The Olive Branch Thread

[Phrossack]

I'll take advantage of the fact that Phrosso's here to apologise for being unnecessarily caustic in World History

Apology accepted. And I apologize for being testy with you.

Apologies are for mature individuals who recognize that they may have made a mistake or misjudged, and have the honesty and integrity to own up to it.

Agreed. It's also good for making peace and moving on. We can't all be at each others' throats forever.

 

[choxorn]

You realize he was not being entirely serious, right?

Also, what's with the polar bear?

 

[Zack]

Apologies are for mature individuals who recognize that they may have made a mistake or misjudged, and have the honesty and integrity to own up to it.

You responded with a similarly condescending response when I made a similarly sarcastic post earlier in the thread. Please apologize.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Also, what's with the polar bear?

Next season it will be explained.
Honest.

 

[Glassfan]

I apologize to no one because (a) I'm not a sissy, and (b) this isn't a chick flick...

I stand by my earlier post. Apologies are for the weak. I stand by everything I've ever said,...

You responded with a similarly condescending response when I made a similarly sarcastic post earlier in the thread. Please apologize.

OK, I apologize.

Perhaps my problem is that I believe sarcasm is generally inconsistent with an "Olive Branch" thread - were sincerity is the appropriate style - and that your brand of sarcasm so closely resembles that practiced by trolls on this and other Forums. They blatantly make insulting remarks and then cover it with, "just kidding".

Sorry again if I just don't get you.

 

[Gary Childress]

I don't know if this strictly counts as an olive branch as I don't think there is any "bad blood" between us to my knowledge, but I would like to extend my respects to Reindeer Thistle. I still have some reservations or doubts about what appear to be your sympathetic interpretations of North Korea but you have stirred some very profound reflections in me toward politics and what I thought I knew and what I really didn't. Also Cheezy and Traitorfish have likewise given me a lot of food for thought. Again I don't always see things perfectly eye to eye but the "reds" have really caused me to pause and think and reflect a lot more about society and the world around me. In a sense you have made it very inconvenient for me to remain ignorant.

 

[Zack]

OK, I apologize.

Perhaps my problem is that I believe sarcasm is generally inconsistent with an "Olive Branch" thread - were sincerity is the appropriate style - and that your brand of sarcasm so closely resembles that practiced by trolls on this and other Forums. They blatantly make insulting remarks and then cover it with, "just kidding".

Sorry again if I just don't get you.

"I apologize, but..." doesn't count. Practice what you preach from your lofty heights of self-righteousness.

 

[Glassfan]

One cannot demand a sincere apology, it's got to be freely given. I think your sarcasm is inappropriate on this thread and said so. And I really don't understand why you think it is.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Yeah, I'm with Glassfan in thinking it's a cool thing that this site has this thread, and that we should try to keep posts in it as earnest apologies. Most of the other threads have a good deal of scope for sarcasm, snarkiness, tongue-in-cheek deadpan (if that's what "I stand by everything I ever said . . ." is). Conversations on this site often get heated, and in the heat of the moment, people say more offensive things than they wish they had. This thread is a nice place to try to repair relations. So "hear, hear" for keeping this thread a place for actually offering apologizes, not vaunting that one never will.

 

[Zack]

One cannot demand a sincere apology, it's got to be freely given. I think your sarcasm is inappropriate on this thread and said so. And I really don't understand why you think it is.

God, you're so damn self-righteous and condescending. I apologize for not being a true gentleman and having such an obviously inferior intellect and moral compass, that I cannot truly "understand" the mysterious ways of the holy sanctity of a thread full of insincere apologies and sanctimonious auto-fellatio.

This is why I hate OT. Everyone is so damn smug. If I hear one more person so some stupid crap about how "CFC is so much more better and smarter than the rest of the internet," my head will explode. We at CFC are not some gentlemanly, intellectual upper-crust of internet society.

EDIT: and please spare me the "sarcasm is inappropriate in this thread" line, because your 'apology' was a sarcastic, thinly veiled insult. So take your platitudes and shove them up your ass.

Moderator Action: No need for that last bit. The rest of the post is not really in the spirit of the thread either.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

15 pages isn't bad.

I was way more pessimistic at the start of this thread.

 

[Zack]

Point being, if you really feel the need to apologize, do it in private. A public demonstration is unnecessary and self-serving. Come, everyone, far and wide - look at how magnanimous I am. It's the equivalent of posting your apology as a Facebook status instead of talking to the damn person.

 

[metatron]

If I hear one more person so some stupid crap about how "CFC is so much more better and smarter than the rest of the internet," my head will explode.

CFC is so much more better and smarter than the rest of the internet

I stand by my earlier post. Apologies are for the weak. I stand by everything I've ever said, even if it was idiotic and I disagree with it in hindsight.

Well...

 

[Gary Childress]

God, you're so damn self-righteous and condescending. I apologize for not being a true gentleman and having such an obviously inferior intellect and moral compass, that I cannot truly "understand" the mysterious ways of the holy sanctity of a thread full of insincere apologies and sanctimonious auto-fellatio.

