PorkChopExpress86

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” –Benjamin Franklin. Human rights are constructed by humans. They aren't inborn or granted by any higher power. The state is an institution created by humans. Individuals actively bond together and create society and government exists as a moderating tool. If citizens allow themselves to be oppressed by the government that they essentially created (whether actively or passively) then the rights that aren't being granted to them don't exist. Take George Orwell’s classic book 1984. The party sets about to destroy the words and, by extension, the very idea of liberty. Syme explains this to the main character Winston like this: “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we’re not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime, it’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there wont be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect… How could you have a slogan like, ‘freedom is slavery’ when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. ” (p. 53-54) If people can't conceive of the right to free speech, or the right of public assembly, then it doesn't exist in some parallel dimension waiting to be rediscovered. Did medieval serfs have any inkling of what it was like to exist in any other state beyond abject servitude? Of course not. Freedoms were created when the middle class become strong enough to exert it's own influence and articulate it’s own vision on the lives of the people who made it up. People in Africa and the Middle East may have heard of freedom but since many of them have never experienced even the slightest taste of it, it is just some ephemeral concept that doesn't mean anything in reality. We can't spread democracy to the Middle East because the vast majority of Arabs have no clue what that means. Geert Hofstede (www.geert-hofstede.com) has done enormous amounts of research on the effects of culture. One dimension of culture that he has defined is called Power-Distance. Hofstede (2005) defines it as such in his book Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, “Power distance can therefore be defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.” (p. 46) That is to what degree to people in a society accept the authority of people over them. India has the highest level of power distance in the world due to the Caste System. Those at the top are believed to be infallible and those at the bottom believe they cannot change their station. The US has a very low level of power distance; our leaders are selected from among the people, by the people. Social advancement is believed to be possible and indeed is encouraged by the society at large. Using Hofstede's measures, House et. al. (2004) found that those at the top of a high power distance society, where the division between leader and follower is great, do not solicit the opinions of those below them, but unusual as it may seem, people at the bottom of such societies do not expect or desire to be included in the decision making process. They have been socialized in such a way as to want no part of that role. Aldous Huxley shows some of this in his novel Brave New World. Society is stratified into castes and the work divided accordingly. Alphas are the decision makers, Betas the middle managers and Gammas, Deltas and Epislons are the lowest rungs who perform menial labor. When the people are socialized for their roles they are literally brainwashed by tapes under their pillows repeating certain phrases. Betas are conditioned in such a way: "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder then we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better then the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able..." (p. 27-28) Granted this is sci-fi, but it shows that people can be raised in such a way that the idea of human rights are foreign to them. In the book, an individual from outside of the dominant society tries to show the lower castes that they don’t have to be kept in servitude and can strive for more. They turn on him violently. In their mind there is no changing what culture has dictated. In summation, rights are created by people, but only when they have the ability to conceive of those rights. Governments do not grant them, they merely serve to restrict or protect them. But neither are they automatically guaranteed to everyone, simply because they are human. If one allows oneself to be subjugated, then one will be and no magical freedom fairy is going to come and make it all better. References Hofstede, G & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (2nd ed.). London: McGraw-Hill. House, R.J., Hanges, P.J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Huxley, A. (1932). Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Gallantmon of the Hazard has recently posted a story in which Jaedite awakes from his eternal sleep, turns one of the sailor senshi into his servants and sets about enslaving the rest. He's titled it The Negaverse's Ultimate Revenge [http://anime.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600044059] I have a story called Jaedite's Revenge in which jaedite awakes from his eternal sleep and enslaves Sailor Mars with the aim of ultimatley enslaving them all. [http://anime.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600042962] And another story called Mars in Retrograde where Jaedite turns sailor mars into a servant of the Dark Kingdom and moves against the rest. [http://anime.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600043282] He goes into a description about how the sailor senshi's uniforms are modified, just like i do, and has Jaedite take rei as his personal slave, like i do Is his story close enough to be considered plaigerism or am I just being overprotective?

