Editors Preface-

The Continuing Saga of

The Christmas Island Coup De’ Tat

Greetings one and all from Christmas Island! Much has transpired since last we engaged in colloquy. Indeed, Porthos, Athos, Aramis, and I (d’Artagnan); have been labouring quite hard on our suntans here on Flying Fish Beach by day and of course plotting, scheming, carousing, and imbibing some of the finest libations ever concocted this side of the Large Magellanic Cloud, at the Bore’s Head Pub (which is the de facto seat of power since the initial revolt). Our economy is doing quite well based largely on the export of music, art, literature, crabs, and beer. Yes, Bore’s Head Pub beer has been discovered to not only be one of the finest beverages available but it can be used in place of petroleum to fuel automobiles with no alterations whatsoever! It has no caustic emissions, and its’ only downside seems to be that your vehicle will let out an occasional belch. Our top scientists are shown here hard at work on the next batch.

( Who is that man overseeing the beer production? Why it’s none other than Cardinal de Richelieu who has decided to cease being an adversary of The Musketeers. Monseigneur le Cardinal has even promised to contribute to propellertalk, and is often seen swashbuckling on the beach with Milady de Winter. (He keeps a low profile for now, but look for an article on this blog soon.)
It’s great to see so many of our friends propelling themselves to our island each day. Why just yesterday whilst crawling home from the Bore’s Head, Aramis spotted a ship on the horizon. It approached Flying Fish harbor under topsails, jib, and spinnaker. It was the Pharaon and it ran aground just a few yards from Flying Fish lighthouse (which is where the Musketeers have been hanging their plumed chapeaus when it is time for a little shut eye). Aramis observed the captain descending the stairs from the upper deck as he suddenly fell down all 3 sets of stairs and rolled down the gangplank. The resulting clangor was enough to wake the dead! “Yeah, what did you wake us up for?” said Athos as he and the rest of the Christmas Island Quadrilateral Commission spilled from their Hammocks. Porthos rushed to his aid. “Captain,” he said, ” did you miss a step?” “No,” said the captain, ” I’m pretty sure I hit every one! ” The captain was none other than Edmond Dantès who brought this article direct from the Isle of Elba to be published here on propellertalk. He also brought this top secret wax sealed envelope for the chef at the Bore’s Head Pub. (It’s contents are revealed here.) And now ladies and gentleman, without further sundry absurdities, may we introduce to you, our fellow Christmas Islander and guest writer, Captain Edmond Dantes aka “david_nwpa”!

Open Dialogue And Debate- Keeping It Honest

Politics and religion are two topics best left outside of bars and taverns. Generally, people tend to cling to like-minded individuals and often attack both messenger and message when bad news or ideas contrary to their own opinion are raised. Propeller is not a watering hole, which is good for me, because I come here to discuss both politics and religion. I realize not everyone agrees with my views, and that is good. Life would be incredibly boring if we all agreed.

 

 

Likewise, progress would not arise without someone, at some point, debating the topics of the day.

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF A COMMUNITY OR AN ELITIST CLUB?

Propeller, however, is a place where all should feel welcome to dialogue and debate openly. We should be more represntative of a Community than of an elitist club. Propeller includes individuals from all walks of life, who are passionately interested in a wide variety of topics, issues and personalities in a large number of countries. The perspective here is not solely limited to the United States; rather it is open to the world at large. Many of the opinions presented here are not necessarily those supported by the Bush administration or other domestic factions or even those of US allies. Yet we should, as a collective, also respect other people’s right to their opinion and their take on U.S. policies and laws.

With that frame of reference in mind, I would ask that as the political season continues, we seek to be civil to one another. We need to avoid three common fallacious arguments which neither prove our points nor uplift the site. Indeed, these three attack methods negatively impact and demean one’s point of view.

