of firearm murders.

Those people (there are many) who can't actually make an argument for themselves, can't justify their arguments very well unless someone else has told them beforehand. Now, this sort of thing then goes back to people like the Koch brothers who spend massive amounts of money on telling people what to think. The people who regurgitate these ideas also believe these are their own ideas. That's how well the Koch brothers and others manage to get their views across.

Such people, when confronted with their inability to make an argument, will come up with a number of strategies to avoid feeling like they're stupid or something. They'll insult. They'll bring up points that are not relevant, usually by picking up on one or two words in a whole text and beating that to death, or even worse than that, pretending that the person they're talking to has said something different, something they believe the left usually says, and then they'll attack the thing they're comfortable attacking because the things they've read have basically given them the ammo in order to be able to attack such an argument (that isn't actually being said).

There's a lot of such stuff out there that would make good stuff for a book.

Great post! You did leave out abortion. The one thing that makes me wonder. Against abortion,against birth control, but against taking care of those children who live! How do they justify all that?

I wasn't talking about issues, so no, I didn't leave anything out at all. I was talking about how many of the people I end up talking to on this site function as human beings.

 

[Papageorgio]

I find characters here to be intriguing. I find that those, even when confronted with the truth will deny the truth. Then you have those that when given the truth will modify their stand and claim that you are twisting what they said.

Then you have those that say the left is always right, no matter what and then those that say the right is right no matter what. No logic, no reasoning, just how they perceive the world.

Leaning more to the right I find the right has out and out racists, however the left has hidden racists and the left tends to ignore or excuse the hidden racism.

The last thing is how you are either extreme right or extreme left, there is no in between, it is blanket stereotypes. An example, since I am not for gun control, I am a southern hick, that has an arsenal of weapons, including automatic rifles ready to mow hundreds of people down and I must anti-Muslim and anti-gay marriage.

Also we don’t have conservatives or liberal anymore, we that the left and the right.

 

[frigidweirdo]

I'm writing a book on how to trigger Snowflakes.

This site has plenty of them.

Well, there are lots of people here who use such sites for their own gratification. You'd have thought the amount of porn on the internet would keep you people going for a long time, bit it seems some don't have so much testosterone, and so try and annoy people to get their kicks. Oh, I'm really hoping that the whole reincarnation theory where you become every single living being isn't true, because I don't want to end up like that.

 

[emilynghiem]

I'm writing a book on how to trigger Snowflakes.

This site has plenty of them.

Simple mudwhistle
A. Just take each argument or issue that a liberal defends pushing through govt
B. Point out the parallel issue on the right, where the left PROTESTS when THEY push THAT belief through govt
C. then point out they either contradict themselves, or both beliefs should be treated equally
And this will cause arguments and defenses to go in circles or end in personal slams

For example
1. compare the right to health care issue and free market choice
to the right to life issue and reproductive free choice
2. compare the right not to be harassed or excluded from schools or govt for "LGBT beliefs"
(including beliefs in transgender expression and same sex marriage as a ritual and practice)
with the right of Christians not to be harassed or excluded from secular policy and govt
for displaying Crosses, Creation, prayers, or other expressions of "Christian beliefs"
3. compare abortion rights with gun rights, and how neither side wants to be criminalized and punished
for freedoms and liberties they believe in defending, but want to use govt to impose on the other sides' beliefs
4. compare voting rights with gun rights, and how both sides complain that more regulations won't stop abuses

For each of these, complain that the left uses the Democrats to push "political beliefs" through govt,
but then demands "separation of church and state" when it comes to other parties pushing THEIR beliefs.

Then stand back and listen to the justifications going around and around.

Why the secular beliefs and creeds are allowed to be imposed through govt by majority rule or court ruling,
but if the conservatives defend or push those principles through govt, suddenly that's discriminating
against other beliefs by pushing Christian beliefs through govt.

