Controversial Topics

[Fozzie Bear]

If you want a happy ending, watch a Disney cartoon!

Or a Jim Henson related production which this website is intended to celebrate?

No. If the controversey is too political or if it is too inflamatory amongst the membership, I stand by the rule that (if it is not covered or said on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, or Fraggle Rock that) Muppet Central has no place for it.

You can take my judgement call on that aspect as moderator (and a fan) to Phillip if I'm not being a good enough moderator, but I disagree 100% in having that kind of discussion at MC.

 

[D'Snowth]

If you want a happy ending, watch a Disney cartoon!

Or a Jim Henson related production which this website is intended to celebrate?

I didn't think Emmet Otter had that much of a happy ending, but then again, that could be just me.

 

[Drtooth]

Here's something uncontroversial..

Who else here HATES particle board furniture? That cheap fall apart crap! The stuff breaks SOOOOO easily, and i used to get in trouble ALL the time if one of them broke when it got old enough to decay (roughly about the 3 year mark) when I tried to open a door on one of those things.

 

[RedPiggy]

I didn't think Emmet Otter had that much of a happy ending, but then again, that could be just me.

Don't know, never saw it. However, Dinosaurs is the king of Sad Ending-ville, LOL. Dark Crystal has the Skekses merge with the Mystics and everything looks bright and cheery ... but nearly all the Gelflings are still dead, Aughra's house is still destroyed with all that cool stuff lost, and the Ur-Skeks basically just said "Sorry we screwed up the planet ... see ya!" *runs* Sarah beats Jareth in Labyrinth and Jareth, by way of the Dance Magic reprise, basically says he'll try again later (and he does, too). I had to stop watching Farscape during its run because I was depressed at the time and that show wasn't helping, LOL. However, now I want all the DVDs and the comics.
Let's be realistic about Jim Henson. Just as it's not fair to call Disney sugary-sweet (watch the movies, especially the fairy tale ones ... explain to me how having family members enslave or try to kill you is "happy"), it's not fair to call all of Jim's stuff saccharine either. The box office bomb of Dark Crystal depressed him. He tried to lighten things up with Labyrinth, but then audiences couldn't figure out the target audience because it tried to be dark and silly at the same time. Am I just imagining that Jim wanted to be known for stuff other than watching puppets sing happy songs all the time? Fraggle Rock was mostly optimistic, but when you really watch the show, they're all knocking on death's door about every other episode, from predation to "vermin-catching" by the Gorgs to rock slides to famine to energy-sucking darkness. Heck, even Muppet Babies and Sesame Street has dealt with loss or danger or whatever.

Who else here HATES particle board furniture?

*shakes fist angrily* I disagree! I LOVE particle board!

No, wait, scratch that ... it's only good for chewing material for my dogs, LOL.

 

[D'Snowth]

Okay, here's a topic I wish to rant about... internet hookups...

I don't usually condone internet hookups because they're unconventional, and they usually end in relatively nasty breakups (as we've seen our fair share of around here), but there's an even bigger issue regarding internet hookups at hand here that I have to rant about...

Now, I don't know how most people feel about dating and whatnot, but when I was growing up, my stuck-in-the-1950s mom wouldn't allow me to date, let alone have a "girlfriend" until I was 16 or 17 or so, which really doesn't matter because I've never gone on a date, nor had a girlfriend... but I'm seeing internet hookups going on with kids as young as 13 and 14... and often times, these kids are hooking up with people who are 18 or older. Prime example I can give you of this was when a "disturbed" guy I knew who was 19 began hitting on a former friend of mine who was only 14; somehow, the girl "saw herself" in this guy's desperation and lonely, and they quickly became an item... and even more disturbing, her deviantART gallery quickly filled up with soft-core sleaze of fictionalized versions of the two of them. Here's where one problem comes into play - when the guy has the upperhand, and becomes controling and manipulative, which is something that happens even in real life, conventional relationships. This guy had a whole lot of problems, and ontop of that, he had a bit of a fascist streak in him, in that anyone he associated with, he would try to mold into his image... wouldn't you know that he actually succeeded with his little girlfriend? The girl went from being sweet, level-headed, and friendly to being a mirror image of this disturbed guy.

That's just one example... again, I'm seeing this happening more and more, and it's really a disturbing thing to think about, it kind of shows the "evils" of technology, it'd be a lot easier for these kids to hide their newfound relationships from parents when it's online, than if it was happening in reality, but irregardless, 13 and 14 it far too young for kids to be hooking up with people, irregardless if it's happening in reality, or virtually.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

If people are getting into internet hook ups, which I don't know how since you're behind a computer screen and can't see the other person, then you really need to get out of the house. That or talk to more people at the school you go to.

I think a lot of people spend too much time posting things on internet websites that have message boards and..................D'OH!

