"The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore
>> If the only friends you can find are the ones that force you to use these things, I'd suggest you move on, because these are not real friends. I'd rather have no friends than a lot of fake friends. But luckily where I live, there are enough reasonable people.
That's also something that doesn't cross your mind. You're quoting what your parents told you. What your teachers taught you. It's the purest and simplest view into an uneducated outlook on society. Nobody's perfect, which is also taught to us. To quote MacBeth: "Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate, and furious, loyal and neutral in a moment? No man". Do you have any friends who might be somewhat ... against the grain? If so, by your purist views, dump them. Don't associate with them. It mightn't even be something as simple as:
That OK was OKed for the sake of fitting in. I'm sure Maxorator would have accepted a no just fine. Peer pressure doesn't require pressure.Maxorator: Hey, twomers. Wanna smoke.
twomers: OK
>> What's your point?
It's just as bad. They're trying to force their lifestyle on others.
>> I know several ex-smokers, and they all say quitting was well worth the suffering.
That's the beauty of hindsight.
One thing a friend would never do - offer me alcohol or tobacco knowing that I'm against it. Personally, all good friends I have share my views. But if I would have a friend who doesn't, I'd expect him to never offer me tobacco, never invite me to somewhere where it will certainly be used, never use it when with me and never talk about it or try to convince me otherwise.
"The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore
I take it you don't have many friends then.
But seriously, by that standard everyone falls short. What age are you, Max?
Last edited by twomers; 06-15-2008 at 02:29 PM.
I've had friends offer me substances I don't cotton to and was able to handle it like I responsible adult; paraphrasing, "That's not for me, thanks." No animosity, simple preference. A respected stance is respected. Disrespecting my opinion is disrespectful. Give and take. C'est la vie.
7. It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
40. There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.*
hehe this is some kind of cliche topic, which exists on every board
I have been smoking for about two years, but I stopped on November 9, 2006.
It became too expensive and I was sick of always having no money left. Now I still have no money because I spend it on other stuff ;D
I try to maintain friendships with a diverse set of people. Some of these people are going to do things I don't want to do and vice versa. I'm a grown man -- if I don't want to do something, I'm not going to do it. If a "friend" repeatedly pressures me to do something I've clearly expressed my distaste for, then this person is clearly still a child. I don't hang out with children. This really doesn't happen that often. Children (and this has nothing to do with age) can usually be recognized in the first 15 seconds.
On the other hand, my friends have the same right to independence as I do. If they want to do something and I don't want to be around it, a silent consensus will be reached. Either I'll go somewhere else for a while, or they will. If "Activity X" is so important to them that we can never be around each other, then maybe that friendship is not worth keeping.
As far as "never talking about it," what does that even mean? Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "La la la, I can't hear you" doesn't seem productive. Either you trust yourself or you don't.
Last edited by brewbuck; 06-21-2008 at 08:53 PM.