1. Ad hominem arguments. These name-calling tactics serve little purpose other than to attack the messenger and avoid addressing the topic. Name-calling is a tactic which belongs on the playground of 8 year-olds rather than within a political arena which is focussed on civil discourse.

2. Reductio ad absurdum. These arguments offer little new evidence and serve scant purpose other than to diminish the impact of the opinion being offered. For example, no ACTUAL “slippery slope” is encountered on the route to expanding marriage rights to gay couples. Some might expand this type of argument to suggest that if two men or two women can marry, then why shouldn’t three men, two cows, a desk, and a child all be married to one another? No one,  in reality, is suggesting that marriage should be opened to anyone other than  individual adults who can consciously consent. Cows, desks and children, according to these terms, cannot consent. The argument of the original premise has been reduced to utter absurdity.

3. The appeal to…. This type of argument appeals to fear, guilt, emotion, pre-supposed belief, or tradition. For example, I claim that something should be so because the (fill in the appropriate religious authority) said so. Alternatively, I claim that something is so because Dr. Eugene Smith said it is so. Perhaps, Dr. Eugene Smith is an expert in the field, but without any furtherevidence of that fact, his argument is moot.

These seem to be the three most common attack retorts one finds on Propeller. I am not suggesting that Propeller is alone in its struggle against logical fallacy. I suspect that Digg and other sites perpetuate similar problems. However, political discourse and persuasion regarding beliefs can have a profound influence on another individual’s life.

I would like encourage us all to avoid these three pitfalls and to concentrate on approaching one another with respect. I admit that I have been guilty of name calling and I know that I need to amend that behaviour. At this moment in time, if we do not work together to protect and nurture our community, this election and all the arguments related to it will render our community one ugly place until November has ended - and potentially leave bruises which last even longer..

Submitted respectfully,

david_nwpa

The Guide To Efficient Self Propulsion

Welcome to our Social News Site, a wonderful community full of many diverse characters from all over the world, from different walks of life, races and religions. Here you can participate in free speech and thought on the Web. We only ask that you abide by Propellers “TOU” (Terms of Use) and post on “threads” (stories), “comments” (opinions, thoughts or ideas) that are not offensive to members of our community. Here we have the opportunity to network and communicate with people all over the world, no longer limited to mainstream media.

I’m Eagle Eye or EE, after reading one of Propellertalk’s threads I noticed a comment regarding the possibility of adding a female touch to the group. I chirped up and offered some of my estrogen so here is my first attempt at blogging on the net (eagle blushing).

I propel myself here to catch the latest news, science, health, religion or other topics of interest. It could possibly be something different for dinner or just chit chatting with friends over good music. I’ve been around since the site came on line and have witnessed the birth of this community. You will find that we are very unique and different from other sites because we are VERY “Social”. You will also be surprised at our demographics, we are mostly middle aged here (30+), but there are times we act like a bunch of rowdy kids having a good time, (Party!!).

We know there are a lot of people that choose to just read our site. Some just look at us for entertainment and not comment; we welcome every one to try us out. All “Newbie’s” (new member) if you have a question feel free to “post” (make a comment on a thread)” and some one will either answer it or direct you to the place to ask.

Our front page is just our skin, the meat of the site is underneath in the topic categories located on the right hand side that we call “Channels”, just click on your choice. There are many different ways to move around the site besides the home page. Once you have become familiar with how the site operates, posting comments and thoughts you will find like minded people who you can become friends with. You have the choice of adding them as friends also, this way you can stay informed of their activities, comments and postings by visiting their home page.

Propeller is different because it has a full time staff of “Scouts” (employees that are like reporters or thread monitors, a.k.a. Hall Monitors) that interact with the community. This is one of my favorite things about this site because it keeps it civil and free from spam (unwanted devices to try and sell you stuff) and evil people, lol. They are located at the bottom right of the page, when you put your cursor over their “Avatar” (icon, a.k.a. a picture next to user’s name) you can go to their home page and learn more about them. Also, if you have questions they are the most reliable of sources. The Scouts are managed by “Anchors”, much like Office Managers do. They are located on the Home Page just above the Scouts and the whole lot of them is managed by the Lead Anchor James Marcus, who BTW (by the way) is an excellent writer.

