Offensive?

[TheMoissaniteLady.com]

There is another board that I visit only to see what other customers are saying about me (all good things so far).

Anyway, last year I got suspended for putting my trademark fish behind my name. Appearantly that is too offenisve for these admins to this board. So after that, I pretty much stay away from that board unless someone tells me that a thread has been started about my jewelry, then I peak in.

Today I got a message that when I put "blessings" in my last post (someone was asking about me), it is offensive and if I say it again, I will be suspended, probably for good. Personally, I feel that they don't want me even mentioned on their board because they have their set "dealers" and don't want any one else on there....Anyway....

I know most of you are men, and don't take things so personal like women do...but how ridiculous is that??????

Is it offensive for me to end my postings with "Many Blessings, Barbara<><" ???? Would that just be considererd being friendly, or does it seem that I am forcing my Faith upon whoever reads the postings?????

Thanks for your opinions and MANY BLESSINGS! Barbara<><

[jonthebhoy]

I can't speak for other boards but I for one do not find your "Blessings" offensive in any way, shape or form.

Blessings right back at you BTW.

JTB

[gioarmani]

It's absolutely not offensive.

I'm an agnostic and consider myself to be quite liberal and open-minded & can't stand the preachy, in-your-face, my-way-or-the-hell-way types, but even if some find it offensive, I say tough [censored]. It's freedom of expression, and regardless of geography, it's your human right. It bewilders me in America, for instance, that neo-Nazi mouthbreathers and the KKK are allowed to march & shout because of their "freedom of speech" but the same people that allow them to do this are the same people that will yank down a simple nativity scene, or sculpture of the ten commandments. Amazing.

I say you should feel free to post what you like.

[TheMoissaniteLady.com]

I appreciate that! I just don't get it really. I have been told on several occastions that I should start my own board for jewelry (which would have to be more like Replica Diamonds since that is really what I sell anyway) because of how badly this other jewelry board has treated people in the past.

How about the Admins here put a section for me to be able to discuss Replica Diamond Jewelry or even Diamond/Gemstone jewelry....Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Anyway, thanks for the post and the support!

Lots of blessings to you all!

Barbara<><

[Pugwash]

the same people that allow them to do this are the same people that will yank down a simple nativity scene, or sculpture of the ten commandments.

While I agree with your point entirely, I have to pull you up on this bit.

Where are people tearing down nativity scenes?

And wasn't the ten commandments removed because it was in a courthouse where the ten commandments contradict the law?

[cortopar]

"Contradict the law..."

Forget for a moment that there's a raging cultural battle going on right now, and forget you know anything about any of these debates.

It's obvious to any casual observer that the US justice system/laws (as well as much of the Western world) has it's roots in the Judeo-Christian ethic that our founders shared (whether they were explicitly religious or not).

Try to look at it objectively, and explain how a natural reading of:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Is violated by having a plaque of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse? Is the plaque making a law establishing a religion? Is the plaque preventing a Jew, Muslim, Wiccan or whatever from worshipping/exercising their religion?

The whole "debate" is overblown in my opinion.

[Pugwash]

It's obvious to any casual observer that the US justice system/laws (as well as much of the Western world) has it's roots in the Judeo-Christian ethic that our founders shared (whether they were explicitly religious or not).

Sure, but "Honour your Father and your Mother"? How can someone under oath do that while providing evidence against an abusive parent?

The Ten Commandments have no place in a courtroom.

We don't need to get into this debate here, to be honest.

[rdorman]

Not so much the word... more in the way the reader takes its meaning:

Main Entry: bless·ing

Function: noun

1 a : the act or words of one that blesses b : APPROVAL, ENCOURAGEMENT

2 : a thing conducive to happiness or welfare

3 : grace said at a meal

In the business world, I don't mix faith in my work. If the meaning more 1b or 2, then you did not either. Personally, I some times get annoyed when some one goes way over board goes overboard shoving their beleifs down my throat. I don't think your comment comes even close to that. Usually when some one says something like that to me, I just say 'thank you'. Regardless of the speakers, or in this case writers, religion, for them it shows caring for the listener(reader) so the correct response is to be grateful.

[gioarmani]

The nativity scene was permanently yanked from the White House lawn a few years back, and even Christmas trees are being pulled from publicly funded museums this year.

I agree with you on the Ten Commandments--and that this is not the appropriate thread for that argument--but I think the presence of the sculpture was more symbolic (in the sense of simply being one of the--supposedly--first recorded set of "laws") in a courtroom, rather than literal. Other than obvious religious preference I don't think, speaking symbolically, it would have made a difference if they did the Folgers switch with Hammurabi's Code. Of course, you always have the non-thinking ultra-conservative types trying to misinterpret it as being fundamentally correct.

[hk45ca]

There is another board that I visit only to see what other customers are saying about me (all good things so far).

Anyway, last year I got suspended for putting my trademark fish behind my name. Appearantly that is too offenisve for these admins to this board. So after that, I pretty much stay away from that board unless someone tells me that a thread has been started about my jewelry, then I peak in.

