Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group User Banned

Hear, Hear...
I second fy187. This matter should have been taken to a private resoluation with the parties involved. You all need to some berking and give some hugs. ADM should be the ultimate decision here. To many Chiefs and not enough Lndians. Love and Peace.

Hi Cara,

Just to put a little something right here to bring you up to speed on what the Americans have been doing in the fight against terrorism UP TO September 11th. The United States of America has been the highest contributer to the IRA (Irish Republican Army) now the Real IRA, since the IRA's inception. The IRA is a terrorist organisation based in Ireland which has killed and maimed not only soldiers of your so called allies, the UK, but also has killed and maimed Fathers, mothers and also children who lived not only in Northern Ireland but also in the UK. They have bombed churches, shops, towns and murdered inocent people in their beds. They also attempted to murder Margret Thatcher when she was prime minister by blowing apart the hotel in Brighton where the Tory Party conference was staying. Since the early seventies when this all started did the great USA do anything about it, did the USA even attempt to stop the arms movements to Ireland from their own ports, NO they did nothing apart from send more money to the terrorist organisation called the IRA who were causing so much destuction. Why was this, well several reasons but the main one was that your government even after repeated requests from the UK did nothing because it did not want to upset the Irish section of the voting public in the USA. So do not become all gracious now that the fight against terrorists has bloodied you own door step. You see there is always three sides to an argument, his side, her side and the truth. There are of course two sides in NI fighting, each thinking that they are right, and never contemplating the fact that they might be both right. They will keep on fighting, they will keep on bombing because they will always believe that what they are fighting for is the only right way. This is something that the USA is just about to learn. You will never find them because it is not one person, it is an idea a belief, and you can not fight a belief.

I lost family in Northern Ireland because of an IRA bomb and I can appreciate more than most what suffering the people who lost loved ones on Sept 11th, are going through even now. Believe me when the majority of people have forgotten, as they will when it disapears from the screans of your TV's over the next twelve months, the families of the victims and also the brave men and women who tried so hard to save people and were then forced to drag the bodies of their collegues out of the rubble will all have to live that terror every single day of their lives. It does not disapear from their TV screans, it does not fade away with time, the memory will not be able to be pushed to the back of their minds every day like it can be for you. They will live the night mare again and again. This is what I have had to live with for over twelve years, when my two cousins were blown apart in a car bomb attack not 100 yards from where I stood. But that was over twelve years and what have the USA done since then about my two cousins.

Normally I keep quiet about all this as it does cause friction, but no more, I am tired of being quiet and politically correct on this as being quiet would insult the memory of my family as I would for all intence and purposes be denying it ever happened. Well I'm sorry Cara it did.

I'm sorry but the great USA it is not, and as for your president, well did he win the election or not, as the majority of Americans according to the voting stats did in fact vote against him.

I only hope your Dutch is as good as Pieter's english, then maybe you could reply in his own tounge or are the Administrators going to throw you out for your racial comments about your allies from across the water. I am sorry this is a multinational site is it not just a place for our American cousins.

As for why people kepp this sort of thing going? Well maybe its because its something that they believe in, and maybe there is a place in here for people who are willing to post what they believe to be right. Yes we all have a common bond but we are also so different from each other in oh so many ways.

Dave

Dave, your point is a very valid one and is very well-stated. I am very sorry to hear about the death of your cousins. It is easy to forget that this is a multinational site. Cara, I think you were far too hard on Pieter--my opinion. If you want to defend the United States, by all means go ahead, but don't be surprised that people around the world are still angry with the American government, even after the horrible events of Sept. 11. To many, many people around the world, the U.S. is finally experiencing what they themselves have had to live with for dozens, if not hundreds of years. They empathize, they feel the sorrow of the famillies who lost loved ones in the Trade Center bombing, but that doesn't mean they are going to like all the actions of the U.S. government (no more than we might like the actions of their government 100 percent of the time). Dave's right--America has some dark chapters in its past. To deny that is to ignore facts. It also has some glorious ones, where it has helped the people of many nations. Pieter's post was pretty strident, I'll grant you that. It angered me in many ways too. But he is not a "raving loon" just because he doesn't speak English well.

I don't know. I love my country too, but I refuse to fall into that "love it or leave it" trap. I can love it and try to change the parts I don't like, which is what volunteering is all about, which is what voting is all about, and I exercise those rights. And I sure don't expect everyone around the world to love America like I do--they can't, nor should they.

Just my opinion.

Brad

And all this talk improves the quality of life for AS sufferers? May I ask HOW?

KickAS is a support group for AS sufferers from anywhere around the world. Support, ladies and gentlemen, not politics, not religion, not sex, not dirty jokes, not playing nasty little games in the chat room, not attacking those you don't agree with, but support. Aside from from a few posts trying to stop the unpleasantness, this thread is against everything KA stands for.

It breaks my heart.

Wow....

I've finally waded through all these posts....I was, at first, reluctant to join in the fray....and I've not read the PM's....but although I can see some light on either side of the arguement, it does pain me that a post like this can be twisted so...(man, can I copyright that line? In a Bob Marley accent??)

