Hair does (i repeat) NOT have a gender.

Uzma, I agree. It's time that this thread be concluded.

Thanks Kathy Ann--

I'm not at all unaware of the things you've pointed out (having a rather high IQ, and being over eighteen, myself!).

I just changed my mind re: stating the obvious. There are so many better things to do with my energy.

Elissa

Elissa, you didn't have to edit what you wrote to Kintaro. Your criticisms of him were not at all unfair. He IS at times very rude, condescending to others and a know-it-all, as are many young people when they are 18. They think they have got it all figured out. I was the same way.

Kintaro is a very bright young guy, he probably has a very high I.Q.. It is the very bright young people who sometimes are the most rude, because they know they are smarter than others.

I have a high I.Q. myself. I have had to learn over the years to temper my opinions, that I don't have all the answers, even if I am bright.
One of the things I have tried to learn to do is not be condescending to those who have differing views from me. ( For example even though I am not a church goer, I don't refer to people in organized religion as having a herd mentality just because they go to a church or temple and believe in organized religion. I have found that people who are devout believers and go to church on a regular basis can often be very individualistic people in their own right and good people in other ways as well).

But Kintaro's attitudes and condescending attitude to people that he sees as "conformists" are typical of a kid his age. I was the same way.
18 year old's always believe they have all the answers. It just comes with the territory. Especially if they are bright young people like Kintaro probably is.

KathyAnn wrote: *I was speaking in general terms Isla.* I didn't mean Atheists can't understand religion I meant that they are not believers in God themselves.

Okay, good. I'm glad that's cleared up.
I didn't understand you making that statement because, judging by everything else you said, you seem like a very open-minded person.

*I was speaking in general terms Isla.*

I didn't mean Atheists can't understand religion I meant that they are not believers in God themselves.

In my humble opinion, the intention of Lili's post was to support and reassure.

We all have a personal philosophy of life and can only interact with each other from this subjective perspective.
Some choose to impose their values and belief systems on others, be it subtly or overtly.
Let's not go there.

I re-assert: It is the intention that is important, not the philosophical framework.

Forget the God-bit if it offends you.
See past it and through it to the simple expression of care by another human being.

Please lock this thread. As of post possibly 22 or in that area, the topic of conversation was birthrates.



And then this last post. Time to quote from it.

God did not *cough*cut-a-piece-out*cough* make any mistakes.


You got that right. Now stop shoving such a concept down my throat. That sentence is true both ways. If he exists, he's magically perfect (IPU complex) and if he doesn't, well, nonexistence makes that concept unable to make mistakes. I'm a moderate atheist, I'm not shoving my lack of belief down your throat, but kick me, and I'll kick you back.


And even w/o the divine references, it isn't even on topic. The topic was about people using FEMININE AND MASCULINE as BUZZWORDS to make themselves magically feel better when they have an array of words that actually mean something to use in its place. That's like using God to justify doing good. Why not do something simply because it is good ? --- Simple. People need to glorify themselves, and that type of egoism makes me sick.



Thanks to "most" of you for participating in this thread when it still meant something.

*Wow,
Thanks uzma that's sweet of you! I appreciate your warm welcome. Best wishes!

*Chris I don't pretend to know more about west Europe than you or others that live there. I have been there twice in the last five years on vacation, once for nearly a month. I have been to most of the countries in western Europe. I loved vacationing there, that is why I went there twice.* I also don't think in any way are Americans superior to west Europeans. *There are differences between America and western Europe though, that is for sure.


*England seemed the most like America to me, I mean the people's mentality and attitudes, not just language, {since just about every country I went to there, many people spoke English}. The country I liked the best was Ireland. I was absolutely enchanted by the place; it's beauty, the kind people, the music in the pubs, I was charmed by Ireland.{Darn ! I don't have a drop of Irish blood, but I felt like a long lost cousin when I was there!}.