Actually it was Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists. Then it was Democratic-Republicans vs. Democrats. Next came Whigs vs. Democrats, after that it was Democrats vs. Republicans.

there is nothing wrong with lobbyists. lobbyists are groups of citizens who get together to make sure their voices are heard, they serve the interests of the people who join the groups by raising money and organizing the voices of millions of people into a single message. The NRA is a group of 40 million american citizens (i'm one of them) who want to protect their gun rights, so we do something about it. There are hundreds of other lobbies and I would guess that every voter has interest being represented by one of them. Others have said that the two party system is bad, but parliamentary systems just give lobbies a stronger position. Small parties are usualy single issue or very narrow in scope and are essentially elected lobbyists.

yeah, most modern ideas of hell come from Dante's Inferno. It's been so well integrated into the public consciousness that its become almost impossible to separate it from what is actualy talked about in the bible. The only notable difference i can see is that the bible clearly makes reference to a "lake of fire" but dante's final circle is a frozen wasteland. i was raised a christian too and had to spend several years in private religious schools. I stopped being a christian when, at 14, i could argue my religion teacher into a corner and she'd say, "sometimes you just have to have faith." Sorry, but if you're going to make outrageous claims and say that everyone else is going to burn in hell if they don't agree, you need something to back it up. I single handedly made my old testament studies class finish 3 months behind schedule my freshman year of highschool b/c I would call my teacher on every thing he said that didn't make sense... which was to say, everything. Best part was, I had the highest grade in the class.

Technically the only "torture" of hell is the complete separation from god. christians just did a terrible patchwork job when they made up their religion. judaism didn't start out with a concept of the devil and later made him part of god's court. he was humanities "adversary" or "accusor" which in its original language is the root word for "satan", he served god by exposing the evils that humans perpatrated. This is shown in the book of Job. Christianity then took the concept of the devil from zoarastrianism which said there were two equally powerful but opposite deities fighting for control of the earth and made him god's adversary. Hell also didn't exist in judaism, nor did heaven for that matter. When people died they just went back to the earth, later they went to a place called "shoel" which resembled hades in alot of ways. Whether you were good or bad you ended up there, you didn't get tortured, you just didn't have the joy of being alive. the christians also used the concept of the devil to demonize the pagan religions that preceded them. "Lucifer" literaly means "light bringer" which refers to the planet venus. The pentagram, satan's symbol, is actualy the path traced by the planet in the sky. (you can see how this works here: http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCpages/Venus.html ) making venus into satan and turning it evil was a way to set themselves above the pagans. aaaand that's why i'm a buddhist.

It absolutley is a good thing. Ever had a couple guys come at you in a dark parking lot? I have. I didn't have to pull my gun b/c the situation got diffused, but i sure was happy to feel the weight of that thing on my hip. I also had a car full of dumb ass hicks start menacing me one time at a stop light. I ignored them and they lost interest, but drunken idiots do stupid shit. Again, I was really fucking happy to have my gun on me at the time. Police officers simply can't be everywhere at once, all it takes is a few seconds for a situation to get bad. Who would you rather see go down? a law abiding but defenseless citizen, or some ass hole criminal who exists as a drain on society? Why are rifles any different? The guy that shot up the university of North Texas used a rifle, the dumb ass emo kid who shot up that mall in nebraska(?) used a rifle.

true, but at some point there was a leap from a small gangbang to a full on bukkake. i enjoy watching it, but it has to be kind of intimidating for the girl. Unless they thrive on attention, but being a porn actress, that's probably already the case.

no, i mean before they filmed the FIRST bukkake. that must have been some sell... now girls know what to expect, but that first girl had to be like, "...the fuck?!"

Shrinking woman fetish? I've always wondered how agents got their girls to agree to things like bukkake when it first came out. "So i have sit down for a half hour while a hundred guys cum on me, and afterwards i have to swallow it all? I'll take it!" you think they get paid any better, cause i certainly hope so.

