"Passing the torch." A story of old men, barbering, and baseball in Appalachia. (blog, opinions)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So is SC saying there really is no Ed or Clarence?
Ed and Clarence or real. So is the younger barber - Ron. Look up "Highland Cuts by Ron" in Kingsport, TN on Facebook. That's his business page.
Quote:
Originally Posted by matisse12
You've written about your experiences with men and being bisexual in forums on City-Data other than Retirement Forum. Just curious, were your posts on that part of your life truthful or fabricated for what you term your 'crap' posts or for your alter-ego or for a character called SC?
And what were some of your threads or posts that fall into what you talk about above in this thread as your 'crap' posts? just a couple examples, so we understand better.....
That's true. There are things like that you might not want to discuss in real life, but will freely discuss on here. My family hold pretty traditional relationship views. They're Democrats, but not really comfortable with LGBT people. My being a Republican is bad enough. Why would I discuss issues like that with them? All it will do is upset them about something that shouldn't impact our relationship, one way or another.
"Crap posts" are mostly stuff I don't have a strong personal opinion about, but that I know will generate conversation. I'm just interested in seeing what others think. I had a thread about driving in retirement years ago. I personally don't care or have an opinion, but I'd like to see what others think.
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
3,487 posts, read 3,338,219 times
Reputation: 9913
Lovely opening post.
My son's best friend has become a barber. I do believe it is becoming a lost art. There are few that aspire to barbering as a profession. He has done my son's hair since before he got his license. He now does both my grandsons hair.
As to what and how the OP posts, I just see it as a natural curiosity of how people think. I like delving into my own thoughts and feelings of why I have the opinions that I hold. I'm not so stalwart that I can't value another's thoughts or feelings on subjects.
I totally get that there are other cultures within this country that I live in. We are a varied group of people where a 'one size fits all' mentality just cannot encompass everyone. That is the beauty of these United States. The freedom to hold views that may or may not popular. The freedom to speak whether or not I agree with what is being spoken.
My views and beliefs are always changing as I grow as a person. Freedom of expression is a true freedom that many countries do not let their citizens have.
Perhaps we are all interpreting the”SC” and “Serious Conversation” references differently. I took it to mean posting under two different personas in the poster’s own words being the “crap posts,” to which the majority of people responded as opposed to those posts that were much better written but had little response.
So I would wonder, which of his posts does he consider to be the “crap posts” and which were the “non-crap” posts. And also why would someone want to post crap-posts in the first place?
Perhaps we are all interpreting the”SC” and “Serious Conversation” references differently. I took it to mean posting under two different personas in the poster’s own words being the “crap posts,” to which the majority of people responded as opposed to those posts that were much better written but had little response.
So I would wonder, which of his posts does he consider to be the “crap posts” and which were the “non-crap” posts. And also why would someone want to post crap-posts in the first place?
He answers that in post #71.
I totally got what he is talking about. Like if you were just shooting the breeze with strangers or casual acquaintances those might be the topics of conversation. You're not going to open up about your childhood, your relationship with your parents, your sexuality, or your general "thoughts on Life" to someone you only just met and in 20 minutes, are probably never going to see again.
The same thing applies on CD. I often read threads I have no personal interest in, but I'm just curious to know what other people think and are saying.
I only respond to the ones I have opinions on or am interested in discussing.
I don't want to discuss politics here (it isn't the right place), but I'm also curious if Serious Conversation's statements about liking George Wallace, former Governor of Alabama, and his statement that he's a George Wallace Republican (or something similar) is truthful.
Or were they somewhat fabricated statements to generate posts and discussion? Yes or no, as an answer would do. (I realize that George Wallace of Alabama was registered as a Democrat, but SC said he identifies with (or something similar) George Wallace and considers himself a George Wallace Republican.)
Last edited by matisse12; 02-23-2018 at 06:03 PM..
Perhaps we are all interpreting the”SC” and “Serious Conversation” references differently. I took it to mean posting under two different personas in the poster’s own words being the “crap posts,” to which the majority of people responded as opposed to those posts that were much better written but had little response.
So I would wonder, which of his posts does he consider to be the “crap posts” and which were the “non-crap” posts. And also why would someone want to post crap-posts in the first place?
"SC" and "Serious Conversation" are interchangeable. If there is confusion about that, I'm sorry.