 

[emilynghiem]

I became a member Sept. 29 2017 and it is Oct. 29 2017. I must say I have learned a lot my first 30 days, I would be lying if I said I didn't. I have found interest in subjects and topics that I never even gave a thought or express any concern for.
Some of my thoughts and views on things have changed a little bit for the good and not so good, with the help of reading a variety of threads and seeing others responses, and also the responses that I received on my threads.
I am in the process of writing a book, and a I can say is that I needed a site like this to open my mind to see how different people think from one another on a topic. It for sure sparked my creative thinking, and its helping me with my book.
Thanks USMB I plan on staying a member for awhile and continue to be involved with this forum!

Dear ThatDude30 thank you for joining here, and for writing and thinking creatively
in order to share what you gain with others. You are the type of person that gives hope
for the democratic process in this county to address and resolve the issues facing our country.

To take full advantage of all sources and sides of media, may I recommend:
* www.indymedia.org
* Freedom of the Press Foundation
* Project Veritas that invites people to contact them to launch their own outreach
* NPR, Democracy Now, and any of the Green Party or independent progressive,
Libertarian or Constitutional groups challenging the status quo of partisan dominance of politics
* any of the Pacifica Radio stations and families KPFT KPFK KPFA or KPFB WBAI WPFW
because these nonprofit community based stations are open to public participation
you can join any community and start contributing and promoting your own programs
* Liberty Eagle, Talk Back America Network, Stand America www.standamerica.us with national teleconference calls weekly
* both the resist groups on meetup.com and the Tea Party and pro Trump groups that fear being shut down by liberal media
this is happening on facebook and twitter as well, so it's important to support people on all sides to keep the channels free.


Thanks TD30 and I hope you share your book with us,
and possibly consider your own podcast here. there is an
independent author who just released his book
Republican Like Me, based on his experiences
engaging with people on both sides of the political divide.

I hope more people explore this for themselves,
because of the unique insights we can gain and share
to end the politicizing of problems, blamed on one side by the other,
and start publicizing solutions that all sides can actual agree on and participate in.

Best wishes for great success and rewards in your intellectual pursuits,
and may you equally inspire and influence the best in others!

Yours truly, Emily

I would like to thank you. That has to be one of the, if not thee most inspirational compliment I have ever gotten.
The past 10-12 months I have been working on a lot of projects. Such as websites, fiction writing, developing my app ideas, and couple other things. Eventually I came to a road block, and my brain was exhausted. I have been coming up with all these great ideas, and I would discuss them with my girlfriend and she couldn't believe the work I came up with and/or wrote. She read some of my work for couple ideas I have for fiction books, and her response is every time, Torrey this is amazing, I didn't know you could do this, this looks and sounds like The work of a professional. I purchased Adobe creative apps and designed book covers, websites, etc, etc. I can never just work on and finish one thing I always have multiple things going. I have accomplished a lot in the past 10-11 months and all of a sudden I hit a mental block.
One day I was just surfing the net looking up world news and random things, and came across this site. I browsed around the site and seen the different forums and read some threads. I said why not join, I have some opinions. I joined, and now on my free time you will catch me on here.
The past 30 days being on this site, tore down my mental block. Seeing how other people think and what they think helped me out a lot. I also really never had a place or person/ people that I could express my opinions on things to. I have my girlfriend and family, but no diversity. On here there are people from all over with different logic, thinking patterns, different views, different beliefs, and all around different perspectives. I appreciate the knowledge, opinions, views, feedback, and thoughts that I have received from other members, no matter if it was positive or negative.
I have an open mind and I think outside the box, and I welcome all criticism and I analyze it so I can fix or build my knowledge. I know I am not always right, but I know I am not always wrong. If you can prove me wrong, great, I would rather be proven wrong by someone than walking around with wrong information. I cant stand the people that cant admit to being wrong and will debate and argue to the end.
One thing good about having an open mind is, you are open to change, and you can rethink and change your opinion on something. Don't get me wrong I will not back down, but I make sure I know what I'm talking about, and that I can back it by facts or evidence. If it is on a topic with no evidence or fact, I will state my opinion and if another person challenges it with theirs, depending on whether it makes more sense then mine, I will have a strong argument. If I don't understand something or it doesn't make sense to me, I don't bother with it.
Sorry for this long response, I only have a couple more things I want to mention.