The countries of the European continent seemed very different than America to me. Not better or worse, just different. Talking with people there and reading the English language press there I know that some of the biggest issues in countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Holland are immigrant issues. There was alot of talk about Russians, Albanians, Turks and so forth bringing more crime and unemployment to west Europe{and I know they have fairly high unemployment already there}. * Another big issue was expanding the European Union to include all of east Europe. This was also a very contentious issue. It was very clear to me that each country in west Europe has their own language and culture, which, quite rightly, they want to preserve. In America everybody from wherever their ancestors are from just learn English and become Americans. But we are a fairly new country made up of immigrants, we don't have an old time traditional language and culture like the west Europeans. America often seems like it has almost no tradition at all at times, like we just invent our culture as we go along. Europe really does have a great, and many centuries old, traditional culture, which is really cool, that is beautiful, the traditonal culture!* But it can also make it harder to absorb vast east European areas{ like Turkey, Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, and especially the war torn Balkan states}, into west Europe. Not only the cultural and language differences but also east Europe is so much poorer economically than west Europe. Some parts of the old Soviet Union, the Balkans, and Turkey have genuinely third world standards of living. It isn't so easy to bring in and integrate dozens of poor countries with 400 million people in them.* So the whole idea of making the European Union too much bigger was extremely controversial. Almost everyone in west Europe I talked to about it thought west Europe should try to help east Europe, but no one I talked to thought that large areas of east Europe should be brought into the European Union, {at least not right now}, or that large numbers of immigrants from east Europe be brought in. The surveys and polls done in Europe indicate this as well, that this is the feelings of a majority of west Europeans. I have read this in the British, European and American papers.
* This is different than America because the U.S. is really a continent in itself, it is a huge land area with a large and growing population. Europe is dozens of smaller countries, each with their own language, culture and traditions. America is not better than Europe or visa-versa. * But they are different. Europe has much more tradition to defend and protect and they obviously have very strong feelings, quite rightly, about their traditions.


*****And as I mentioned before, there are other differences too. But I emphatically am not judging anyone. I am glad different parts of the world are different from each other. Variety is the spice of life as they say!

Karen.
Thank you for being so understanding. I was actually not going to even mention that I am a lesbian and in a relationship with a woman, but I decided a few years ago that I am a "normal" person in my own way and I wasn't going to hide in the closet anymore. Now, without being obnoxious about it I hope, I let people know I am a lesbian and that I am not an extremist of any sort or forcing my beliefs or lifestyle on to them.

* I have to be myself though. If people reject me because I am lesbian well I guess I just won't associate with them all that much.
You learn who your friends really are.

Dear KathyAnn,

Thank you for your post although I did not feel you were judging me. Nor did I feel that Chris was calling anyone fascist. I can't speak for Chris but I was just posting in response to his statement about his choice not to have kids.

I applaud your lifestyle as I applaud all lifestyles regardless of what "box" they fit into. I have a dear friend who is living life as a transsexual waiting to go through surgery and she has taught me a lot about living life outside of the norm. I lost a family member to AIDS many years ago and have many same sex couple friends. I always look for a person's soul and inner self when I make friends and do not care if they are old, young, what color their skin is, their sexual preference or how their body looks. It is very liberating and I cherish all the people that are in my life in some way.

As far as any of the other posters here at HairTalk, we (Jeff and I) have suffered through some terrible times in the past with trolls who posted only to anger and upset people, a wide range of spammers, hackers and deliberate virus attackers. We just suffered through a horrible 48 hours dealing with a virus attack of huge proportions. If a person is serious about participating from an honorable position they will register as member. If they don't I continue to view them with rightful suspicion.

I will say that I have zero tolerance for anyone that posts what appears to be deliberate attempts to attack, rile or cause discension on the HairTalk boards. Although some may not agree with my stance, history has taught me that the only way to deal with trolls is to block them from the boards. They are welcome to go somewhere else.

I have dedicated every spare minute of my life since 1997 to HairBoutique.com, which was started with my own hard earned money and is still 100%supported from our store sales. So yes, I do take this seriously and hopefully my willingness to act against trolls has made HairTalk a safe and good place to post.

Thanks again for your post.

Best wishes,
Karen