Profiles are a very important part of our community; this is one of the first things we look at when you post a comment. We are a nosy bunch (at least I am) and want to know what if any thing we share in common, interests, life experiences, etc., basically where you are coming from. I suggest you look at some of our profiles to get a feel of how we express ourselves here and then write your own. If you are like me you will keep tweaking it until satisfied, but it can be changed at any time. Also on your home page you will find the controls under “Participation” to change your settings and Avatar.

An individual’s Avatar says a lot about them and not having a generic one makes you unique. After awhile we can scan a thread and know your comment by your color, outline and other stand out characteristics. I know at times it helps me go directly to my friends comments on a post and who to skip over, lol.

“Voting”, this is done if you like a story and feels it has merit enough to be noticed by other users. You vote by selecting your choice to vote or sink a story on the left hand side of the story line. If you decide later that you don’t like this particular piece or make a mistake there is a “retract” button to click on to with draw your selection.

“Etiquette”, this is very important to us here at Propeller. We try very hard to have intelligent conversations but, just like every community we have our village idiot’s, we like to call them “trolls” or “Sock Puppets”. These are users that are either off their medication or like to disrupt a thread with abusive comments, insulting remarks, or “high jacking” (going totally off topic of discussion). If you should find yourself a target of a troll or feel a comment is inappropriate, please report them by clicking on the ‘Report” button on that comment.

When posting a comment think about how you will sound, WE HATE IT WHEN YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPS that is considered yelling and offensive. Personally I find it hard to read so I skip over it. You can use caps on a WORD for emphasis, but please refrain from shouting on a thread. Also making racist, sexist or bigoted type remarks are unacceptable to the community so just remember before you hit that submit button to be sure this is what you want to say.

There are times that things are posted that we don’t agree with, and there are times things that get posted don’t mean what we think they do. Please, before attacking a poster ask them questions about what they said to make sure you understand it. That creates less grief in the community when posters have spats and long thread fights. That interrupts the flow of the thread and ruins the experience for all users.

Each comment has a row of buttons along the bottom for you to rate that comment: good, bad, block or report. Some times it’s fun to throw a few bread crumbs to the trolls, but in the end you learn not to feed them too much, if they are bothersome to you I suggest you just hit the block button and you will never see that users comment again unless you choose to view it.

There are many different methods of computer short hand since you want to get a lot into a little space, one is the abbreviation of phrases such as “LOL” laugh out loud, “LMAO”; laugh my azz off; “LOLIFOTCAHMA”; laugh out loud I fell of the chair and hurt my azz; and mine is LOLILATF, laugh out loud I lost another tail feather, after time you will learn the abbreviations.

You can also make clever and cute different happy faces with letters and symbols:

<:-)

I hope you find this helpful with your start on Propeller and feel free to ask questions, most of the time you will get reasonable and intelligent answers, but don’t believe every thing you read.

Looking forward to seeing you propel yourself on to Propeller ;>

I have become somewhat of an authority on the boorish art of racial epithets and ethnic slurs from my participation on Propeller and that dubious distinction is by no means anything to boast about. Nonetheless, it is a fact. Having reviewed other competing forums on the web, I must acknowledge that Propeller’s share of bigoted commentary fortunately does not compare. Hate-filled dialogue characteristic to these other “social” blog sites is rampant and for the most part, it goes unchecked. To conclude, however, that personal harassment and abusive comments directed at Propeller’s members is not harmful and potentially threatening to our community as a whole would be a mistake.