 

[Miss Becstar]

I would have to agree

If people are getting into internet hook ups, which I don't know how since you're behind a computer screen and can't see the other person, then you really need to get out of the house. That or talk to more people at the school you go to.

I think a lot of people spend too much time posting things on internet websites that have message boards and..................D'OH!

I would have to agree with this as i feel its not that hard to meet someone outside and not on the computer! the only thing i really have a problem with is you dont know who you are talking to or seeing! not all people are bad but you just dont know!

 

[RedPiggy]

Now, as someone who has a "boyfriend" I've only met online (and to be honest, will most likely never meet, as the situation simply doesn't lend itself easily to it), I really don't think computers do anything but broaden the sea in which to find fish.

I think I've successfully mangled a metaphor, LOL.

My mother married when she was 19. She simply wanted to be away from her parents and took the first guy who offered her a life "on her own". This was pre-DOS days, you know. The internet wasn't even a twinkle in society's eye. He forbade her to work and then left her for another woman after an abusive 15 year marriage. Now I take care of her, because she lacks the ability to live independently, for many reasons.

Somewhere there is this "how to win a guy" manual that instructs girls to be a doormat for males because otherwise they have no self worth.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

13 and 14 it far too young for kids to be hooking up with people, irregardless if it's happening in reality, or virtually.

Exactly agree. When I started middle school, about halfway through the year, I started hanging out with a boy. The next week, I kept getting stalked down by popular preppy girls (ugh) in the hallway who just felt they needed to know whether or not we're dating. I answer with "No" thinking I could just continue with my life, but it's been over a year, and the same girls are still constantly asking me the same question at least once every other week or so. And the weirdest part, I hang out with several guys at school, but it's always the same boy that people ask about.

 

[Kiki]

Okay, here's a topic I wish to rant about... internet hookups...

I don't usually condone internet hookups because they're unconventional, and they usually end in relatively nasty breakups (as we've seen our fair share of around here), but there's an even bigger issue regarding internet hookups at hand here that I have to rant about...

Now, I don't know how most people feel about dating and whatnot, but when I was growing up, my stuck-in-the-1950s mom wouldn't allow me to date, let alone have a "girlfriend" until I was 16 or 17 or so, which really doesn't matter because I've never gone on a date, nor had a girlfriend... but I'm seeing internet hookups going on with kids as young as 13 and 14... and often times, these kids are hooking up with people who are 18 or older. Prime example I can give you of this was when a "disturbed" guy I knew who was 19 began hitting on a former friend of mine who was only 14; somehow, the girl "saw herself" in this guy's desperation and lonely, and they quickly became an item... and even more disturbing, her deviantART gallery quickly filled up with soft-core sleaze of fictionalized versions of the two of them. Here's where one problem comes into play - when the guy has the upperhand, and becomes controling and manipulative, which is something that happens even in real life, conventional relationships. This guy had a whole lot of problems, and ontop of that, he had a bit of a fascist streak in him, in that anyone he associated with, he would try to mold into his image... wouldn't you know that he actually succeeded with his little girlfriend? The girl went from being sweet, level-headed, and friendly to being a mirror image of this disturbed guy.

That's just one example... again, I'm seeing this happening more and more, and it's really a disturbing thing to think about, it kind of shows the "evils" of technology, it'd be a lot easier for these kids to hide their newfound relationships from parents when it's online, than if it was happening in reality, but irregardless, 13 and 14 it far too young for kids to be hooking up with people, irregardless if it's happening in reality, or virtually.

I can totally se where you're coming from. To be honest with you, I don't have a problem with online relationships, and I've know a number of successful ones, but -of coarse- you have to be so careful. A couple of my friends are currently having relationships with people via the internet, and it suits them too. I know one who hooked up with a guy when she was about 13, and the guys was older (I don't have a problem with age gaps, but again, online, you have to be bloody careful) and it was more they *way* they met that creeped me out. It's wasn't terrible, but it was just really suss, but it's not really my place to say anything about it. A girl who hangs out with me (she has trouble making friends, so her teacher insisted that I should help her out a little, which I'm okay with, but we're chalk and cheese on soooo many levels... :/) changes her boyfriend as often as she changes her undies. She's not a bad sort, but I've known her since year seven and even then she was going on about her numerous boyfriends (makes one wonder if they actually existed). it's probably just me being old fashioned, but I simple don't like the whole "hooking up" thing (apparently it means "kissing" according to my year level, but to me it's always been just "hooking up", which is somewhat meaningless as opposed to a relationship). I'm currently not in a relationship, and I honestly don't mind. I'm not clingy, and I can be selfish (not in a directly selfish-greedy way, as in I'm just to independant and I often keep to myself). I've had people tell me, 'oh, I'll hook you up with this person...' I'm sorry, but-- what...? How low do they think I am? Do they really think I just have a one-track mind? The whole "hooking up" party culture is so pathetic.