Do you miss a good discussion?

'Archaeologists using artificial intelligence (AI) have discovered hundreds of new geoglyphs depicting parrots, cats, monkeys, killer whales and even decapitated heads near the Nazca Lines in Peru, in a find that nearly doubles the number of known figures at the enigmatic 2,000-year-old archaeological site.

A team from the Japanese University of Yamagata’s Nazca Institute, in collaboration with IBM Research, discovered 303 previously unknown geoglyphs of humans and animals – all smaller in size than the vast geometric patterns that date from AD200-700 and stretch across more than 400 sq km of the Nazca plateau.'

www.theguardian.com/.../nazca-lines-peru-new-geoglyphs

I did look at that link FM, thanks, it looks like it will be an intereting study

Thread on Anglo Saxon . Not sure whether you'll be able to see it.

genarchivist.com/showthread.php

You didn't upset me Cat, I was just a little puzzled by your OP, but I understand now.

If people have strong views I believe that challenging them with a different view will not change theirs, and as I find it difficult to control my emotions I find arguments upsetting. But I know that some people enjoy a good old "heated debate". We're all different. I know you have an interest in politics, but that's something I stopped talking to others about years ago. Life's too short to be spending it in conflict, in my opinion, but if yours is different I respect that. As I heard someone once say: "You do you, and I'll do me". 

Debbie I just read one of the threads you mentioned and if I'd of been around at the time then I owuld of responded and agreed with much of what you say and challenged many of the ideas I didn't.

Pixie, I do try and respect the views of others, and agree that there should be many topics that are not contravercial, but I've come to the conclusion that there's no such thing and what ever one posts about there will be somebody who takes offence. I do think there are some people who are a sense of offence looking for somewhere to happen, I've seen it numerous times online and in fleshyland, amoung people of all different backgrounds, neurologies and any other conditions anyone could mention. As I said to Debbie, obviously there are some thnings that will trigger others, but the otherside of being aware of that is treading constantly on eggshells and being afraid to say anything. Not being able to see facial expressions and body language are problems when interacting with people remotely, although I'm sure there are many here who don't feel confident in thier ability to read those expressions.

I wasn't tryiing to start a discussion on the Anglo-Saxons, but maybe I will now thanks to your suggestion, I was using them as an example.

I think everyone gets upset when an enjoyable thread suddenly becomes a battle ground, I think as autists our instinct maybe to duck back behind the parapet, but there are times when that becomes less possible or desirable. One of the reasons it becomes undesirable is because others take silence as agreement and this 'silent majority' become a political football for those with frequently undesirable viewpoints to use as a shield in thier attempts to other various groups of people.

I'm sorry if I upset anyone, my OP was probably not the best thought out post I've ever made, and upsetting people was never my intention.

I don't miss the sort of discussion that's happened on here. It seems that every couple of months this sort of thing happens, and it rather upsets me.

Cat woman - I am not blaming you - I was a little confused by your original post to be honest, as I wasn't sure why you would mention challenging viewpoints when you seemed to wish to start a discussion about Anglo Saxons. Did you think that this would cause controversy? I can't see it myself, but I'm possibly a bit naive - however I would be interested in the subject. Perhaps you could start a new thread just called "Discussion on Anglo Saxons" and start it by telling us what you learned?

(Thank you for the compliment about my discussion thread on AI by the way. Thankfully that didn't seem to cause any problems.)

When we are posting on here, we need to keep in mind that it's difficult online to convey meaning, without any facial expression or tone of voice, and people may misinterpret or be offended by something you did not intend to offend with. I have done this myself in the past, and apologised, as a couple of people were upset because they viewed my post as "othering" or offensive to neurotypical people. It wasn't my intention, but I could see how that happened. Here's a link to the thread if you want to read it:

community.autism.org.uk/.../neurotypical-disorder---a-comparison-between-autistic-nt-minds

There are posts on this thread which could be interpreted as dismissing other people's views, or making them feel like their different view is not valid, even if that was not the intention.

I have a good friend who I hold opposite views with on a couple of subjects - we just dont talk about them. instead of trying to change the other's view or belittling it, we accept that we can each hold different views while still respecting each other, and leave it there. Plenty more to talk about that isn't controversial.

I'm not saying anyone deliberately tried to upset anyone here, I'm just saying that we need to be very respectful of other peoples ideas and views, to prevent people keeping leaving the forum. After all, when it's good, it's great. 

I have noticed that a lot of people who bang on about freedom of speech don't seem to like having their view of the world challenged.

As you say.  Serious discussion is best avoided on here.  We're better off focusing on our commonalities rather than any disagreements.

Golly what a can of worms I opened here! I didn't even think anyone would bother answering and the thread would disapear into the unread ether.

The Anglo-Saxons I'm talking about are from at least 1500 years ago, not current ideological iterations on who deserves to live where and how.

So lots of people would like to be able to discuss things more freely, but are afraid to because of the people who are a sense of offence looking for somewhere to happen? Some people do want to just float along and never have a controvercy violate thier brains, but you guys don't have to join in with a thread that's contravercial and yet you do and often  it makes the whole situation worse.

I will come back to this thread as I'm to decaffienated to concentrate properly on it and I'm waiting for a call from the garage to see how my MOT went, pray for it please!

We agree then! (as in it is pointless arguing) I'd prefer to talk about Fallout! 

Deleted

In my humble opinion, some of the people that I know say they like a good discussion also end up being some of the touchiest people that I know. I don't know why it is. I've a good friend who I dare not speak about certain subjects (he became a conspiracy theorist during covid), yet he thinks he's the king of banter. I like this guy a lot, so I just avoid these subjects.

When I was a lot younger, I loved talking about my atheism but I soon realised it was pointless and anger inducing. I realised about politics sometime later. Anti-vax/Covid conspiracies completely blind-sided me and I argued against them for a bit, but soon gave up on a lost cause.

I've always found myself wanting to look at things from a well rounded perspective. So if bias leans one way on a subject, I wanna look at it from the other way to see what that side looks like. It makes me a bit of a contrarian. I've been trying to make an effort to socialise more so I've been trying to be more friendly, but if the subject was of interest, I like to see both or however many viewpoints get examined. Though I tend to prefer sitting back and absorbing another's discussion most of the time.

On (sort of) the subject of Anglo-Saxons, one thing I've always enjoyed are the barbs and jabs people of different nationalities can exchange with each other. I'm talking mostly about Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, but every state everywhere does it to some degree. I like to think of it as keeping the spirits of our ancestors alive with petty grudges. But I come from the country that fathered the term "Blood Feud", so who should be surprised?

Unfortunately there is a history of severe disagreement on this forum .So often serious subjects are avoided these days.  Many of us are trying to rub along with each other, despite not agreeing with each other.

Migration and cultural interaction and integration are fascinating. The tribalism of our early history, various invaders that ultimately broaden and enriched the culture (once the violence subsided). "What did the Romans do for us?" Etc.

I'm from northern England but my surname is derived from a place in Ireland and my earliest known ancestors were from south western Scotland. So am I a Celt or did the vikings affect my origin. 

The whole bigoted cries of we are Anglo-Saxon, this is our country.Weren't they from what is now Germany, Denmark & Netherlands if my very basic history knowledge is remember correctly. (Certainly not guaranteed)