The undeniable truth of Darkness and STS

[Monica]

I prefer not to judge the motivations of others. Why are you trying to pin me down and get me to judge someone?

I am not trying to get you to judge anyone. What I asked is: do you think that it's ok for members of this community to set up traps for each others? Just this, nothing else.

Ankh, it does still seem like you're trying to get me to judge Shin'Ar, because you already know my stance on such issues. You already know that I think any action taken with malicious intent isn't 'ok' for one aspiring to STO. And you already know that I cannot judge the motivation of another person, though I did state that I believe Shin'Ar's intentions to be good, based on what I've read of his posts.

If the person's intentions are good, but his actions are misinterpreted by others, then it may be that all parties involved need to learn more wisdom and better communication skills. If intentions were good, then, at most, the action might later be viewed as a mistake, and the person might endeavor to use more wisdom next time.

So are mistakes 'ok'?

Bottom line is, I don't think Shin'Ar's action was any more or any less 'ok' than many other things I've seen happen here on this forum, many of which never got any outcry at all.

So I guess I'm wondering what all the fuss is about this time.

I say forgive Shin'Ar. We all have our foibles. None of us is perfect. My guess is that it was not meant as a trap.

Ankh has just pointed out that the word trap was used, therefore it's a trap.

So a lot of weight is being carried by that word. It seems that nothing Shin'Ar can say can alleviate the perception that his actions were malicious.

Let's say there is a feral cat in my neighborhood. I set up a humane trap, catch him, get him neutered, and adopt him. He's now well-fed, happy, and pampered. Were my actions malicious because I trapped him?

I would much rather not trap that cat. I'd much rather just set out some food and gradually tame him.

For the record, I'm not saying Shin'Ar's choice of approach was ok. Understanding something isn't the same as approving of it.

Neither am I saying it wasn't. I'm not saying anything at all about that, because I see no point in it. Is it 'ok' for me to misinterpret another member? Is it 'ok' for members to bicker? Is gossip ok? Are hurt feelings ok? I can think of myriad other mistakes and errors in judgment that happen on a daily basis here at Bring4th. It's not my place to judge those daily occurrences. This is but one of many; there's nothing special about it.

Why does this happen here on the forum, where people ask me to approve or disapprove of something they or someone else does?

I, myself, have struggled continuously to be understood correctly here, and I am a writer (by profession). Let's cut everybody a little slack and help each other.

Oh yes, me too!! I agree we should all cut everyone a little slack.

Look at what just happened. This discord with Shin'Ar has been going on for how many weeks or months now? Why, until yesterday, has no one else bothered to find out what he really meant by his use of the term STS?

Why did some choose to get offended, instead of realizing that maybe it was just a terminology problem?

I hadn't been reading Shin'Ar's posts, but when he posted his explanation of STS, and the stuff about the religions, I could see right away that his background is just different. The term STS didn't mean the same thing as it means to Law of One students.

(Does anyone remember when gay meant happy?)

My intention was to get clarification from Shin'Ar, not analyze or judge his intentions.

I hope my efforts at communication helped, because I'm done with this. I agree with Diana; I think it's time to move on. I wasn't entrenched in discord with Shin'Ar, so maybe it's easier for me to move on than it is for those who were more involved.

But you know what? I've noticed there sure are a lot of new threads lately. Now that I've quit modding, I'm missing a lot of discussions. But the cool thing is, Bring4th is getting to be a big place.

Is there room enough for all of us? Can we COEXIST? (Without getting, as Tenet would say, butthurt!)