Fellow C-Brats,
Please excuse the length of this post. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible and not ramble, but please read it in its entirety.
To Post or Not To Post, That Is the Question. Americans enjoy many freedoms, the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to bear arms and the freedom to gather being a few. No doubt these four freedoms are exercised in this forum and often talked about. There is also another freedom we posess but sometimes fail to exercise: the freedom of silence. Silence can be a very powerful tool and can speak louder than words at times. Take, for instance, and event that occurred a couple of Super Bowls ago (oops, am I allowed to say those two words? Don't tell the NFL office, please). A to remain unnamed female performer mysteriously had a "wardrobe malfunction" during the half-time performance. Americans were enraged that it could happen on live national television. We talked about it, wrote about it and generally kept it in the presses for months on end. What did that gain us? Anything? I don't believe it gained us anything other than free publicity for the individual. And in show biz, bad press is better than no press. On the other hand, had we not made a big deal about it, ignored it and left it go, would we still remember that event today? Maybe, maybe not. The point is, all the attention it garnered has embedded that in our minds.
Now, we as members of C-Brats, control the life of a thread. Maybe it's a great thread and should get lots of responses, maybe it's a controversial one that should get some responses but go away. Whatever side we're on, we control the life cycle of that thread. If we agree with it, we post and keep it alive. If we disagree with it, we post out disagreement and keep it alive too. The question becomes, at what point does our disagreement become futile and it would be better to become silent and let it die? Only we as posting people can figure that out. I implore you to ask yourself two questions before you respond to a post, especially if it's in the "heat of the moment":
1. Will my post really make a difference, or am I just furthering something that I don't agree with.
2. Am I in the right state of mind to be creating a valuable post that will benefit the membership as a whole.
If you determine you should post, then post. If you're still caught up in the "heat of the moment", then write down your thoughts, but don't submit them. Rather let them sit and sleep on it, come back to it the next day and read your post before you submit it. Sometimes a cooling off period is needed in order to be sure we're all acting like adults. Remember, many crimes are committed in the "heat of the moment" and people live to regret them (although they're usually in jail, hopefully that doesn't happen here).
So, in closing, I apologize for the long post. I intended this post to be more of a commentary/editorial, not a respond to post. If you feel the need to respond, great. If not, that's fine too. You control the thread, just like you control all the other threads. You can keep the thread alive and active and growing with positive knowledge, or you can let it die on the vine by not responding. Just remember, it's our right to post and it's also our right to remain silent. Sometimes silence is far more powerful than words.
To Post or Not To Post, That Is the Question.
Jack
Please excuse the length of this post. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible and not ramble, but please read it in its entirety.
To Post or Not To Post, That Is the Question. Americans enjoy many freedoms, the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to bear arms and the freedom to gather being a few. No doubt these four freedoms are exercised in this forum and often talked about. There is also another freedom we posess but sometimes fail to exercise: the freedom of silence. Silence can be a very powerful tool and can speak louder than words at times. Take, for instance, and event that occurred a couple of Super Bowls ago (oops, am I allowed to say those two words? Don't tell the NFL office, please). A to remain unnamed female performer mysteriously had a "wardrobe malfunction" during the half-time performance. Americans were enraged that it could happen on live national television. We talked about it, wrote about it and generally kept it in the presses for months on end. What did that gain us? Anything? I don't believe it gained us anything other than free publicity for the individual. And in show biz, bad press is better than no press. On the other hand, had we not made a big deal about it, ignored it and left it go, would we still remember that event today? Maybe, maybe not. The point is, all the attention it garnered has embedded that in our minds.
Now, we as members of C-Brats, control the life of a thread. Maybe it's a great thread and should get lots of responses, maybe it's a controversial one that should get some responses but go away. Whatever side we're on, we control the life cycle of that thread. If we agree with it, we post and keep it alive. If we disagree with it, we post out disagreement and keep it alive too. The question becomes, at what point does our disagreement become futile and it would be better to become silent and let it die? Only we as posting people can figure that out. I implore you to ask yourself two questions before you respond to a post, especially if it's in the "heat of the moment":
1. Will my post really make a difference, or am I just furthering something that I don't agree with.
2. Am I in the right state of mind to be creating a valuable post that will benefit the membership as a whole.
If you determine you should post, then post. If you're still caught up in the "heat of the moment", then write down your thoughts, but don't submit them. Rather let them sit and sleep on it, come back to it the next day and read your post before you submit it. Sometimes a cooling off period is needed in order to be sure we're all acting like adults. Remember, many crimes are committed in the "heat of the moment" and people live to regret them (although they're usually in jail, hopefully that doesn't happen here).
So, in closing, I apologize for the long post. I intended this post to be more of a commentary/editorial, not a respond to post. If you feel the need to respond, great. If not, that's fine too. You control the thread, just like you control all the other threads. You can keep the thread alive and active and growing with positive knowledge, or you can let it die on the vine by not responding. Just remember, it's our right to post and it's also our right to remain silent. Sometimes silence is far more powerful than words.
To Post or Not To Post, That Is the Question.
Jack