Of course guns kill people. that's what they are manufactured to do, but the problem exists with the dumb ass who uses it illegally. I'm a member of the NRA, i own three guns and intend to get plenty more. I have a concealed weapons permit and i carry a firearm on me at all times but i have never done anything illegal with it. Banning guns doesn't stop criminals from having them, as evidenced by the fact that your story occured in japan. Legal gun ownership in japan is all but compleatly illegal, yet criminals still get them. All that banning guns does is ensure that people who actually FOLLOW the laws are unarmed and does nothing to stop a criminal. As for your story, its a good thing small time criminals tend to be idiots... glad your cousin is okay.

so chix0rz are into the tentacles too, huh? i like it, but i never would have guessed...

Sometimes i'll use a word that don't mean nu-ehn... like looptid... And now i'm gonna do my dance...

It's true... the japanese have some fucked up minds. I can't find the video right now but a while ago i saw a commercial on youtube for a masturbation machine. It kept going on and on about being "hands free" and i'm like... if my hands are free while i'm masturbating... what am i going to do with them?? http://wackyjapanese.pandemonium.de/2007/0...bation-machine/ here's the unit (uh-huh-huh-huh... unit...) but the commercial was funny as hell. And thanks again Zimarah!

i have writers block right now. i WANT to write... i even know the direction i want to take my two stories, but i just can't make myself sit down and do it. And sorry zyx but i dont think that its about me not trying hard enough. When i FORCE myself to write it just comes out like crap. I have to be in the mood to do it, but for the last several months I was always in the mood and now that i'm not its aggravating.

read my story black moon triumphant. Esmeraude enslaves all of the sailor senshi.

I did it in my story "Black Moon Triumphant" and to get around the repetativeness i focused on Rei (Sailor Mars's) thoughts while it was going on. I'd like to see another take on it though.

Porkchop Express is the name of Jack Burton's rig in Big Trouble in Little China. The greatest movie in the world, and so, by extension, the greatest username. ever.

ich spreche ein bischen deutsch... ich hatte vier jahren in gymnasiam. ich denke deutsh kuehle sein, aber es hoeren gut nicht. Anyway, that's all i could come up with... it's been six years since highschool and i'm drinking so you know how that goes... I havn't read any stories in deutsch b/c i simply don't remember enough of it for it to be worthwhile, but i do practice japanese by translating doujin. same principle.

This came up in another thread; i said bukkake was pretty much the final frontier of pushing the envelope in porn. Whether you love it or hate it, what are your thoughts on it? also, check out this video: Bukkake Udon!

I just picked up a new 1080p LCD (score!) and I really didn't think there would be too much of a difference for watching anime on regular dvds since the picture is significantly less complicated then a movie image, but there is. It isn't bad but it looks more like i'm watching an old VHS tape b/c the image comes off as grainy. So my question is, how many of you think you'll be rebuying all your old series on blu ray? I wish i could sa i'd be happy with my dvds but i'm pretty sure i'll end up buying them again, at least my favorite ones anyway.

Animal rights? Shouldn't you be more concerned about the prospective Catherine the Greats out there? Don't Wince!! I hope you like my fics, let me know what you think. And don't smoke weed... up with hope, down with dope!! Nothing makes me more hopeful then sweet, sweet alcohol...

Trust me kid, if you had gotten under my skin enough to make me hostile you'd know it. Who was the one who came on here and wrote a novel length tirade anyway? And are you trying to say that you don't generalize people? If so you're either slow witted or a liar. Symbolic Interactionism (see George Herbert Mead's work on the subject) is how humans make sense of the world. We assign meaning to the symbols of skin color, looks, speech patterns, ethnicity, etc. Without these symbols to go on every new encounter would take an exorbitant amount of wasted time. You aren't some enlightened sage of human relation, you stereotype people on a daily basis just like anyone else. But I’m sorry, you're the one who can't date anyone, male or female, and can't stomach the thought of a long term relationship. Clearly you know so much more about human relationships then I do. Maybe you are some beautifully unique free spirit full of wondrous, exclusive, uniqueness... And I did enjoy my scotch, thank you.