Its funny you mentioned having a podcast. Recently, me and my girl have talked about starting a podcast. Are there a lot of people into podcasts? Do a lot of people listen to them? Can having a podcast lead to something career wise?
I also have done speaking engagements at high schools in front of 7th grade through 12th graders about gang violence and bullying. I got in a little trouble when I was 17 and went to boot camp for 21 months.
While I was there I got an opportunity to go to a school that had a lot of bullying and fights going on. So the staff at the boot camp took a group of 5 myself included to speak in front of the school. We each got the chance to speak and tell them our story. I'm from an urban environment and these kids were from a little suburban town in the middle of no where, and very little to no crime.
So I am standing in front of these kids looking at them, not 1 stood out to me as being a bully. I begin to tell my story and what I did wrong and the mistakes I made, just my whole story up to why I was there standing in front of them. The whole time I'm searching for someone I thought could be the bully. Not 1 of them stood out. So I asked, so who in the auditorium is the bully? There was complete silence, then way in the back I seen this tiny arm raised in the air. So I went over to get a better look. I gave him a good look and said, you're the bully? You got to be kidding me? He didn't smile laugh or anything and everyone still stayed quiet. I then said come on now this little kid is the problem and is bullying everyone? I said come on who is the real bully? No one answered and it stayed quiet. After we all told our stories, 7 kids came down to speak with me. Asked me questions like what is worth it? Do you regret it? and so on. 1 girl was in tears, and I really couldn't make out what she said. She gave me a hug and walked off. The last couple that came just thanked me and told me that opened there eyes and I moved them. That felt real good to me. I did few more through out the years but it has been few years I have done one.
For this reason alone, I want to come up with a program, I guess you can call it that, Its called " Diamond the Rotti: Standing up to bullies everywhere!" The purpose and goal of this program is to travel to schools, depending on how far and how many the funds will allow us, that might be having bully problems, fighting problems, gang violence, or anything similar, and speak in front of the students about the issues, in hopes of, if not stopping the issue at least slowing it down. I'm trying to find a source to help fund this program.
I want to start another program, starting in my community, for kids to participate on weekends and couple days through out the week during the school year, and every day during the summer. I would like it to be a free program so all kids can come.
Reason for this program is because, I feel that High School curriculum is out of date. Teachers use the same curriculum every year. Text Books from the 80s-90s. Society has changed drastically in the past years. I feel as though kids shouldn't have to take a history class every year, I think after 8th grade history shouldn't be a main course and that by 8th grade the should learn all the history you need to know. I feel this way about other subjects and electives as well. I feel High School shouldn't be focused on going to college, and having you do college level subjects. Maybe in 12th grade give them a taste but don't focus on it for the whole year. High school should be getting you ready for the real world. Teach more about technology, law, business, Internet and app building, and other subjects to help them decide if the need extra schooling or not. Even help them see the different jobs out there and it will give them a better chance of finding something they are going to like to do.
Not everyone goes to college, And I have had a few different jobs all different areas of the work force. Managed restaurants, worked construction, and worked in factories, and I cant recall any time that the information I learned in high school came in handy. So I feel most of 9th-12th grade is a waste of time. They should update their curriculum with the times. Eliminate the subjects that are taught in high school, that is only useful for obtaining a career that requires a college degree. Teach that in college.
So many kids go to college lost not knowing what they want to do, or don't even go to college because they are not sure of what the want to do for a career. High school should have kids better prepared whether they go to college or not, and have a vast knowledge of the jobs now and jobs that are going to be in demand in the future, and a chance to find a career that has their interest. People are 30, 40 years old and still don't know what they want to do.I think if they were taught about the real life and subjects that will be helpful in choosing a career they could of been settled sooner then living a miserable life not enjoying what they do.
So in my program kids will be able to take classes producing music, designing apps and websites, internet business, technology, and other useful up dated information to get them ready for the jobs of the future.
If I can find funding and it is a success in my community I would want to expand and reach out to other communities. I would call it something like Szulc's Learning Center of Today.

I'm sorry for such a long response. You mentioned The Pacifica radio stations I can join and participate and promote my own programs, I just wanted to share this with you.

