The Census

[JOE SOAP]

It was Mother Teresa who said, "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person," and that's just what I think, too. We don' need no steenkin' leeders...

Mother Teresa?- that aul wench who, with the church, gained from the suffering of others. Fak her, the hipocrite- I thought you heralded truth Mr. Shark?

[Old Tankie]

She spoke very highly of you.

[Richmond Clements]

It was Mother Teresa who said, "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person," and that's just what I think, too. We don' need no steenkin' leeders...

Mother Teresa?- that aul wench who, with the church, gained from the suffering of others. Fak her, the hipocrite- I thought you heralded truth Mr. Shark?

"The suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering." Mother Teresa.

[The Legendary Shark]

It was Mother Teresa who said, "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person," and that's just what I think, too. We don' need no steenkin' leeders...

Mother Teresa?- that aul wench who, with the church, gained from the suffering of others. Fak her, the hipocrite- I thought you heralded truth Mr. Shark?

"The suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering." Mother Teresa.

Ah yes, I forgot that only "good" people can say worthy things and that every word falling from the mouths of "bad" people must be ignored.

Please forgive my stupidity.

[JOE SOAP]

Ah yes, I forgot that only "good" people can say worthy things and that every word falling from the mouths of "bad" people must be ignored.

Please forgive my stupidity.

Well you didn't have to quote Mother Teresa to make your point, sorry, I just hate cherry picking, a pet peeve.

[The Legendary Shark]

"The suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering." Mother Teresa.

Also, how many of you watched Red Nose Day last night? Watching as the BBC gloried in the noble suffering of the starving? How many of you will watch Children in Need? Glorious suffering indeed!

[JOE SOAP]

Not a fan, charity can often prolong suffering as root causes generally go unaddressed or ignored.

[Richmond Clements]

"The suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering." Mother Teresa.

Also, how many of you watched Red Nose Day last night? Watching as the BBC gloried in the noble suffering of the starving? How many of you will watch Children in Need? Glorious suffering indeed!

I didn't.
Mother Teresa was a repulsive hypocrite. She actively prevented people from rising from misery. To ignore this is akin to saying "Yeah, but Hitler loved his dog."

[The Legendary Shark]

So, because Mother Teresa was a repulsive hypocrite who believed that abortion was "the greatest destroyer of peace," that means she was also wrong about not waiting for leaders to do stuff for us but to do stuff for ourselves instead?

Sorry, I just don't see the logic in that.

[Richmond Clements]

So, because Mother Teresa was a repulsive hypocrite who believed that abortion was "the greatest destroyer of peace," that means she was also wrong about not waiting for leaders to do stuff for us but to do stuff for ourselves instead?

Sorry, I just don't see the logic in that.

I'm pretty sure I didn't say that.

[The Legendary Shark]

So, what are you saying?

I post a quote to make a point about leaders and then it's like I have to defend the character of the person who made the quote. If I'd posted the quote  without attribution, would that have been better?

I still don't get it, sorry.

[Richmond Clements]

As Mr Soap said:

Well you didn't have to quote Mother Teresa to make your point, sorry, I just hate cherry picking, a pet peeve.

Here's an example.

I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.

Oh, that's good, isn't it? I could agree with that. I wonder who said it..? Let's see... Oh. Stalin.

[The Legendary Shark]

He also said "I trust no one, not even myself."

So what?

[The Legendary Shark]

OK, I'm sensing a certain cooling of the atmosphere here.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone or be deliberately annoying. I know that a lot of the people who post here have been to university and whatnot and know a great deal more about a great many things than I do. (I barely even finished high school and couldn't wait to be shot of the place. I'm not academically minded at all and find research to be tedious and quite often boring - I only generally do it for writing purposes anyway, because I feel that for a writer a certain amount of research is vital.)

I can't argue with Joe's point about cherry-picking being his pet peeve because to do so would, in my opinion, be an attack on his personality. Pet peeves are part of who we are, I just have to accept that and move on. I respect each and every person on these forums and do not wish to make any personal attacks or criticisms about anyone. I hope to Grud you'll never see me say anything like "well, if you think that you're just a ******."

Cherry-picking is not one of my pet peeves - if somebody said something I agree with in a clear and succinct way, in a better way than I could, then I'll use it. If Hitler had said it better, I might even have used his words.

I don't know if you went to university or not, Rich, so I don't know if you've been trained to some higher academic level than I have (although I strongly suspect you have). Perhaps there is some academic rule about vetting people before you use their quotations that I am not aware of - I wouldn't be surprised.

All I can say is that, angel or demon, Mother Teresa said something about leadership that I happen to wholeheartedly agree with and I honestly don't understand why using her words should be so upsetting. The bitch is dead now anyway, so what difference does it make?

Oh, and I just found out that Stalin also said "The writer is the engineer of the human soul," which I think is very cool!

[Richmond Clements]

The point I am trying to make is that no matter how 'clever' a thing someone once said, it is all but impossible to not be coloured in your opinion by knowledge of that person's past actions.