"When yaoi fans often say that yaoi is better than het because of the "deeper" plotlines...it's because when you look at them, in a way, they are. With heterosexual fanfiction, we find mostly PWP when there's sexual involvement. And whether you do or not, it usually has something or other to do with the man being the savior over the woman in some way or another. It's...overdone." Gross over generalization. "For me to read most het fanfiction on any given website would be the same as me taking out a textbook and trying to read it. Not because of the subject matter being similar in any way, but just because it is plainly and simply THAT boring to me." Fair enough, reading yaoi would be the same for me. "If you really want to know, I don't like most Shakespearan plays either. Not because I don't understand them, but mostly I just simply DON'T like them. In the case of Romeo and Juliet it was just one bungle after another and though I do not doubt that Romeo and Juliet were in love with each other...I feel they were rather stupid people in general. Which should be expected since they were so very young. I'm not really a fan of...people THAT young in any story or play. But, then again, I'm not really here to talk about why or why not Shakespearan plays are good. It's just preference, really." Well that's all that really needed to be said, you prefer yaoi fanfiction to the immortal bard. Yes, it is a matter of preference, and yours is bad. "I don't write or read yaoi just simply to be 'edgy'. I like yaoi. That's why I write it and that's why I read it. I find it far more interesting than most of the heterosexual fanfiction that I find. That is not to say that I don't read about heterosexual fanfics. I do, at times, when I happen to be browsing and find one that is surprisingly interesting. It's just that there is more in the yaoi section that I find interesting." You find it interesting b/c you think it's unique and different, particularly so in light of the fact that you said hetero sexual fics are like text books. If you are going for avant garde, you're trying to be edgy. I win. "When done right, yaoi is more of an equal partnership. Yuri could probably have the same said about it, but as personal preference I'm not that fond of yuri." Define "Uke" and "Seme" for me and tell me how many examples you see of it in yaoi fanfiction, no relationship is egalitarian. "I can't speak for EVERY female yaoi fan out there. Some of them, maybe even a lot of them, just read and write yaoi because they want to be edgy. I haven't met anybody like that. But, I haven't met all of the people in the world, either. Although, reading or writing anything that the majority of people and RL peers not only dislike but hate doesn't sound like a very edgy thing to be doing." That would be the definition of "edgy", sweetheart. "I'm sorry that you find yaoi and it's fandom to be either irritating, offensive or both. But, what it boils down to is preference. I am allowed to like what I want to like, just like you are allowed to do the same." I don't find it offensive and no one said you aren't allowed to enjoy it. "Likewise, I'm rather vanilla in what I like to read. I'm not interested in D/s. In fact, I especially hate it in het fics. I don't like dominatrixes and I don't like men asserting their dominance over women. I don't care if it's the way things are "supposed" to be as dictated by law, nature or religion. I don't like it. So, I don't read it. And, I don't write it." Uke and Seme again. Egalitarianism is a myth. "Unfortunately, for as long as Man has had heterosexuality we have also had homosexuality. It has been repressed throughout history, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. It's not a "new" thing that suddenly cropped up in modern times. And it isn't a blight on mankind as a whole, because as it is people are still reproducing at a startling rate and it doesn't look to be slowing down. There are too many people in the world as it is, really. If you see it as a blight, I'm very sorry. I don't know if you do or not and I don't want to put words in your mouth. I'm just simply stating the way I feel." You say unfortuantely... we've had homosexuality. I don't see it as a blight, but you seem to. Overpopulation is not the topic of this thread and even if it were, homosexuality wouldn't put a dent in population growth. The ancient Greeks still managed to have babies. "In fact, if you want to know, just as many of the het fans are complaining about the yaoi fans...so are the yaoi fans complaining about the het fans for always picking at them for their preferences. I can't understand why people seem to think everybody else has to change to please them, to be politically or religiously correct and/or to do whatever and all they can to keep from offending anybody else." We aren't picking on you. This came up in a forum specificaly labled "Hetero" "If you don't have that many fics in the het sections of websites and if you don't have many topics in forums, that is not the fault of the yaoi fans. That is the fault of the het fans not getting their butts in gear and writing more fics and participating in more forum conversations. I'm sorry, but it is." The demographic of this website is 75% female. Yaoi fans are almost