Let me put the "different personas" this way. My "internal customer" at work had a major software screw-up this week. I run the software for that department. This problem was caused by a defect from a vendor when they released an updated tax form. These changes are so frequent and minor they aren't governed by our internal IT change control. This problem impacted numerous customers for that vendor.
It took me a few days to straighten it out. I had no help from the vendor. I had to hash this one out on my own. It was caused by another party completely outside of my control, but I'm ultimately responsible internally. Given that it's tax season, I had to smooth everything over with the accounting and finance teams. I had no back-up at all from my direct manager.
Bet your bottom dollar that the personality that smoothed things over this week, and ultimately got the "customer" management on my side vs. my own manager, is way, way different than "SC." "SC" didn't show up to that situation. My real life personality didn't show up to that one either. "Mr. Smooth" showed up to that one. Anyone who worked with me this week wouldn't recognize my attitude from when I worked with them against my day-to-day real-life persona, and they darn sure wouldn't recognize "SC."
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep things going. I like wearing the "SC" hat, as much as I like wearing my "real-life" hat, but there is an appropriate time and place for each personality, and a time for something totally different too.
The catch is knowing which one to spring out of your hat in any given situation.
"SC" and "Serious Conversation" are interchangeable. If there is confusion about that, I'm sorry.
Let me put the "different personas" this way. My "internal customer" at work had a major software screw-up this week. I run the software for that department. This problem was caused by a defect from a vendor when they released an updated tax form. These changes are so frequent and minor they aren't governed by our internal IT change control. This problem impacted numerous customers for that vendor.
It took me a few days to straighten it out. I had no help from the vendor. I had to hash this one out on my own. It was caused by another party completely outside of my control, but I'm ultimately responsible internally. Given that it's tax season, I had to smooth everything over with the accounting and finance teams. I had no back-up at all from my direct manager.
Bet your bottom dollar that the personality that smoothed things over this week, and ultimately got the "customer" management on my side vs. my own manager, is way, way different than "SC." "SC" didn't show up to that situation. My real life personality didn't show up to that one either. "Mr. Smooth" showed up to that one. Anyone who worked with me this week wouldn't recognize my attitude from when I worked with them against my day-to-day real-life persona, and they darn sure wouldn't recognize "SC."
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep things going. I like wearing the "SC" hat, as much as I like wearing my "real-life" hat, but there is an appropriate time and place for each personality, and a time for something totally different too.
The catch is knowing which one to spring out of your hat in any given situation.
I totally got what he is talking about. Like if you were just shooting the breeze with strangers or casual acquaintances those might be the topics of conversation. You're not going to open up about your childhood, your relationship with your parents, your sexuality, or your general "thoughts on Life" to someone you only just met and in 20 minutes, are probably never going to see again.
The same thing applies on CD. I often read threads I have no personal interest in, but I'm just curious to know what other people think and are saying.
I only respond to the ones I have opinions on or am interested in discussing.
He's explained that he sometimes posts things just to generate conversation, not that he personally cares about the topic. And that is obvious to me in his posts in the Retirement forum. I don't know or care about what he posts elsewhere. Think about what a ridiculous waste of his time this is (remembering he's a 30-something with a full-time job). That whole blathering story about the barber was a set-up for a question about passing the torch, about which he really cares nothing, he's just getting his rocks off on how many views they get. Believe me, I received MANY direct messages agreeing with me that his posts are ridiculous and that he's a windbag.
BUT if there are people here who find his posts interesting and actually want to spend their valuable time responding to a post that he doesn't give two whits about, I sure don't get it.
BUT if there are people here who find his posts interesting and actually want to spend their valuable time responding to a post that he doesn't give two whits about, I sure don't get it.
And you don't have to get it. This is what's great about C-D. Read what interests you; ignore what doesn't. It's simple, really.
Bet your bottom dollar that the personality that smoothed things over this week, and ultimately got the "customer" management on my side vs. my own manager, is way, way different than "SC." "SC" didn't show up to that situation. My real life personality didn't show up to that one either. "Mr. Smooth" showed up to that one. Anyone who worked with me this week wouldn't recognize my attitude from when I worked with them against my day-to-day real-life persona, and they darn sure wouldn't recognize "SC."
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep things going. I like wearing the "SC" hat, as much as I like wearing my "real-life" hat, but there is an appropriate time and place for each personality, and a time for something totally different too.
The catch is knowing which one to spring out of your hat in any given situation.
Good lord, kid, add some more fodder to the fire.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
