I did't accuse him of running away. He called me a "racist". Get the chip of your shoulder deary. Insult? My ass, think about what he wrote on his site then get back when you figure it out.

Then again, your nut ann onion are you. Insult my ass.

Lordy lordy. Read his post. He does not call you a racist on him site nor does he call you one on here. He comments on how reactions to certain posts of yours as compared to others could be construed as racist. HUGE difference. The only thing he actually accuses "you" of is being insulting by your use of dialect - which he also states is more than likely a persona and not you in RL. In fact, he actually says that he can't comment on whether you (RL you) are raxist as he does not know you. Seriously, read a whole post for once before you get upset.

And for the last time, I have no clue who you seem to think I am. But your accusation of being a non-bermudian or an expat is way off. Unless being a 6th generation bermudian makes me an immigrant    I was born in Bermuda. Lived my whole life here. How about you?

Like seriously, this is like the third time you've accused me of things I did not do/or am not. Next? 

Dang - hate when that happens. Looking forward to tomorrow. Have a good night.

Personally all I want is for discourse to occur sans the name-calling, trolling and baiting ... all well-reasoned points of view should be considered valid ... however some of them may not be viable.

Sorry, only just read this. Now I don't want to get into the Rummy argument, or discuss the virtues of communism, or even talk about racism.

Johnny - if you think Vanz is on here 'holding up a mirror' you're either misinformed, blinded or just plain crazy. The only person I'd put in the same league as him in terms of intent is Biggie/Sal, who I haven't seen on here for ages after he was rightly shunned by the regulars.

What Vanz does is very different, and I could care less about his use of language.
He spreads lies/misinformation - see the recent example of the letter to editor debacle, which he of course escalated to Mr. Burt over at the official PLP website which now features an entry on the blog. Which of course doesn't give Bill Zuill or anyone a right to respond, I mean why would they?

He consistently and deliberately derails topics - Countless examples of this, posters will be discussing something innocuous, and along comes Vanz to start stirring sh*t up with talk of racism out of left field. Cue Elvis calling him out, Rummy calling him names and others giving up on the topic.

He poses questions in a serious manner, but he doesn't give two sh*ts about answers - this is my personal pet peeve. He'll ask something, I'll answer and follow with a question, and he will simply ignore it. You can ask him the most direct question on Earth, Vanz how do you take your coffee and his response will be along the lines of 'You crackers don't know about tea. Tea is something my people have known about for years. Go watch some New Zealand show.'

He is, by definition, a troll - That should be banned until he can contribute something positive.

He is also a false beacon of hope - A whole load of posters on here desperately want to reach out to understand the PLP and their supporters, and he occasionally baits us in with a reasoned argument, but then abandons it when push comes to shove. He is a tease, and he seems to just love it.

Anyway, it just frustrates me that the blogosphere/this site has great potential to gather some momentum and get all walks of Bermuda life involved, but he and the reaction he causes will continue to prevent that happening. I step down off of my soap box.

One of things that hits you in BDA very squarely in the face, is the extent to which and, more importantly - the ease with which - the terms racist and racism are used.

Having worked in 3 countries and visited 47 over the years, I have NEVER witnessed anything like it. I accept it is difficult to determine much of a local environment just on a visit/vacation, but generally speaking you can pick up the vibes.

Whether it is a product of the island's history, or a product of it's size, or an over used defence mechanism I don't know, but I do wish people would stop and think before using the term(s). We seem to have reached the stage in society generally, as well as on this blog from time to time, where if you don't like something - it must be racist. I mean, it just couldn't possibly be anything else - could it?

The ability to have a meaningful convo or simply to set out views which differ from others is lost, often because one spends half one's efforts picking words with care - just in case there is a subtle innuendo one has missed and someone might be offended if it isn't corrected. The ability to be critical - whether negative or positive - is lost...because someone might be offended.

I also think it masks the real opportunity to debate the issue in so far as it affects BDA.

Just my opinion.

I must admit that I am a bit bewildered myself. After checking the stats, Tigga did post three times as much and they roughly spent the same amount of time 'on-line'.

I did smite Tigga on numerous occassions because of some of his vile and racist comments. I also did the same with Biggie. But I am one member and there are 700 odd here. And be assured that when I needed mine I sure as hell got them.

Anyway.....um gunna mow dee lahawn.......ann dwink sum more coughhy.........

A great day too all.

Sorry, but I have to ask this...

Yes I can be a pain in the ass, thats my job

Your JOB? Who offered you this job? Seriously.
How is what you do here your JOB?

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I'm keeping my mouth shut on this whole subject because a) i certainly hope Mr. Starling was generalizing in his comments, as I consider myself the exception to the rule, and b) we all know that if I threw my two cents in, it would turn into a screaming match. It's sad that fear of yet another flame war has pretty much censored me, but there you go.