well, you asked me
uc said:
Why on Earth would you want the opinion of Ms. Inferior-Person-Who-Cannot-Write-Correctly-And-Thus-Hangs-Around-UC?
and i replied. let's tackle the "writing correctly" first and then the part about personal choices. i do assign a positive value to writing skills in english, and a negative value to the lack thereof. but i never said that there was a correlation between the knowledge of english and the knowledge of history. i assume that ivana knows the history of her country infinitely better than i do, so i am interested in her version. i would have more respect for her if she could relate said history to me in, say, rahvin's style. even if she can't, i am still interested in what she can tell me.
as for personal choices, i would have more respect for the both of you, as i said in the past, if your relationship looked less unequal. but that's not my foremost care in the world, and in particular i don't think that this affects your ability to write in english, know your country's history, or talk to other people. i repeat that i do have a negative judgement about cultural imbalances in couples. i will repeat that until i'm shot in the eye. heck, this is not confined to you two. i despise that type of choice also when it's made by people i otherwise really, really like. but what does that have to do with a question about turbofolk or relationships between serbs and croats?
on the other points:
uc said:
Might have offended her?! So you really believe in the possibility that it was harmless?!
i most definitely do, and sorry if this is insensitive, but i don't think that any serious harm can be done by words written by someone you don't know on a public forum. even if the community is tight-knit such as this one, thoughts related by perfect strangers on the internet can either make you think in a constructive way or just pass you by. the posters don't have any real impact on your life. i'm not cutting off your fingers, i'm not forbidding you to go out at night, i'm not stealing your money, i'm not killing your parents, and i'm not putting sugar in your gas tank or firing you from a job. if you think what i said was wrong, you can easily dismiss it; if your pride is offended, you have more than one way to re-establish your reputation.
listen, i often visit forums such as the ones on stormfront.org or the ecn.org community. the former are inhabited by a far-right, white-nationalist gang. the latter are, on the other hand, anarchists and left-wing activists. i am keen on learning their opinions, because i have an interest in extreme political positions. sometimes, while browsing, i do read opinions that are very aggressive towards my ethnic heritage, my gender, and my religion. obviously i don't like the fact that these ideas have a hold on someone, and sometimes i am annoyed by the fact that a poster i otherwise like is coming up with something idiotic. still, i honestly can't say that any of the slurs, racial or otherwise, ever
hurt me. i might get really mad, as with misanthrope, but that's pride. i know that i don't derive any proper harm from these posts.
taliesin - talk it over with him. but i seriously think he meant what i said he meant.
rince's age - of course you won't believe me now, but i never really pay attention to people's ages until they are stated again and again. i don't know how old many of the forum members are, i only have a rough idea (es. marduk is more or less my age, keyy is in high school, tali is halfway through uni). in some cases, i do know the details: e.g. i know you're 18 - maybe 19 now? - because you told me personally, or i know rahvin's 29 because we sat in the same desk at school forever. i thought i'd read somewhere that ivana was in high school, but of course i had mistaken her for someone else. i was guessing 16 rather than, say, 15 or 18 because it fitted the stereotype. so yes, i was wrong. but i already said sorry on that particular count.
well, no matter how likely your interpretation is, i honestly meant 'too young'.
