anonemouse

You sure didn't tell Daffodil to back down when she called us that. To me, that says that you agree with her.

And you've called (or as good as called) us murderers, baby killers, and basically equated us to Nazis and slave-owners (since, of course THEY didn't see their victims as human either, you said). So what's the worst offense here? Being accused of spreading tripe or being accused of murder?

I have to agree with you.

This is probably a stupid question, but does surgery ruin pedicures? I don't want to spend $30 on a pedicure right before surgery if it is going to be ruined by something they do. I don't know WHY it would be ruined, but I could have sworn someone in a previous thread posted something about them removing nail polish when they prep you for surgery. Unfortunately, it's been so long ago that I don't remember which thread it was in.

Where were you called names? Seriously, I must have missed that post.

And speaking as someone who would be likely to choose abortion if I discovered tomorrow that I was pregnant, your approach isn't swaying me from my position in the least. Now Neicyrenee, on the other hand, possibly could. She seems sympathetic and understanding. You seem harsh and demanding.

But Gadgetlady, you never know if someone online is considering an abortion or not, or whether they may consider one in the future. Wouldn't it serve your purposes better to consider them ALL people considering an abortion? I can honestly tell you that if I was having to make a difficult choice in the future about whether or not I would be having an abortion, this thread WOULD play a part in my decision. Every time we hear the pro-life/pro-choice debate, we pick up and store little bits of information, we are affected by the tone of the debaters, etc. So what you say here CAN make a difference in someone's decision. It just might not be the difference you want. And yes, I don't doubt that you have changed SOME minds with the tactics that you use. But like several of us said earlier, you attract far more flies with honey than with vinegar. You may attract a few flies with vinegar, but you could attract dozens with honey.

Yeah, that disgusts me. If it were anyone else, they would have just said, "Suck it up and deal with it." Pisses me off.

The thing is, Gadgetlady, the whole purpose of a debate is to get your point of view across and maybe persuade someone to change their ideas, whether that person is the one you are debating with or just a bystander. You may be getting your opinion across, but you aren't persuading anyone. When you call someone a murderer, when you compare them to Nazis and slave-owners, when you call them baby-killers, you flip that little switch in their brain from "I'm listening, you might have a point" to "You're an extremist and you don't respect me, so why should I pay any attention to what you say?" Think of it this way: If I went around and yelled at all the pro-life people I talked to, telling them that they are nothing but a bunch of clinic-bombers and that they were going to be the down-fall of democracy and the American way, and compared their views of women to those of Islamic fascists, do you think they would be likely to jump ship and become pro-choice? No. It's a stupid way to try and change people's minds. When even pro-life people think you are going too far and not helping their cause, you might want to reconsider your methods.

You do have a point, Mark. I had forgotten all about that post.

Well, I just looked up Mystic Tan, and unfortunately, there aren't any places locally that offer it.

Does the mystic tan transfer to anything? Does it get all over your clothes, sheets, etc?

Either way, do you really think other people's minds would be changed when people verbally attack them and call them murderers, etc? Or are people more likely to be swayed in their opinions when the person trying to sway them is polite, respectful of the opinions held by the other person, and persuasive? By the way, I am not saying that you attack anyone, Gadgetlady. I think that sometimes you may go a little too far, but at least you aren't calling people murderers for being pro-choice.

And Denise, I just noticed your ticker! You've done so well, losing over a hundred pounds in 8 months! That's definitely good work.

It really, truly is. Keeping someone around for years on life support isn't thinking of them, it's thinking of yourself. If people were really concerned about the quality of life of their loved ones, they'd let them go. I just don't understand why a pet owner can put their pet out of its misery when it gets to a point where there is no quality of life left, yet people can't make that decision for themselves.

I don't know if it's a setting I can change in my CP or not, but what I see is this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... last page. The numbers between the 10th page and the last page are hidden. Of course, that's just on the forum page, next to the thread title. Once I am in the thread, (take the "right to choose" thread in RnR for example) I get something that looks like 1 2 3 11 > Last>>. If you want to get to page 20, for example, you have to click on several different pages, since on any page you choose, it shows links to the two pages on either side of the page you are on and a link to the page that is 10 pages ahead of the one you are on (for example, if you click 11, it shows links to pages 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 21. That will work, thanks. I had forgotten all about that function. I could have sworn, though, that all the pages in a thread used to be shown on the forum page.

