ThanksfortheTrouble,
Geoffrey and I have been chatting on this forum for many years, and so when I engage with him in posts, it includes a long history of interactions and a familiarity with each other's personalities, behaviours, likes, dislikes, values, beliefs, habits, etc.. Since you have only decided to get involved with our activities here very recently, you may not be aware of the history between Geoffrey and me, or the fact that I regularly respond to Geoffrey's posts in very much the manner that I did the other day: I openly and honestly express my thoughts and feelings about things, and Geoffrey, of course, is free to ignore me if he so chooses. I am under no illusion that anything I write will change anything that Geoffrey does (or thinks, or says, or feels...), nor do I expect it to. I also don't expect anyone else to agree with me or to change their minds or their behaviour, but perhaps I have a small hope that what I write may, at the very least, encourage people to think about what I have written, and to think about the subject matter more deeply and from different perspectives.
Writing is something that I enjoy -- I like putting my thoughts and feelings into words, and despite your suggestion that I am "
feeble-minded" (we all know that you were referring to me when you wrote that), I am anything but, and the things that I write tend to be well-thought-out and deeply-considered, often over long periods of time, and I usually include reasons for why I think the way I do (although there are undoubtedly exceptions, at times when I may be provoked to speak "off the cuff", spontaneously...). This section of the forum is, after all, entitled "Writing, Music and Art by the Forum members", and I believe that that includes prose and short essays, and thus my written posts may be taken in the same vein as the pictures posted here: they are simply a means of personal expression. I do not expect everyone to like what I write, nor to agree with it, and if they disagree, I would encourage them to express alternate views, and to engage in an
intelligent argument or discussion with me if they are so inclined.
On that latter point, Geoffrey and I have, on several occasions over the years, discussed the definition of "art", including the idea that "
art should be disturbing" -- in fact, I wrote a lengthy post about my views on the subject not too long ago (May 18, to be precise). That is why I asked Geoffrey, the other day, not to repeat that assertion, because we've been through all of that before -- quite recently -- and I did not wish to rehash that particular argument. Perhaps I should have included a link to that previous discussion, so that people could see that I was simply trying to avoid repeating a discussion that occurred less than two months ago.
Finally, I most certainly do not advocate censorship: expressing my dislike for a picture, and requesting something different, is absolutely not the same as censorship. Censorship is an act by which something is
actually banned and suppressed, whereas all that I was doing was expressing my feelings about the subject matter of Geoffrey's pictures. Geoffrey will do whatever he wants, and I can choose to ignore it if I don't like it, or, I can tell him that I don't like it, and explain why, which, again, is something that he and I have been doing here for many years! I know and respect Geoffrey as the person he is, and he knows and respects me as the person I am, and that includes my sometimes vehemently disagreeing with him.
You, rather inexplicably, have taken exception to me and my posts, calling me derogatory names and accusing me of things of which I am not guilty. Your behaviour towards me is aggressively negative and bordering on bullying. As I have said before, I don't even know you, and I certainly do not know why you have chosen to attack me in this manner -- maybe you just don't like what I write, and that's fine, but I find your attentions to be most unpleasant, and I will not engage with you further. You, of course, are free to do whatever you want, but if you continue to repost quotes from my posts in an attempt to pick a fight with me, it will not succeed, for I will no longer play your game. Goodbye.
Hope you're enjoying the summer -- I am! I love summertime, with its long, warm sunny days, everything is green and lush, flowers everywhere, birds singing... -- it's glorious! Cheers!