42PercentHealth

Hey, haven't checked in here in almost 2 weeks. How is everyone?

I am married now! :-)

Guys.

Guys!

GUYS!!!!

I'm going to be married in less than a week! :-D

Hey y'all! I've proposed to my girlfriend, and now she's my fiancee! :-D I'm just excited, wanted to let anyone know who might care.

Yup, this is what happens when you don't check in for a week...

Sorry for being a stranger, everybody. Fact is, at the tender young age of 27 I've finally met a special someone and started dating, so I've not been on the internet or gaming much lately. I'll try to do a better job of checking this forum and streaming somewhat regularly again, but if anyone wants to get a hold of me, Discord is probably the best bet.

Just thought I'd update you all, in case anyone was wondering if I died. I didn't.

This gal gets it.

Okay, personal rant time... bug out now if you don't want to hear my life story and opinions.

First off, this lady's story really resonates with me. I also grew up in a very critical and judgmental environment (not *quite* as extreme and not *nearly* as active as hers, but similar in many ways). So, I totally understand where she's coming from. I left my parents' house for some of the same reasons, and I felt the same fear and confusion when I did so. I was still questioning whether I was even doing the right thing. After all, the people whom I had trusted and learned from all growing up were telling me that God was going to judge me harshly in this life or the next for abandoning the family He had given me, rebelling against His will for me in order to pursue evil things listening to rock music and working on computers (.... yep, computers are evil, according to the Bible).

I've also been on a similar journey, slowly coming to realize that the people I had been trained to despise and judge were actually people like me, with their own reasons for doing and believing the things that they did. I still feel like I'm trying to shake off some of that overly-critical mindset, but I'm coming around. Man, I remember posting some crazy stuff when I first joined here. I probably owe some apologies. :-\

She says in the video, "we need to talk and listen to people we disagree with." This is the key. We need to stop stereotyping people as "SJW's" or "racists" or "snowflakes" or "religious fanatics" or "neo-nazis". (On that note, may I ask someone to kindly explain to me how the far right are equated with Nazis? I grew up in a pretty far-right environment, and I don't see it. Thx.) Once you label someone as such, they lose their humanity, and become an enemy. Since they are an enemy, and since you already know everything about how they think and believe (because once you've talked to one <your-favorite-label-here> you've talked to them all), there is no reason to listen to them. Why should you care what they have to say? You are right, and they are wrong. So you do what must be done with such people... you give them a good verbal thrashing and then block/ban/kick them on <your-favorite-social-media-site-here>.

Well, I can tell you that if you do that, they will walk away with a martyr complex, and confirmation that the "enemy" who just banned them for simply stating a valid opinion is "just another <their-favorite-label-here>", just like the rest of them.

(Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting that we don't ban obvious trolls. I'm just suggesting that you give people a chance to explain themselves before deciding they are trolls.)

"But he was racist!" you protest. I don't care! I was homophobic. I didn't turn that around because someone gave me a verbal thrashing and blocked me from their Twitter. I turned that around because I was willing to sit down and talk to people who were LGBT, and they were willing to sit down and talk with me. Essentially, I had been taught to make assumptions about certain classes of people (LGBT, liberals, feminists, atheists, catholics and other Christian denominations, Muslims, Jews, college professors, et cetera ad infinitum). By talking issues over with people from these groups, I learned that 1) they are not all the same, and 2) almost none of them conform the the stereotypes I had in my mind.

I've also discovered another interesting way in which those whom I disagree with are similar to me. They make assumptions about conservatives, libertarians, evangelicals, pro-lifers, gun owners, et cetera ad infinitum). Based on my upbringing, I can certainly say that those stereotypes are very frequently wrong.

The other thing that I think is important is that you have to be willing to learn. People can tell if you are actually open-minded, or if you are just waiting for them to be done talking so you can say your piece. Don't go in assuming that you are right, and that you are gonna school the moron at the other end of the internet. It might be that you can learn something from them. Don't be afraid to learn something... it doesn't hurt, honest! :-)

All right, end of rant. The speech impressed me, mostly because she was able to articulate some of the feelings I have experienced ever since I started questioning the teachings of my "church". I don't mean to start a religious or political crapstorm. But if anyone wants to talk about anything, feel free to PM me.

Bro, is that avatar from an old NES soccer game? (Or football, if you're not in the US, lol)

Finally coming out of your shell, eh? :-P

Your avatar is adorable. <3

Starting my new job today.... wish me luck! :-)

Also, I'm not going to be online as much from now on, but I'll answer PM's or messages on Discord when I get home.

Happy birthday to me...

Happy birthday to me...

Happy birthday dear 42....

Happy birthdayyyyyyyyyyy

Tooooooooooooo

Meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

:-D

Off-the-wall question, just out of curiosity: When you pull a random WAD off of /idgames, do you ever get one that you've reviewed before? If that happened, do you think you'd recognize it?

Just wondering...

I always pick the most "exciting" looking automatic YouTube thumbnails for my videos. Which means I hate when this happens:

Heh, might have found my new favorite math comics....

LOL, Nice avatar! :-D

You know what's ironic?

Certain doomworld members complain that non-Doom-related statuses push the Doom-related statuses off of the front page.

Admins push all the statuses off the front page.

Certain doomworld members are happy.

:-P