All, a while back, I posted a very tongue-in-cheek comment on another forum about a rather strange signature line. If you frequent the other site, some of you will recognise it, but if you don’t, I’m not going to stir things up more by pointing it out.
Anyhow, after an absence of a few weeks from the VERY long and extended topic, I looked at it again today to bring myself up to date, and to my surprise, I had not only a public lesson on MY attitude, but a couple of PMs about my comment from the ‘injured party’.
To sum it up, he had taken the time and trouble to do some research among his many supporters, well-wishers, sympathisers and fellow-travellers to establish that I have, in their opinion, an argumentative personality amounting to an obsessional lack of open-mindedness about signature by-lines and homosexuality…
He first of all went public on the forum, and posted me a lesson in life and how it is seen from the ‘other side of the track’ -
'Now tac, pay close attention because this is the last time I am writing about this in the XXXXXXXXX forum… I have a signature, like most people on here. There are no guidelines as to what it is supposed to be about. I do not have my layout complete, nor do I have a name for it. To fill in the gap I thought I would put in something positive and this came to mind. I am not the only person with a signature that does not pertain to trains but you found it necessary to let me know how you feel about it. I respect you for standing up for your beliefs. However, people are reading this forum because they love the XXXXXXXXX as most of us do. They do not want to waste their time with drama about you thinking I am trying to start a “Gay rights to run model trains issue” and me arguing back with you. I have had many compliments on my signature and I really appreciate the support. But naturally, there are always those who disagree.
We can’t all have the same ideas or humanity couldn’t learn the hardest lesson in life which is to put aside our differences and get along. Now, having said that, my idea is for you to seal this up in the XXXXXXXXXXX forum and carry it over to the public forum. This way we can debate this issue on a thread where people can choose to read it or not to read it. Know in advance that I am not going to fight about it. I will be calm, collected, rational, and civil no matter how angry the responces I get. That’s my way. I am only human, and those who disagree with me are only human. And because of civil rights we both have the right to disagree with what the other one says. I am happy to stand up for what I believe and I think it is good that others feel the same way. Again, I won’t address this issue again in this forum, please let’s take it where it belongs.
Thanks a bunch,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
I responded, but by PM -
Dear Mr XXXXX - thank you for your explanatory post about your signature line. You have, sadly, chosen to take my post about ‘gay train fans’ the wrong way, hardly surprising given the different points of view and humour that we have over here from wherever it is that you live.
Here in UK the responses to your post would have drawn hoots of laffin’ and numerous ribald and unsavory remarks, rather than a lecture on the moral issues of serving military personnel and their take on sexuality.
Like it or not, your signature line is taken as a indication of your persona, and over here in Europe model trains and homosexuality do not normally find themselves on the same page.
It’s a bit like posting about religion on a train forum - many of us feel very uncomfortable with such personally-held views. I’m no different in that respect. Certainly, if I signed myself off as ‘The reform Jewish Kosher Heterosexual Railroader’, no doubt THAT would raise a few eyebrows, but not as many as ‘The Gay Railroader’.
I promise I won’t have any further input into your posts, but on a personal note, you have to understand that I find homosexuality and reference to it, however well-meaning it might be, totally out of place on a model train forum.
tac’
His response to that was a PM -
'Tac, Thanks for all that insight into the differences between U.K. and North American culture. It’s kind of interesting seeing myself through the eyes of not only you, but everyone from the U.K. as you seem to be speaking for everyone over there and judging them by your own standards of ‘humour’. Like it or not, your response to my signature line is taken as an indication of your persona, and over here in North America yada yada yada… I’m not going to judge all American people as we are all different. Now, I’ve been told by many people on here that you have an argumentative personality and to just avoid you, but I can accept that you are only human. You and I could debate this issue for a century and never get anywhere. I don’t see the need in that. Instead, we can focus on what you and I do have in common, we are both fuggin crazy about trains. Once again, there are several different signatures on this forum that have religious beliefs, political opinions, and the likes. Some on the same exact forum where you brought this up. None of those signatures got a scolding from you on any level, which makes it pretty obvious that you have personal problems with a certain issue. Let me put things into a different perspective for you… People as a whole have a tendency to place larger demands on others than they do themselves. It is for this reason that people say they think that all gays should stop flaunting their sexuality everywhere and then proudly display pictures of spouses, kids, grandkids, and wedding rings. I’m not sure how many Heterosexual people find themselves making friends and then loosing them when the friend finds out that they are straight. After that happens a few times, perhaps the heterosexual would find it easier to let people know that they are heterosexual up front so that they don’t pursue a friendship only to have it end when their personal information is revealed. Has that ever happened to you? You don’t have to tell people that you are heterosexual because 90% of the world is. It’s easy to take for granted the ease of life when you are pretty average. Put yourself in the shoes of others sometime. Things are much different on the inside than they appear on the outside. Being that over a month has elapsed since that forum post, I’m pretty surprised that you pursued it this far. Homosexuality must be an issue that you feel pretty strongly against. I’m sorry you feel that way but you are the only person who has expressed disagreement with my signature. I’ve had most people saying positive things about it, including folks from the U.K. You know my signature is there, so just skip over it when reading my posts, that’s all I can really suggest.
Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXX
To set the matter straight, from THIS boy’s POV, I have just sent back my final response to his PMs, and hope that will be the last of it. Somehow I doubt it, as my Irish/Jewish/military personality enjoys a good verbal fight, as well as a good physical one.
Here 'tis…
Dear Mr XXXXXXXXX - thank you again for your letter, and for taking the trouble to write it. I have read it again to make sure what you actually wrote in it, and I agree, I DO have an argumentative personality, probably from being a soldier for almost 34 years, and both Irish and Jewish all my life. The fact that you seem to have taken advice from a lot of people about my persona would concern me, if I actually gave a hoot about what they thought.
Suffice it to say that I spend about 1/3 of my life over in Canada or the USA, where I have my family and friends, and another 1/3 in Tokyo, where I actually work - the rest is taken up working over here in UK with a little bit of time for trains, but very little time to engage in the rights and wrongs of publicising sexual preferences on a model train forum, hence my tardiness in responding to your month-old post.
So much for what we have in common.
As for homosexuals and their place in life’s rich pattern, nope, never had any experience there, good or bad, except that I never came across one in all my military service - during my time in the British Army they were considered to be a security risk, although I understand that your armed forces have no such qualms. Never had any dealings with homosexuals outside the military life either. However, I still hold that my opinion is as valid as yours, and that flaunting sexual sympathies or orientation by using a gay by-line on a toy train forum is out of line, so to speak.
I’m glad that you have found a lot of support from the forum from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with messages of sympathy for your stance and your by-line, and slander with regard to my disruptive personality. Fortunately, I don’t take things so seriously, hence my [to me] humorous reference to ‘gay rights train fans’ on the XXX XXX thread.
From my point of view, I wouldn’t have thought that my original comments would have been worth more than a passing glance, even a snigger, let alone initiating a poll of mass support as you seem to have done about that SOB tac.
Now, haviing established that I’m a thoroughly nasty piece of work, a homophobe, maybe a xenophobe, certainly an argumentative and opinionated bigot and who knows what else, let’s move on from here in good heart.
I’ll ignore you, as you suggest.
Best wishes
tac’
There ya go.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