This is why I hate OT. Everyone is so damn smug. If I hear one more person so some stupid crap about how "CFC is so much more better and smarter than the rest of the internet," my head will explode. We at CFC are not some gentlemanly, intellectual upper-crust of internet society.

EDIT: and please spare me the "sarcasm is inappropriate in this thread" line, because your 'apology' was a sarcastic, thinly veiled insult. So take your platitudes and shove them up your ass.

Hi Zack,

I'm sort of coming in on the tail end of whatever is between you and Glassfan but I get the impression that you are very upset about something and feel that Glassfan owes you an apology. I also get the impression that Glassfan doesn't feel quite the same way about the incident or whatever as you do.

Maybe it isn't really my business but may I ask what exactly the circumstances are which have led up to this point? Perhaps I can help you in some way. I mean I hate to see you turn away from CFC or feel like this isn't a place where you can enjoy the interaction too. We all have many different life experiences and backgrounds and obviously sometimes there is friction and we don't always understand why others do what they do. As they say, I wish I had a dime for all the times I've been wrong about something and slow to admit it.

 

[peter grimes]

Perhaps this thread would be better served under RD standards?

 

[metatron]

Slovenia has an HDI of .892, tied with Finland, ranks 8th in the world in gender equality right between Germany and France (US #43), has a Gini index of 23.8 (lower than Norway), virtually 100% literacy, a murder rate of 0.7, great food, culture, people etc. etc. and their cable news don't cause ulcers.

And the capital looks like this:

Spoiler :

These are widely know facts, not secrets.

So on behalf of CFC i would like to apologise to Slovenia on account of comments made by other posters.

 

[Zack]

Hi Zack,

I'm sort of coming in on the tail end of whatever is between you and Glassfan but I get the impression that you are very upset about something and feel that Glassfan owes you an apology. I also get the impression that Glassfan doesn't feel quite the same way about the incident or whatever as you do.

Maybe it isn't really my business but may I ask what exactly the circumstances are which have led up to this point? Perhaps I can help you in some way. I mean I hate to see you turn away from CFC or feel like this isn't a place where you can enjoy the interaction too. We all have many different life experiences and backgrounds and obviously sometimes there is friction and we don't always understand why others do what they do. As they say, I wish I had a dime for all the times I've been wrong about something and slow to admit it.

I don't want an apology. Those serve to please the giver more than the receiver, anyways. I am annoyed by the sheer self-righteousness oozing from every post. The "I'm so much better, so much more sophisticated, so much more mature than you" vibe dripping from every word. And then his "apology" is disgustingly hypocritical. It's repulsively condescending in a smug, self-satisfying way.

 

[Quackers]

The Glassfan-Zack interaction is quite interesting. In House of Cards, Frank says that humility is their form of pride (southen people), and that if you can humble yourself before them they will do anything they ask.
Tbh, I think I agree with Zacks' post where he stated he stands by everything he ever said. Yet, Glassfan has expressed some quite reasonable objections.

 

[Gary Childress]

I don't want an apology. Those serve to please the giver more than the receiver, anyways.

Hi Zack,

Referring to the bolded part, doesn't that sort of depend upon how the apology is delivered and what is being apologized for? In my, albeit limited, experience there are different ways of apologizing. One way is to perhaps feel shame and feel the need to beg for forgiveness. That seems like something a person might do if they committed a serious crime against someone.

On the lighter side an apology might be simply the recognition that you are right and I am wrong but I'm not going to "grovel" over it because it isn't that serious. That would seem to me like the kind of apology one might often deliver in a debate over ideas and opinions. I usually feel good when someone apologizes like that to me because they are admitting human fallibility and basically giving me the self satisfaction of being able to feel like I was right about a matter (something that doesn't happen to me very often).

I am annoyed by the sheer self-righteousness oozing from every post. The "I'm so much better, so much more sophisticated, so much more mature than you" vibe dripping from every word. And then his "apology" is disgustingly hypocritical. It's repulsively condescending in a smug, self-satisfying way.

I've encountered a lot of different attitudes and views on the Internet since I first got on back in 1995. I remember one guy who I really thought was an elitist snob. He sort of treated me the same way as you're describing here. I eventually capitulated and admitted that he was indeed better educated and better mannered than I was at the time (simply a statement of objective fact...he was...). We became friends after that. We even exchanged some music CDs via international mail (He lived in the UK). I don't really keep in contact with him anymore, just sort of drifted in our own directions. However, I feel my life is much richer now for having met him. I still think he is a great guy and still a hell of a lot better educated and mannered than I am.

Anyway, I hope you will continue to visit CFC and not think of all of us as arrogant snobs. I've always been of the impression that there are many different people here from many different parts of the world and walks of life. And I do think that CFC is better moderated than many other sites I have visited. I used to visit usenet newsgroups a lot "back in the day" but there was no moderation there and just about everything eventually deteriorated into spam posts and people yelling and each other and no one learning anything from each other.

Best regards,

 

[civver_764]

Point being, if you really feel the need to apologize, do it in private. A public demonstration is unnecessary and self-serving. Come, everyone, far and wide - look at how magnanimous I am. It's the equivalent of posting your apology as a Facebook status instead of talking to the damn person.

You're hating pretty hard on something that was meant to be positive.