It's unfortunate that other people don't understand that. But believe me, it is a very welcome change. To be honest, I don't even read Daffodil's posts anymore. They are all the same, condemning everyone who doesn't believe like she does. And not only that, she does it in the most offensive way possible. Hear that, Daffodil? You have lost any chance you ever had to convert pro-choice people on this site to a pro-life stance. No one listens to people that attack them. No one listens to people that openly consider them sub-human. No one is listening to YOU. Become more like Neicyrenee, and people may actually start listening to you and considering your stance. Heck, you may even gain some converts. But as long as you continue to act and post like you do, no one will consider your arguments. Why would they? You don't respect them and you don't respect their position and you don't respect the reasons why they have taken the position they have. So please, like Mark said, if you want to further the pro-choice movement, continue posting in the same style that you have been. Because, heck, you sure aren't doing anything for the pro-life movement.

I will be getting banded on July 3rd, and that will be less than a month before I turn 24 (August 2nd). I want to get my weight under control while I'm young and still relatively healthy. I have PCOS, insulin resistance, asthma, high cholesterol (280 the last time it was checked), a hiatal hernia, etc. I have a high rate of heart disease, heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., on both sides of my family. My mom had to have both knees replaced, mainly due to her obesity. To put it bluntly, if I can't get my weight under control, I'm totally screwed. I view this surgery as a preventative measure.

If you think about it, a lot of the things we do with bodies are incredibly morbid. My mom has made me promise not to allow a visitation when she dies, just because she thinks it's incredibly morbid to be standing around staring at a dead body and talking about them. IMO, this is less morbid than a visitation.

Is there any way we can bring back the full listing of page numbers for the individual threads? It's a little irritating to have to go weed through several pages to find the one you were last on, since the highest options available are "10" and "last page". Especially when there are dozens of pages and several pages have been added since the last time the thread was read.

I've heard of it, and I don't doubt that it happens. I think it could be easy to avoid surgeons that do that, though, if the patients really research them ahead of time. Generally, surgeons have bad or good reputations for a reason. Most people don't go around bad-mouthing a surgeon out of spite. I wouldn't be surprised if the surgeons committing fraud were the cheapest docs, with bad reps that would easily be found with just a small amount of research. Unfortunately, in this business, you generally get what you pay for, to an extent.

I know it's small consolation, but your kids WILL get over it. Right now, they're hurt and confused and probably feel like they are being pulled in two different directions. And unfortunately, they are being selfish and attacking the easiest target, which happens to be you. They're teens, that's what they do. Just try to remember that they will eventually come around and will probably feel horrible about the way they are treating you. And until they do, we are all here to support you.

Bungie jumping scares me. One of my goals, when I lose weight, is to go sky diving. For some reason, that's a lot less scary for me than bungie jumping.

I tend to change personalities when I'm online. I'm totally different when I am talking to someone in person. I tend to be very quiet and, to be honest, easily run over. When I get online, it's like I don't have to hide and try to make everyone happy. In person, I tend to start sobbing when I get into face-to-face arguments. It's really quite embarassing. I am just hoping so much that the band will be so successful that it will prove all them wrong.

Apparently, my parents took care of informing my relatives about my surgery. I hadn't intended to tell anyone outside my immediate family until I was sure that this was going to work. Unfortunately, my dad took that out of my hands. Nice of him, wasn't it? :tired Now I'll get to deal with the well-meaning, but ultimately doubting, relatives about three weeks after my surgery, when we all get together for a stressful week of family fun (or not so much, since there are usually several fights and blow-ups during the week). Them knowing wouldn't be so bad if I could have told them on my own terms. As it is, this is going to be a TON of fun. One of my uncles actually told me that he never believed that I could have done it, when I got a summer internship on Cape Cod, halfway across the country. I knew he meant it as a compliment, but it was sort-of backwards, you know?