Today I got a message that when I put "blessings" in my last post (someone was asking about me), it is offensive and if I say it again, I will be suspended, probably for good. Personally, I feel that they don't want me even mentioned on their board because they have their set "dealers" and don't want any one else on there....Anyway....

I know most of you are men, and don't take things so personal like women do...but how ridiculous is that??????

Is it offensive for me to end my postings with "Many Blessings, Barbara<><" ???? Would that just be considererd being friendly, or does it seem that I am forcing my Faith upon whoever reads the postings?????

Thanks for your opinions and MANY BLESSINGS! Barbara<><

barbra, at my house we say grace and we say ahmen. i don't go to church but i will tell you right now you can give me your blessings anytime you want.

i find that being pc and having to worry about not offending anybody is a double edged knife. if you have to respect their feeling they have to respect yours. it is a two way street. as far as i am concerned you have the right to bless people if you want and if they don't like it they do not have to accept.

bless you barbra

[Pugwash]

i find that being pc and having to worry about not offending anybody is a double edged knife. if you have to respect their feeling they have to respect yours. it is a two way street. as far as i am concerned you have the right to bless people if you want and if they don't like it they do not have to accept.

To a point. I think you'd agree that my rights to swing my fists around ends just in front of your nose, for instance.

I don't object to being blessed by people, but it's like the old saying goes: "Whenever someone starts to talk to you about God, keep your hand on your wallet."

[ryyannon]

I don't object to being blessed by people, but it's like the old saying goes: "Whenever someone starts to talk to you about God, keep your hand on your wallet."

Not to mention Replica Watches.

[Epanoui]

Not to mention Replica Watches.

haha!

[ahchard]

not offensive at all in any way...

[Bansenshukai]

Not offensive. By the way ... Merry Christmas to all of you and may God Bless you all and keep you safe.

(That's right ... I said it! - well, wrote it!)

[fotoman]

The nativity scene was permanently yanked from the White House lawn a few years back, and even Christmas trees are being pulled from publicly funded museums this year.

I agree with you on the Ten Commandments--and that this is not the appropriate thread for that argument--but I think the presence of the sculpture was more symbolic (in the sense of simply being one of the--supposedly--first recorded set of "laws") in a courtroom, rather than literal. Other than obvious religious preference I don't think, speaking symbolically, it would have made a difference if they did the Folgers switch with Hammurabi's Code. Of course, you always have the non-thinking ultra-conservative types trying to misinterpret it as being fundamentally correct.

moissante - not offensive - nor would it be offensive to put Jesus loves you - it may be offensive to put - Jesus thinks all of you people are sinners, non believers and will burn in hell for eternity now die son's o bitches - that could be offensive

Gio - we can have a longer discussion on this topic when we have our eventual get together- i happen to be well versed on the topic.

1. Not all speech is protected equally

2. Religious speech is free speech in fact it is one of the most protected speech there is in america. (other is political speech)

3. Private persons with nativity scenes are fine.

4. Using public dollars to promote religion or show preference to one over another or appear to have a government "establishment" of religion is where the problem is.

If you read what happened in the 10 commandments case in alabama you would know that guy is a religious nut (makes all his money touring around and talking to them) now and was doing it in order to instill the "judeo christian" belief system over any other.

it is important that OF ALL PLACES a courthouse that "Gods" law is not supreme to the USA's law. Public courts are there to enforce public laws not "Gods" laws.

The nativity scene people don't do it because htye need to. Plenty of lawn scenes everywhere, they do it because they want nto promote and spread their religion, its one over another, its using public doallars and lands to do it and its establishing a preference for a particular religious sect - exactly whta the framers tried to stop.

There are plenty of places to display religious themes other than gov't buildings.

first lets say you thought the ten commandments were the basis of american law (a bunch of bs) or you thought they were a good idea and wanted to display them.

1. - Which commandments exactly are US laws ment to enforce?

and 2. which version do you want to use?

for reference see below - sorry for hijacking the thread

Catholic

1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. (not legally enforcable)

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (not legally enforcable)

3. Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day. (not legally enforcable)

4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother. (not legally enforcable)

5. Thou shalt not kill. (only in some circumstances - i.e. self defense)

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery. (not legally enforcable)

7. Thou shalt not steal. - (pretty close)

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (only enforcable in court or under some sort of oath, otherwise you can say any crap you want about your neighbor)

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. (not legally enforcable)

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods. (assuming this is not stealing cause its duplicative - isn't this what the entire advertising industry is based on?)

Catholic Catechism by Peter Cardinal Gasparri, "published with Ecclesiastical approval" and bearing the imprimatur of Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop, New York. P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1932.

now lets view others

Protestant

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

King James Bible, issued by the American Bible Society.

Hebrew

1. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

2. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath in honour of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother; in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Bloch Publishing Company, New York, 1922.

