Hi there BELLY...

Your Post worries me on many levels. I too lament the loss of many terrific women, on The Forum. And it's rank cowardice to attack a woman with any degree of aggression and malevolence. However, as the name suggests, it is a 'Forum' where people's views and opinions should be heard in equal measure. There's nothing wrong with a spirited debate provided it doesn't become personal. There's no place for aggressive behaviour, and those who choose to engage in such conduct (LIKE MYSELF recently) should either be, pulled into line by the Moderator's or Graham YOUNG himself, and censured.

Should that unacceptable conduct persist, the offender would be denied access to all Forum discussions for a period to be determined by the Moderators and/or Graham YOUNG, as its founder.

Accordingly Belly, I implore you NOT to leave OLO again. You and I have very divergent & contradictory views on many issues and topics, but I still count you as a good Forum friend. Consequently, I'd be most disappointed if you decided to leave once more. Your view of the world is refreshingly comprehensive, together with many of the problems it faces. While your opinions are not necessarily couched in academia, I would take many of your life experiences, over those who can only quote someone else's lessons, gleaned from books or some other treatise or theory.

Dear o sung wu,

You write;

“Something that puzzles me about you, Steele? There's no doubt you're a very clever man, one who can express himself admirably on paper. Nonetheless, you're of the 'Left'? When common sense and deductive reasoning should steer you to the 'Right'? I'm bemused as to why?”

I'm not sure I quite measure up to that lofty assessment old chap but I presume you are being a overly fulsome to make your point.

I know a number of people who are very clever, who can express themselves very well and have a heap of common sense and deductive reasoning, yet do not exude a drop of compassion. They just seem incapable of it. For me it is one of the defining things about a person's character, the ability to feel compassion for others, for strangers, for people who they don't know and who they probably never will.

It makes me prepared to fight for things like Medicare and public schools, for decent outcomes for families at the bottom of the heap, to recognise dental health care for pensioners is more important that franking credits, that making housing more affordable is more important than negative gearing for people who own multiple properties.

As to me being on the right when I joined the Australian Democrats 25 years ago I thought of myself as a centralist, then all you buggers moved hard right and I am left sitting here like a shag on a rock. Just waiting for the rest of you to come to your senses.

Dear Belly,

You're such a sensitive soul with such a good heart.
You take things personally. You grew up in an age
where civility and good manners mattered.

Unfortunately, on a public forum its a mixed bag and
you'll get all sorts of people with very strong
emotions posting. Ourselves included in that category.

Today, this issue of how we speak to each other is
really an important issue. On social media it's
become vital to sift out the trouble makers.
Social media is where cyber trolls, bullies, stalkers,
and revenge posters live and as a result there's a
whole bunch of hatred, and people are targeted,
sometimes very personally.

I hope that you'll stick around and continue posting for
a very long time. O Sung Wu is
absolutely right. You contribute a great deal and would be
greatly missed.

The only advice I can offer is -
Don't respond to personal attacks
(easier said than done, I know). Responding gives them
a platform to continue and will only
increase your blood-pressure. If you feel yourself getting
upset, just take a break for a while, but do come back.

Belly,
I just scrolled through the posts on this thread and I cannot see anywhere that any poster has told you your posts are not welcome or suggested anything like that. So your comments about that are bull/rubbish for a start. It is one thing that you may not be able to refute a criticism of having a phobia about Trump but you do not have to make up lies and claim to be a victim. Just admit you have this phobia and get on with it.

I base my accusation of your phobia on the number of threads you have started on the subject and your obvious hatred of the bloke. I do not think I have ever bothered to put in a post about Trump, as he is of little interest to me, as is US politics in general.

I and others have taken Foxy to task on a number of occasions for misrepresenting the truth. The last I recall was when she quoted what Pauline Hanson had said and I called her out on that and it quickly became apparent that Foxy had made it up to suit her argument. But no withdrawal or apology from Foxy.

I will continue to call out those I think are misrepresenting.

Oh well tennis tonight and lawn mowing tomorrow.

HenryL.,

Could you point me in the direction of where exactly
I mis-quoted Pauline Hanson?

I don't recall the incident you're referring to.

So please give me the evidence to support your claims.
I will happily apologise if I did that.

cont'd ...

I also feel an obligation to provide information
and challenge people's views when I feel that they
are misrepresenting things. It's an occupational
habit.