Posted by gardenergirl on August 3, 2005, at 21:41:53
In reply to THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!, posted by crazy teresa on August 3, 2005, at 12:26:10
> Hypothetically, if a person comes to this site who was very distraught (suicidal) over an issue or occurance in his/her life, feeling this was the last (or even first) place he/she could get support (for whatever reason), has a rant to express his/her feelings, waits for a reply of support or encouragement, but instead is met with block for not being politically correct enough in the expression of those feelings, what is the point of the existence of this website?
Your hypothetical situation certainly would be distressing; however, I believe that the scope of support this site is set up for would not necessarily include keeping someone from imminent suicide. Not to say that people with suicidal thoughts and feelings have not been helped by posting here and gaining support. But I really do not think that the site can be faulted or that rules can be amended just because a poster might be in a more fragile state. Anyone who is such imminent danger of suicide needs much more direct and in person intervention than any website can provide.
>Can we even consider feelings politically correct/incorrect, as your feelings might not agree with my feelings and this could result in someone's feelings getting hurt? Could then depression be considered a politically incorrect disease since we're dealing with the way we feel? Should we discuss being abused here since we could possibly offend the abusers, now that we know we shouldn't offend murderers? At which point does the need for political correctness overcome the need to be human? Who decided political correctness was more important than the display of emotion, no matter how human?
I think these are good questions. There certainly needs to be some guidelines about posting, especially if one is posting potentially sensitive material. But I find you can post a great deal about sensitive subjects if you post from a stance of owning your own feelings and thoughts. There is a definite skill to this, and it is more than just using the word "I". It's tricky in this medium, as well, because you cannot control how a message will be received. I guess that's why discoursing from a stance of owning your feelings, beliefs, and thoughts while recognizing that other individuals have their own feelings, thoughts, and beliefs as well is a safer way to go in order to avoid offending someone, even unintentionally.
And now that I've rambled all of that, I'm not sure what my message is. I tend to babble on at times and think "out loud".
I guess I'm just saying that you ask good questions, and I think we have a great deal of freedom in posting if we not only master "I" statements, but also actually communicate from the stance of "I".
Ack. I know what I mean. Too bad I can't just do an interpretive dance to express it. ;)
glad you came back.
gg
>
> crazy teresa
poster:gardenergirl
thread:534688
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050728/msgs/537255.html