You should also note according to the old testiment failure to keep the sabbath is punishable by death.

and just for fun please see this funny colbert report video of an interview with an A hole candidate who believes that the ten commandments should be potsed and doesn't know what the hell they are

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/in...?ml_video=70809

[swdivad]

It amazes me that people could actually take offense to this kind gesture... No wonder there is war...

Bless you all (am I qualified to do this?)... especially this holiday season and also whenever you sneeze.

Also, good luck & godspeed in the New Year!!

[TheMoissaniteLady.com]

You guys are great! I think its when you get a bunch of women together, all hell will break loose! Anyway, the admins on the other board have edited my posts and removed my "Many blessings" from them.

Just for fun...here are the PM's I have received:

Barbara,

After several warnings, you continue to push regarding board religion/Christianity rules. On 8/16/05, I personally warned you about the fish symbol, so now you've changed it to the word 'fish':

From 8/19: ...Just my humble opinion...6ct is HUGE!!!

Blessings!

Barbara-fish

And yet again:

From 8/29: ...It won't be long now...and you'll look back and think how it all flew by in a blink of an eye!!!

Blessings!

Barbara-fish

Your insistence on splitting hairs regarding the rules has earned you a 3 day suspension commencing on receipt of this PM.

Cyn

Hi Barbara ~

Just a reminder to let you know that ending each post with "blessings" contravenes the BTD guidelines.

I know you have been contacted about this in the past, so I am giving you the opportunity to abide by the BTD guidelines. If you continue to post "blessings" I will suspend your account indefinitely.

Thanks for understanding and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season!

Cheers ~

Gai

The fish thing....they would not let me put my fish (Barbara<><) behind my name....so I thought I would be cute and spell out f-i-s-h...but they suspended me because of that.

Its just too much drama if you ask me! If they think I'm big trouble...let them get a load of TTK!!! Don't hurt me Neil...that was just a friendly joke!

Big hugs and lots of blessings sent out to you all!

Barbara<><

[ahchard]

I don't get it... whats wrong with the fish?? Are these ppl on the board vegetarians or something?

not that there is anything wrong with being a vegetarian.... lol...

[Pugwash]

I don't get it... whats wrong with the fish??

You're joking, right?

[Pugwash]

The fish thing....they would not let me put my fish (Barbara<><) behind my name....so I thought I would be cute and spell out f-i-s-h...but they suspended me because of that.

Ah, I get it now.

"After several warnings, you continue to push regarding board religion/Christianity rules."

No, they suspended you because you didn't comply to the requests of the board admin and you tried to be clever. That's not on. They weren't offended by your use of the term "Blessings", they were annoyed by your repeated attempts at subversion and blatant disrespect of their rules. I wouldn't go round advertising this, if I were you.

Remember, your right to freedom of speech and expression ends at your keyboard. You enter someone's forum, you play by their rules.

(For anyone that doesn't understand the US Freedom of speech thing, it's a freedom of speech without government interference, not a carte blanche to spout either religious, fascist or hate messages or to convince someone else to commit murder.)

[TheMoissaniteLady.com]

Pugwash, you are right. I was trying to be cute by typing out fish. But come on...other members were doing the fish too...but a fancier than mine...and they were not being banned or suspended.

This was a playground bullying thing with me. This particular board supported the sale of THEIR merchandise of CZ's....and they didn't want someone like me who knows way more about CZ's than their customers/board members to bust their bubble.

I could care less about their cz's...shoot, I'll offer to give cz's away if someone wants one bad enough. The stamp can cost more than the cz...but you have these people selling it for hundreds of dollars, so they did not want me to blow their cover.

They are just bullying me to keep me off their board. Like I said before, I only get on there to see what is being said about me. And luckily, so far, everything has been good. Its the PM's from the admins that are bothersome.

Many blessings to you all and have a great weekend with your families!!!

Barbara<><

[Pugwash]

They are just bullying me to keep me off their board. Like I said before, I only get on there to see what is being said about me. And luckily, so far, everything has been good. Its the PM's from the admins that are bothersome.

Yes, but you let them do it. If you'd have swallowed your pride and not played it all cute, you'd still be there. Key words: repeated warnings.

It's up to you to decide if it was worth it, however. I understand standing up for principles, but I also understand when they cost me money. You made your choice and I'm sure you're ok with it - I support your taking a stance.

However, you can't go around saying that you were banned for saying "blessings" when that's plainly not what happened. That falls under that whole false witness thing your lot is supposed to rate 9th on the big list.

[Pugwash]

ps. Barbara, if your intention was to remind people that you exist in time for Xmas, congratulations. It's worked, you're getting more clicks.

[TheMoissaniteLady.com]

I have to disagree with you, the warnings were about my fish. Then it was about Blessings. Then it will be about my ID, and so on and so forth.

That was all I was disgusted about. Anyone who knows me knows....I never leave an email or post without "Blessings" or my fish. Its just who I am.

On that board, I will never say anything right with them. Its just funny that its a completely different feel here and at TRC....its the censorship that I have a problem with really.

I can understand some things needing to be controlled, but I just can't comprehend being suspended over "blessings". No matter what their rules say.

Lots of Blessings! B<><