Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!!
International
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Well, thats you my friend. Personally I have been on the receiving end of some pretty hurtful words that I will not mention. Left me in a total wreck of emotional and emotional stress and anxiety for 2 years because the people who said it kept saying it even after I reported them. That was a long time ago though. I'm good now :D
ooookkkkk......
All I am saying is that some people put international up so that they won't have hurtful and demeaning comments and words thrown at them because it would cause them pain. I'm out of this discussion now. Take care everyone.
Well, from my point of view, people who are hurt by insults are people that believe them.
if you are a grown up(mentally) and have some wisdome to understand people, then you don't care about where an individual come from. Don't judge a book by looking at its cover!!!
If I was American I would probably choose international.
btickler wrote:
Let's turn the question around. What is the point of listing your country, unless you actually represent them in OTB tournaments?
All picking a country does is allow players with preconceived notions to make assumptions about you, or help you pick a fight on the forums. There's really no upside.
Everybody works on "preconceived notions". You couldn't function otherwise. As for "international" members, I'm inclined to think this is more to do with pretentiousness than anything else. Choosing to indicate your country of origin or present domicile does not necessarily mean that you wish to ram it down people's throats.
RG1951 wrote:
btickler wrote:
Let's turn the question around. What is the point of listing your country, unless you actually represent them in OTB tournaments?
All picking a country does is allow players with preconceived notions to make assumptions about you, or help you pick a fight on the forums. There's really no upside.
Everybody works on "preconceived notions". You couldn't function otherwise. As for "international" members, I'm inclined to think this is more to do with pretentiousness than anything else.
Of course you are ;)...
Thanks for helping to make my original point, albeit 6 weeks later.
Addicted-to-Chess97 wrote:
Yeah... but let's say he's born in Rawanda. "AINT YOU PROUD TO BE A RAWANDIAN BOY?!"
I guess "no" is not an answer you would accept?
Addicted-to-Chess97 wrote:
I would say two reasons [to write your country], one so you can meet others from your country and two you have something to talk about!
The first one does not hold water - why would you restrict meetings to others from your country? (If you are talking about organizing real life meeting, then country is not enough except maybe for Luxemburg)
The second one is more or less why I put mine despite the fact that it can attract jerks: not so much to have something to talk about but to explain the things I talk about. It serves as a warning flag for cultural differences (and also language awkwardness at times, which is a subcategory).
For instance if someone start an off-topic debate (to which I rush as the butterfly to the flame) about something that is under heated debate in the US but not in France (gun control/ACA/etc.), or the other way around (freedom of speech/state companies/etc.) it serves as a useful reminder that some arguments that might seem commonplace in some countries are not even made in others. And France/US is not such a large cultural gap as France/Japan for instance.
It is not so much about the country. I don't think there are many isolationists in today's USA, but it used to be popular (until Pearl Harbour, basically). The stance that homosexuality is a deviance that needs to be criminally punished and corrected is now regarded as utter bigotry in Great Britain, but it used to be the norm not so long ago. And I have close to no idea about what 90% of the world population thinks about those two issues.
Of course that is just my understanding of it, but "raising your flag" does not imply endorsment of your country policies or soccer team, or national pride, nor does putting "international" deny it. Some people might see it as such, but I do not think it is a healthy assumption.
Scottrf wrote:
If I was American I would probably choose international.
You're a rascal scottrf.
[COMMENT DELETED]
Irontiger,
I suspect that that anti-homosexuality views are more wide spread than you think in the U.K. Such views have become profoundly unfashionable and their opponents are typically much more vocal, which I suspect is why some people deny holding them.
That's ridiculous.
Which one?
That's because computer impossible is not a real person. It is a computer made chess game. That is why it has an international symbol on it. Also, some people put down international so that they won't have to deal with comments other people might make towards them. Safety reasons.