What Topic? My First Debate?
To keep a topic on point, TallDrink, you need to clearly state what the topic is. Your first post rambled so that it was difficult to tell what it was you wished to discuss. Even the title of the thread does not give anyone a clue. This is a debate on "My First Debate"? What is that?
When you give folks 400 acres to wander around in, they will.
I gave my opinion of what 90% of the posters in the thread devined your intent to be, which was a debate over responsibility for public littering here in the DR. Even the forum moderator, Goddess Pib, spent most of her posts on that subject. It never fails when a poor Dominican trait or habit, no matter how benign is discussed, some Dominican, usually one who doesn't live here, will jump right in and start fingerpointing and blaming everyone and anyone but themselves. No responsibilty.
The discussion was one particular poster, whose name I mysteriously had trouble typing correctly, blaming Haitians for Dominicans throwing garbage out their car windows, and Pib, Chiri, MF, and a few others pointing out how silly this was. The poster attempted to disavow his earlier posts, and I held his feet to the fire using his own quotes. He pouted and left.
Debate ended. Which never really was much of a debate since I doubt very many people feel there's a Haitian in every Dominican SUV with a machete forcing the guy with a Rolex to throw his Happy Meal tray in the road.
One more thing, however.
Those kinds of comments, things like "If it looks like a bananna, it smells like a bananna and it tastes like one it probably is no matter what they say", "countless years of invasions from our African brothers", "They have infiltrated into this country imposing their savage ways", "Tell me which country in the world has a similiar situation and has not engaged in all-out ethnic war?" are highly offensive to me and I do not apologize one bit for pointing them out. People need to stand up to that kind of bigotry and hatred whether it's face-to-face or yes even here on a silly message board. I was not kidding around when I suggested you substitute the word Jews for Haitians in all his posts. The simililarites are frigthening. Saying nothing is the same thing as saying it yourself. And I don't want to live in a world like that.
Tom aka XR My degree is in Calcium Anthropology. The study of milkmen.