Greetings all,
While I recognize that we all are very different people and have different perspectives.... some of the belligerence and outright threats (violence death etc) levelled back and forth on recent postings on this board are just beyond the pale.

Some folks are polite when they disagree, even strongly. Some seem to go out of their way to be abrasive on the smallest thing. Some are in the middle, and all fluctuate a little depending on how heated things get.

I would like to offer a suggestion to the Mods and owner of the Board that people who cannot exhibit even half-assed decent behaviour get nerfed. If the board exists for the discussion of the Buj and related issues, and is intended to be constructive, then surely allowing death threats and the like is counter to the boards purpose....

Allowing 'lively' discussion is one thing. Allowing it to degenerate into a festival of insults, innuendo and verbal violence is entirely another.

I fully agree. Allowing this to continue un-abashed will ruin this forum as fewer people will be willing to post.

Let's go back to the open exchange of ideas that make this site such a valuable resource to its members. I also find no satisfaction in the belligerence and discourtesy but do understand that sometimes it must be dealt with.

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Then perhaps you should refrain from dispensing it when someone disagrees with you.

Or is that not your idea of an "open exchange of ideas"?


- Mark Spada

We've been through this before Mark - being rude and insensitive to cultural and personal differences is bad form and reflects poorly on yourself, family, teacher, etc

Ignorant and belligerent comments shed a light on the person making the comment. Even when the angry pimple posts a relatively useful comment, our experience makes us look at it deeper to see where the sarcasm lies.

More importantly, they should not so easily bate members of the community into responding in kind. I get frustrated with myself when I find I have done just that! As Soke says, a fight is not a fight unless it is a fight! It takes two to tango!

Marty

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First of all....

Personal and cultural differences??? What exactly are you on about? We’re talking about normal adult human beings disagreeing with each other. Happens every single day. True story.

Secondly....

How I express myself on an internet discussion forum in no way reflects on anyone other than myself, including my teacher and my family. I know this because my teacher has, on occasion, laughed at the very notion. Many people here can accurately recall meeting my teacher and being the recipient of his kindness and generosity at one point or another. That he not only associates with me and instructs me but welcomes me into his home and considers me a part of his family speaks volumes. If any of you think that I am misrepresenting him here in any way, by all means feel free to contact him and regale him with tales of my fiendish indiscretions. Please, go ahead....but I already know exactly how he will respond. I can assure you that he regards the atmospherics of this cute little “village” with about as much significance as Hatsumi sensei or the Japanese shihan do.

And as for my family? Well....since you brought it up:

A few years back, my wife, taking note of the considerable time that I was allotting to these discussion forums, asked me what Kutaki was like. Feeling that first-hand experience was the best way to go and not wanting to bias her opinion with my own, I handed her my lap top and told her to peruse this site. After about thirty minutes or so, she handed me back my lap top and summed it up thusly:

“I see....so basically, Kutaki is like a zoo or an animal reserve. Except that the animals are all very pretentious, disingenuous in their associations, and really not very cute at all.”

I honestly couldn’t have said it better myself.


- Mark Spada

And your teacher is???? Kind of difficult to contact him without knowing who he is. -----

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Ed....

You know very well that my teacher is Richard Norman.


- Mark Spada

.....really guys? On a thread created specifically to address inappropriate / rude / belligerent behaviour?

Honest straightforward question for Mr.Spada :
If you and you wife both have such low opinions of the board and the folks who post on it, why do you participate?

I joined in order to get a wider perspective on the Buj and it's adherents, and to see if some discussion about the art and those involved would take place in a constructive way.