exclusively female, so in a way it is your fault. "Sure, if there wasn't yaoi then everybody would be writing het and yuri. And if no yuri, then...that would leave just het. But, that's not the way things are. I find yaoi lemon fics to be hotter than what I find in het fiction, and as I said before I find the relationships to be more equal, whether the fic has lemon scenes or not. I don't agree that SOMEbody has to be weaker in order to make a good relationship." U/S. This is getting repetitve. "In my opinion, somebody having to be weaker to make the relationship good...well that's just a ridiculous notion. And if you can't find ANY yaoi that you like. That's preference, my dear. If you don't like yaoi...that's just fine with me and should be with everybody else. Yaoi, yuri and het fans alike." It is fine with me. "I do realize that a lot of yaoi authors seem to feel the need to make one of the male characters into a girl with a penis. Well...I don't like that either. In fact, I refuse to read fics like that. It's ridiculous, as well. And that is not a true picture of homosexuality. That is just an uninformed yaoi fangirl writing a fic with only the knowledge of stereotypical homosexual relationships that she has found portrayed on television and other forms of media. No research whatsoever has gone into her fic, more than likely." This is the ironclad law of yaoi fandom. women can't do research into it b/c they aren't gay men and gay men wont fuck them. "The men in yaoi have often been compared to the "lesbians" in porn for straight men, there for the titillation but about as realistic as unicorns. " [http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=3&STORY_ID=4057&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1] "But, I will also say that there are quite a few homosexual men that write yaoi fanfiction, as well. It's not just women. Anybody can like yaoi. Gay men, straight women, lesbians. I dare say even a straight man secure in his own masculinity could like it. Not that he would have to in order to be secure in his masculinity. It doesn't have to mean someone is an idiot or that someone is just interested in what "the It thing" is today." Anyone can read whatever donner's their blitzen. But he fact is yaoi IS the "it" thing for heterosexual females just like anime/manga is the "it" thing for americans. "Myself, I will read anything that I find passes my very picky standards. I don't read any yaoi fic I can get ahold of just simply because it's yaoi. A lot of subject matter does not appeal to me in ANY sort of fic." Myself included, subject matter like yaoi. "Really, I can't understand why this is such an issue. Perhaps most het fans that frequent this paricular forum aren't posting because they don't want to. And as I've stated earlier, if the strictly het fans want more fics...then write more fics yourselves." Says the person who's written twice as much as the rest of the thread combined. "Sitting and complaining about the yaoi fandom is not going to add more fanfiction to any section on any website. It probably won't even generate more traffic on het sections on the forums. At least, not with new topics." I started this new topic. "Perhaps, you should encourage friends who just read to actually try their hand at writing? The general excuse is something along the lines of, "I'm no good at writing." Well, a good encouragement would be, "No one starts out perfect." Not the only encouragement, but a good one." I'm not here to give out "participant" trophies. If someone wants to write they will, if not, they wont. "I have written het fiction myself, although long ago when I was still into Gundam Wing (back when I was around the same age as the pilots). Another thing to mention is that most anime I've come into contact with has either mostly women in it or mostly men. Anime such as Gundam Wing and Bleach...well you're just about going to have to expect the yaoi fans to gravitate to those, don't you think? Good looking guys, good action and plot to the storylines for the most part. Likewise, fics that depict mostly women (such as Sailor Moon) would be more likely to run into yuri quite a bit. Not that there is any shortage of het for the fandom. But, it's probably got a lot less yaoi. At least it did the last time I frequented the fandom. Then again...there are the Starlites...which is a definite gender-bender group. Not to mention that within the fandom there is at least one yaoi relationship established within the anime. I'm sure that by now all Sailor Moon fans know that Kunzite and Zoicite were in a relationship. In the Japanese version, that would be the original version, they were BOTH male and still in the relationship. Likewise, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were turned into cousins for the English version, yet in the original Japanese version they were lesbian lovers. That doesn't mean you have to like those pairings to enjoy the Sailor Moon fandom. And it doesn't mean you have to like homosexuality or gender bending to like the fandom, either. But, it's there and in quite a few anime it is officially part of the anime with certain characters and pairings. Not to mention that there ARE strictly yaoi anime out there. Ever heard of Ai no Kusabi? Haru wo