It's almost amusing that a post about abusive private messages became a public one for patriotic duty....whew, I've had a hard time keeping up with what my citizen responsibilites should be....and now it's all wrapped together...!??( My apologies to all, I wish I had the brain activity tonight to respond individually to all your posts, just remember that I Hate Terrorists....)

I feel for all involved, I know that posting in the heat of the moment is not necessarily the best time....I realized this after I posted about doctors being lame and on the take from drug companies-- I was generalizing, and was rightfully called on the carpet by a another AS-Kicker....I thank the powers that be that I realized what I did, which did not excuse the Doc in question, and I offered a response, hopefully explaining that...

This is a fantastic forum, and I value hearing everyone's ideas, whether I agree with them or not....but there are tactful ways of saying "I disagree" on a main forum, so that all readers may benefit from the discussion. It is true that kids, teens, and adults, all with differing views on reality, democracy, freedom, human rights, wildlife conservation, etc. can search the Web and find their way to KickAS.org. And they will....I hope....

We must be ready....for more people to join the site and post their views....maybe what's been suggested should be tried....a disclaimer, stating what type of language will not be accepted on the "Main Forum"....(I'm talkin' cursin', not the exclusion of non-English speakin' ASkickers or differing Political Speech, although that sounds like it's own Forum to me....)

I mean, I would hate to think that Mrs. KickAs's daughter couldn't look and post, or SteveC's trio in future years....plus all the rest of you I left out...and you know who you are (said lovingly)...my 13 year old half sister looks over me as I post sometimes, as she had some hip problems, and is curious...now, being that she knows, or thinks she knows lots of things about "life".....I can hopefully be a bridge for her to usefull information should she need it...

Ramblin' Big Time
Peace
Linc











Linc O'Brien

Pete-
I just spent an hour and many paragraphs trying to say what you did in one! Thank you!! I wish I could sum up my thoughts as well as you, but I'm a rambler....

Peace
Linc

Linc O'Brien

Hi Brad --
I believe Dave's rebuttal to Cara's remark was appropriate. I also agree with your two points: a)US's overt and covert activities since our rise as a national security state has resulted in a rather precarious global relationship; b) active citizenship requires constant monitoring. However I cringe when I see this main forum used for purposes other than the reason why it exists -- ascertaining information/lending support for ASers. Not that the main forum is consistently focused on info/support -- it often deviates -- but I believe that is what it should aim at.
With that said, I enjoy your posts. Too bad such topics as politics can not be discussed without invoking emotion (which is a good reason to discuss it). Peace, Wayne

In our house at the dinner table we are not allowed to talk about Royalty ,Politics or Religion,or they would be all out fights. My Aunt swore at the table and my great Aunt said she was not to swear in front of her, and she said" Mother I didnt know that you wanted to swear first".{swear=curse} Arguments can arrise out of the smallest things in all familys and the Kickas family is a very Large one. I have been frightened to post the last few days in case I was missinterpreted[spell] I need this site when I am in pain and need an uplift in My Moral from the International Friends. What our Goverments do in our names may not agree with our feelings and all our Goverments have dark secrets. LUV Elspeth

Well said Pete....you put into words exactly how I feel about the whole situation...thank you...hugs, DC

OK, here's how, in my humble opinion:

The forum isn't the same thing for every person. Every single one of us gets something different out of it, puts something different back into it. None of us fit into a cookie cutter mold, and that's good. So you ask how posts like this lend themselves to the mission of the forum? Well, for me, thinking about such topics is mentally stimulating--it makes me think, about what I believe in, and about what I value. For me, the mental stimulation takes my mind off my pain, gives me something better to focus on. I like hearing about what other people believe in, and exchanging dialogues. Therefore, doesn't this achieve what the forum set out to achieve, or am I just being naive? OK, so maybe it isn't on topic. I dare say that if I went and counted right now, I would find dozens, possibly hundreds of other posts that were not on topic. Why single this one out, just because it's touched on a sensitive area? (And yes, I realize my "everyone is different" stance means that there are many of you out there who really hate posts like this and get NOTHING out of them and want them to go away. I'm just trying to point out that maybe not everyone feels that way.)

OK, so politics is a volatile subject, and it's likely we don't want to go there on the main forum. It can be discussed rationally, though, as you've seen in some of the posts here. However, I'll even go ahead and agree with you that politics is dangerous and limit my thoughts in the future. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater--just because these posts have no value to you and seem to you to defeat the purpose of the forum, I don't think it's fair to think that everyone feels that way. I found that these posts helped me achieve one of my main goals in coming here--they helped me forget, if only for a little while, that I have this disease and am severely limited by it. I know you're looking out for the good of the forum, but blanket statements in this case are a little too sweeping, and I think if we are going to jump on this post for being off topic, we should be more consistent and take all such posts to task. Do we really want that? If it is, then fine, it's the administrators forum to run as they see fit.

I've rambled on enough.

Brad