Hi ThatDude30 You sound like a real winner! and the fact you have a girlfriend who believes the same, that is a winning combination. Remember it took Stephen King's wife to dig his first novel "Carrie" out of the trashcan when he thought it was trash. She knew he was sitting on gold.
And Victor Hugo took years before he became famous; someone had to believe in them because it can take a while for your ideas to gestate and come to maturity.

Keep sharing and take it one page at a time, one chapter, one blog, and you can do a lot with each idea or issue you write about. I hope you try to the Writing section on here, and also find a local writers group in your city (try meetup.com or also magazines like Poets & Writers with monthly posts for contests, grants or residencies.) There's Writers in the Schools and Communities in Schools where you can integrate your career skills with working with students in public schools.

I think you may have a special talent for communicating and inspiring creative dialogue and proactive listening with ADULTS if you like it here. There are lots of resources for children, youth and students. But adults end up scrambling on their own, so maybe with your open minded patience, listening skills, etc. you might meet a greater demand there.

For students and antibullying, I recommend:
www.rachelschallenge.org
And any program like Teen Court or peer mediation and conflict resolution training.
For adults, I recommend:
www.centerhealingracism.org
www.apvusa.org which originally started when Quaker peace community leaders were
invited to teach in prisons, but the program they started taught such basic practical skills in positive relationships, that these workshops became popular as general nonprofit outreach. Their volunteers facilitate really fun workshop exercises that teach adults to do more of the interactive skills and cooperative/collaborative relations that you seem to do naturally.
So if you are going to create your own series, I would definitely recommend this as a model, where each exercise teaches a different point or skills, using a fun visual or game activity.

If you are going for grants to fund a workshop series, check out these above programs you can use as models to develop your own.

It adds interest to promote your series by bringing in one other focus, such as writing poetry, or playing with clay or drawing cartoons, or printing a book of the students' stories, to build your workshop series around. I have done guest workshops using "origami" to teach in summer peace camps, social studies or world geography classes, also during Asian cultural month, and an environmental workshop on saving endangered species inthe river and forest ecosystems. If there is some kind of art or visual you can use, even using toys or robots to teach with, that is easier to promote for attracting grants or sponsors. One of my friends brings reptiles to schools to teach kids about nature and special care required for pets and animals.

If you enjoy interacting with the kids, I hope you would consider theatre and reaching kids that way. If you learn to run your own podcasts or live streaming on facebook live, that's a good skill to teach, but with minors, anything to do with photos or online images requires all kinds of safety and security including parental permission. but if schools have an inhouse media program, it can be kept on closed circuit. One school I visited had their own media program, and also a cooking program where the students raised chickens to produce the eggs at the school.

whatever skills you enjoy most, or learn from others while you reach out and research, I hope you find creative ways to incorporate that in your presentations.

Adults also learn best by reverting back to 6 or 8 grade level, so learning to set rules and curricula for kids can also apply to reaching adults who especially need conflict resolution training in how to communicate and collaborate!

If you come up with a unique creative form of interacting and teaching, try pitching it through the TED conferences. I know a theatre actor/professor who did a TED speech on using theatre and "playback" to role play and change social dynamics for adults. I'm sure you can come up with something similarly creative, and unique to your style and interests!

I've used origami, stand up comedy, singing karaoke spoofs, to make presentations more fun and stand out as different.

One more interesting resource I have shared with both progressive activists and also teachers and students:
independent currency. Community groups can design their own local currency and barter their labor between participating members using these with local businesses that agree to accept the notes and exchange them in that community. Setting up such a system involves printing a newspaper of ads for people and businesses in the exchange network, designing distributing and securing the printed barter currency notes, and managing the memberships and promotion to build a cooperative economy with local businesses. So it's a great teaching tool, that requires people thinking on a higher sustainable level.

See www.ithacahours.com and www.paulglover.org
Some schools have a version of this with school "scrip" or coupons that can be recirculated among participating sponsors. Other communities have maintained their own local currency or set it up through a database to manage and track the barter credits online like the Times Bank in DC.

So if you are really ambitious, you could look into that,
and learn and teach this system of local currency, starting with kids all the way to college students and adults to teach the value of labor, community, and building economy by DIY.