Daiteita? It would be ridiculous to put Iason with a woman, or even Iwaki-san for that matter and still keep the fic from being AU." I never liked Gundam Wing so I can't comment there. Bleach has a pretty good split of male/female characters. I write exculsively for Sailor Moon right now and there is very little yuri. Neptune and Uranus are two of my favorite characters in the show. I wrote one scene of them together and i found it very difficult and uninteresting for me personaly. There is plenty of yaoi, it doesn't bother me. But time and time again i've heard of yaoi FANS complaining about yaoi writers pairing people together who would never be in the same room, let alone fuck. Most het pairings i've come across seem at least marginally plausible. "I don't tell anybody what they WILL like or what they SHOULD like. Just because het couples can make babies and all the established religions somebody can think up off the top of their heads say that homosexuality is a sin...does not sway me in the least. " I'm very anti-organized religion, particularly the monotheistic ones who condem homosexuality. I don't care where you shake your itty bits or who you shake them at, as long as it's consenting. "I, myself, am not at all interested in dating anybody. Not men and not women. I don't EVER want to marry and I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than have to not only go through childbirth but then have to spend the better part of my life raising the child or children. That's just me. I know lesbians and gay men who would love the chance to be allowed to marry their lover within the United States and have it actually be recognized as a real marriage in ALL of the US states and would just fall over dead with happiness if they were one day in the financial position to adopt a child with their significant other. I know many heterosexual women who plan to be, or already are, married with at least two children. If not already,then some day." That's your choice. "That's fine with me. If someone has the love, patience...pain tolerance and dedication to do things like that, I say more power to them. I suppose my point with this is just simply that yaoi fans are not evil and sinister. And we are not all idiotic cheerleaders with nothing better to do and nothing more edgy to play with than yaoi." Never called you evil and/or sinister. But cheerleaders? yes, i'd say that's a fair characterization from the het. community. "Give me a Y!" "Why must people stereotype others just simply because they don't like something people do? No one HAS to like yuri, no one HAS to like yaoi and no one HAS to like het." Because that is how we undertand and define our world. sterotypes serve a valuable function in that we are able to quickly identify situations that are similar to another and let us respond accordingly. No one has the time to approach every situation from the ground up. Can they be taken too far? Certainly, but such is the case with anything. "The world seems to be filled with a lot of people who just want to complain but not do anything about what they're complaining about." I'm not complaining about anything that needs to be taken care of. I find yaoi marginally annoying, so i bitched about it on an anonymous internet forum, what else is the net for? oh right, porn! ""Yaoi is the most irritating thing to read on the planet and het is taking a backseat to it because of all the followers!" is a common grievance. But, yet, when a lot of these people are asked if they write het themselves, they answer in the negative. When the writers who complain about it are asked if they encourage their friends to write, they answer in the negative or give an excuse such as, "I would, but I don't know any non-writers who are interested in writing" or "I can't seem to interest anyone in it." Well...I'm sorry to say, none of those problems are the yaoi fans' fault or concern. " Another gross generalization. More to the point, no one in this thread made a statement anything like this. "I realize I've become long-winded and repetative. I just don't understand what the issue is, myself." Then why do you keep going on? "If there aren't enough fics, write more...get readers-only friends to try their hand at it, encourage them to keep it up, offer gentle concrit as a new writer can easily be swayed to never write again until they can develop the leathery skin that most writers acquire with time." I do write some stories, but I prefer quality over quantity. If other writers stop after getting negative feedback, i'm not going to hold their hand while they write another chapter. "If there aren't enough topics in a forum, then encourage het fans that you know to come to the forum and talk. At the very least to participate in topics you have started." I have been. "I know that the yaoi fanbase is rather humongous, but there's no reason that the het fanbase can't become bigger than it already is. More people just simply have to participate and/or put more effort into researching the topics they write about. And if you can't find anyone within your own fanbase and simply MUST go to yaoi fans to get more, or just simply good, fanfiction...that isn't the yaoi fans' problem. We have writers in our fandoms. We have quite a lot, as you have