Since my participation commenced at Propeller (and Netscape), I have observed an improvement in how management confronts those who consistently violate the rights of others. Nevertheless, there are those — and always will be those, who learn how to violate the spirit of the rules of conduct without risking penalty. So it is ultimately up to us — or should I say it is up to me to learn how to cope with these characters. I think it would also be beneficial for each of us to ask ourselves the question: “how do I handle personal attacks?”

“Not so good!” I must sometimes admit. To correct my reactions to the scurrilous attacks of a few requires vigilance and humility. Unfortunately, I am not overly endowed with the latter virtue. Yet, there are those times that I can respectfully communicate my disapproval, release the hurt, and remain on center. There are also those rare times that I do not reply — that I simply bury the hurt and anger and must wait to expunge its unpleasant effects. During those episodes, I can easily react unfavorably to even the best-intentioned comments.

Recently, during the dialogue on a thread from a story that I posted entitled “Anti-Semitism, A Dead Issue” I sustained the usual personal attacks from my small fan club and then misinterpreted a perfectly innocent comment. Regrettably, I proceeded to lambaste that person. It was days later when I realized that I had made this mistake. An apology should be a sincere attempt to correct a wrong and to make it right. I blasted this poor soul openly on the thread and to privately send him a personal message does not cut it.

Permit me the liberty of using this forum to convey my apologies to BoxMonkey for misconstruing the following remark.

This is not new news [ anti-semitism ] . In Ridgewood a communitty that borders Queens and Brooklyn, there are many Jewish cemetaries that have been vandalized throughout the years. Tombstones that date back to the 1800’s. Anti-semitism is alive in all communities I’ve visited . Most recently exploited in that movie ” Borat ” . And although the Jews get the most attention when the word Holocaust is used , let’s not forget the Armenians , Kurds , Somalians and many other religious or nationalities that have faced similiar consequences that are not publisized by the press .

For failing to cope with abusive remarks from a few other participants on the thread, I completely misunderstood his commentary. “This is not new news.” Under normal conditions, I would understand that remark. Yet at that moment, it sounded to me like a criticism and then I anticipated another insensitive or callous remark to follow. In addition, I read the words, “And although the Jews get the most attention…” my defenses went up. “Here come the stereotypes“, I muttered to myself. My ability to read the comment objectively evaporated on the spot. I hope this truthful explanation and apology will be accepted. If I could take back my criticisms of his remarks I would.

Have you ever lashed out and displaced frustration by attacking an innocent participant on Propeller? Well, I have done it more times than I care to admit. How do we cope with our own shortcomings and mistakes when they hurt others? Do we care enough about the other member to apologize or do we forget about them and just move on? I have seen enough members leave Propeller simply because they could not cope with their own mistakes or the persistent harassment from other members. I believe the best thing we can do when any of us reach that jumping off place is to share it with someone you can trust. That never fails for me.

Most of us enjoy exchanging controversial ideas without dialogue riddled with personal attacks. In cyberspace, even on Propeller, we encounter those who only want to hurt and disrupt. Coping with these disruptive influences takes some of us practice. It does for me. Rest assured, there will be those who give us more than enough opportunity to learn.

For anyone submitting contentious stories, such as topics on radical Christian fundamentalism, to not expect passionate debate would be foolish. Most Propeller heads have routinely witnessed malicious personal attacks that accompany these stimulating discussions.

Coping with bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitic remarks can sometimes be a painful experience. For the most part, when I recognize that I am a member of a community with many allies that share my distaste for this kind of conduct, I can maintain a more even temper. To all my friends, I must extend my gratitude to them for expressing their views and for not remaining silent in the presence of these unpleasant demonstrations. It is a testament to the best of our community to acknowledge that these members make up the vast majority. Having witnessed other communities disintegrate because of rampant displays of racism, oppressive misogyny, and anti-Semitism, I think it is imperative for those of us who value the freedom that we have on Propeller, to do what we can to protect it. When we treat others with the respect and dignity that we all deserve, we make Propeller a safe and fun place to share important ideas.