If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

[undeterred]

My mother said it to me. Your mother probably said it to you. If you are a parent, you've probably said it to your kids. Its really hard to refrain from the negative, but I think its worth the discipline to stop and think before saying (or posting) something. Does it really contribute anything positive? Is it worth saying? Does it make anything better for me or anyone else? Wouldn't it be better left unsaid?

I'm just sayin' :shrug:

[bobbolink]

1. Thanks! Those simple things, such as the Golden Rule, would

serve us all well, if we would take heed.

Thanks for the reminder!

:hi: :toast: :hi:

[TwilightZone]

2. I can't get attention if I don't respond with something obnoxious.

Isn't that how it works?

(Sorry for the sarcasm. I agree with your sentiment completely.)

[bobbolink]

11. You may have said that sarcastically, but it's actually true.

:( :( :(

A while back, I posted some very positive and supportive things, and some negative things. Almost without exception, it was the negative things that got responses. It was an experiment that I would have liked to be proven wrong on.

:( :( :( :(

[Xipe Totec]

3. Interpret my silence...

My sister's favorite put-down

:evilgrin:

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Not the spirit of healthy decent ,but a good moray parental wise.

Unfortunately the art of being obnoxious ,has been honed at home also.

[stonecoldsober]

5. Listening to some of the cruel, sick comments here

really makes me question why I hang out here. It's certainly not to hear so-called progressives act like fucking nazis.

[orpupilofnature57]

7. Over exuberant opinions takes the cake over self serving victims of..

...Mass hallucination any day.

[stillcool]

10. I've been asking myself the same questions...

and trying to divert my interest to other areas. It's almost as if the corp-whores have taken up residence, spouting the same inane drivel in drive-bys...this too shall pass?

[illinoisprogressive]

6. But, part of why we post is to get it off our chests. To air our thoughts.

I grew up in house where we talked and aired greivances and argued about everything from politics to the silly.
There was no Not in front of the children.
I think it was good. We are open and can talk about things. We are curious and reading.
Part of the attraction here is so people can say what they want or feel and maybe get things out.
Just as you have the right to ask and wonder, they have the right to bitch.

[cynatnite]

8. Behind a computer, I'm anonymous...

I type anything I want in the box and not have to worry about meeting the other usernames on this forum.

Seriously, on public forums it's easy to forget that there is a real person on another computer reading our comments. There is less humanity.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

9. I was going to say something about Bush.

[Olney Blue]

15. I love your screen name!

I thought you might be from Maryland, but you're from Oregon. One of the sayings here is "Maryland is for crabs" because of the blue crabs common in the Chesapeake bay.

[Karenina]

12. Something that popped out in bas-relief

as I struggled to learn a very complicated language as an adult, was that so much of our blah-blah serves NO CONSTRUCTIVE PURPOSE. On many occasions where I understood passively but hadn't the active language to participate in a discussion, it became very clear that even if I had something of (subjective) value to contribute, LISTENING was even MORE VALUABLE.

[knowbody0]

13. hard not to engage when attacked

like Kerry projected an image of dignity above the slop spewed by the opposition, but should have at least debunked loudly, with facts. we gotta fight back but to sink to that gutter level is only fodder for the fire, which usually is only meant to distract. it's an art.

[smoogatz]

14. Oh, bullshit.

DU exists, at least in part, so that progressives have a place to say things that aren't nice, aren't positive, and aren't all that fucking helpful. It's a place where critical thinking and debate--even about how one ought to feel about the death of a public figure--ought to be welcome. If you don't like what's being said about Anna Nicole Smith, fine, it's your right to disagree. But it's not your place, I don't think, to tell other DUers to shut the fuck up.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. . . . .

oh wait, that wasn't very nice. Ignore I said it.

no, what you wrote is exactly on point. critical thinking and debate are missing all too often elsewhere in society.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. TY NT

[dorkulon]

26. Hear, hear!

I can't say anything nice about Bush/Cheney. Should I not say anything at all?

[Dora]

27. There's a big difference between constructive criticism and pointless slams.

[Canuckistanian]

17. I like Dorothy Parker's version.

If you can't say something nice about someone.... come and sit beside me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. Yep

rudeness for the sake of rudeness or for the sake of "being cute" gets very old very quickly.

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

20. Or say it in a passive-aggressive voice... n/t

[mod mom]

21. Funny, my 9 yo daughter just said this to me after I commented what a mess

her room was.

[Cleita]

22. Cool, I was all for this idea about not trashing a woman who died

before her time and harmed no one. However, as I read this Darryl Issa came up on the Daily Show. For those who don't know whom he is, he is the jerk who started the recall against Gov. Davis and brought us Arnold. I'm sorry I have nothing nice to say about him and I will say anything bad and true about him that I can find.

So, I think we have to qualify mom's little simplistic mantra a bit.

[GeorgeGist]

23. I guess that means we can't talk about...

Republicans anymore.

I'm just sayin' :shrug:

[Rosemary2205]

24. You mean I can't trash the Bush admin anymore? Damn.

Sorry but there are times in life when rude is warranted.

[spanone]

25. I have nothing nice to say about our criminal regime, But I'm gonna keep yelling about them.

[TahitiNut]

28. Would anyone on DU ever even mention Our Leader under such a rule?

:evilgrin:

I must say, I'm not even satisfied with myself in resorting merely to epithets instead of solely focussing on the issues themselves which lead me to a condemnation of the sinner for his sins.

It's with a consciousness of the psychological disorder (pathological narcissism) that I harbor one small corner of forgiveness ... and call for his life imprisonment (not execution) in a padded cell (for his safety). Knowing that his disorder is effectively untreatable, the only merciful and civilized act can be his incarceration.