stated already." It will get bigger once the whole yaoi thing blows over. "I'm not even going to get into the "people don't have brains" comment. And those like it. Because, that comment was obviously said by someone who was not using their brain. In my opinion. Not that they don't have one. Just that they were not engaging it at the time of the post. As are most ignorant statements." The "people don't have brains" comment was directed at MY comment about fangirls running to bukkake, my next example of them trying to push the envelope. The person responded by saying that people don't have brains b/c they don't know when to stop and once bukkake becomes mundane, all bets are off. "I will also say that I haven't seen a fic where the characters compare penis sizes. Not to say that there aren't any. Sadly, I'm sure there are. If I did happen to click a fic that had that occuring, I would immediately hit the browse button and find something less idiotic." What?! "No fandom or genre is perfect. There is no way that anyone can go into any section and find ALL the fics to be perfect. It's all personal preference." quad erat demonstrandum... "The problems in the het fandom are not the fault of the yaoi fans. That is plain and simple. I am sorry if you find yaoi to be perverse. I don't agree with you that yaoi is anymore perverse than het or yuri just simply because the fanbase is huge or even religion dictates it be so. Or just because people don't like it. I don't like smoking. I don't like drinking. Am I going to get my way if I complain about it and say that alcoholic beverages and tobacco should be completely and totally stopped from entering the United States or even being produced anywhere in the world? Not likely. But, what is likely if I tried that would be that everybody would stare at me before bursting into a raucous round of laughter." I don't find it to be perverse, i find it to be pervasive. I'm also going to need a nice glass of scotch after i finish this. "I wouldn't ask people to change just to please me and I would not presume that they're stupid just because they won't or just because their opinions and/or beliefs and practices are different from mine." I'm not asking you to change. "I'm sorry if that is offensive, but it's how I feel. And if that is not what you meant, it came off that way to me and I am sorry for misunderstanding." I'm not sorry if I come off as offensive. "But, in answer to your wondering about just WHAT is so great about yaoi. Well, I'll reiterate. I feel that it's more of an equal pairing of characters than most het characters make. And, I just plain and simply find it more satisfying to read, whether the fic has lemon or not. I don't get any enjoyment whatsoever from reading yuri. And, only very few het fics turn out to be interesting to my standards of reading. But, then again, no one can speak for ALL yaoi fans. Other than what I've stated, there is nothing special or different about yaoi in comparison to het, or even yuri. At least, nothing that I can think of. It's pretty much just preference. Just like the strictly het fans get something from het that they don't or can't get from yaoi, the same can be said for yaoi fans when it comes to het. It's preference." It's not an equal pairing and I get no enjoyment from reading yaoi. Furthermore, i get very little from yuri. I stated earlier in the thread that there wasn't an inherent difference in hetero or homosexual pairings, but you seem intent on placing one over the other. "This is just my perspective, as one of the people that was being complained about. I do have a brain and I do use it, thank you. And, I do not and have not ever cared about whether something was or was not edgy. It's why I was never popular in school and why I am not popular among most people now. I do what I want simply because I want to do it. I would like yaoi even if the trend was to hate it and it only had very few fans. I don't know about everybody else, but that is how I feel." Your self esteem issues are yours to deal with. "And contrary to what some of what I said might sound like, I did not decide to post this just because I wanted to be contrary or just because I wanted to start something. This just my two cents worth that I'm putting in here and I do apologize if I offended anybody." Yes you did, otherwise you wouldn't have gone on ad nauseum. "Especially, Zyx, as I know some of the comments came off as offensive to me and I did specifically mention them. I do not intend offense to you, just that simply I found the comments offensive to me. And I do apologize if I was unnecessarily harsh to you. You are entitled to your own opinions." I'll let Zyx comment. "And, thank you for your time if anyone chooses to read this the whole way through." You're welcome.

What is there to be discontent about? Everything you railed against is just a normal fact of life that every successive generation has dealt with. It only seems new and alarming to you b/c you haven’t seen it before. I think humanity has had a pretty decent run. Are there problems? Absolutely, but until we have genetic and behavioral conditioning that grooms people for specific life long tasks Brave New World style, there's always going to be kids who come off as "sluts and fools."