Hello, so, I was on this site, in the forum, and we're talking about relationships and whatnot. Simple enough. This guy (white guy) chimes in that he was a missionary, went to Africa and met his future wife. He moved on for a couple years, and then went back, paid the dowry of 5 cows, chickens, and bags of rice and beans and such, then he got her a visa and now they live in Oregon. The other people in the forum then praised him for this act. Oh, and mind you, a big thing for him was that the girl had to be a virgin.
So, in fairness to him, he and his wife seemed happy, they have a little girl, all is well enough based on the evidence of two pictures.
However, for me, being that my great great great grandmother was forced into slavery and taken to Puerto Rico, this purchasing of an African woman by a white guy who then imported her to the US, and then was subsequently praised for it because it was his religion, ... well, it rubbed me the wrong way. So I deleted my account and that was that.
That is one reason why I have left a site in the past. It was a writing website, not a religious one. But it was simply that I could not be on a site where 1) there were people like him, and 2) there were people who praised him for "getting her out of that country," because Africa is now a country if you didn't know.
So, I was wondering if any of you have drawn the line and hung up your spurs because of something that happened on a website? This isn't a right or wrong, just your personal experience.
I have two.
First was a fitness website where just no-fucking-body had anything helpful to say. You ask guys how they manage to consume so much protein because when you go over a certain amount you get gassy... they'll call you wacky and stupid. Well, gee thanks... that doesn't help.
Other was one where politics were actually allowed to be discussed. As I find typical among so many people, (and the actual political scene), NO ONE would engage me on my actual points. I'd make a statement and they'd just ignore it and talk about a different aspect of the statement... There was just no point. I'd call people out, say answer this one question. They wouldn't do it. So, bye.
Question about this missionary guy: did the girl meet him and want to marry him on her own?
I would have no idea if she met him and wanted to marry him on her own. All we had was his statement of events. I want to say yes. I want to say I'm overly sensitive and that it was just a traditional wedding in ... whatever part of Africa this occured, he just said Africa. I want to say that it was all like a bunch of people sitting around saying, "Yeah, it's stupid, but we've been doing it for centuries. So, we'll go with it and have a big laugh about it later." But my experience with religion and Africa has never been something positive.
Honestly it's money. And untreated psychological issues it took 141,483 words across nine novelettes meant to be read as a single body of work it would take to explain.
But mainly money.
And I'm a vastly different writer who writes very different work now, when people read Twenty Three Decades and Simply Pace, they might not believe I switched to simpler fare.
I do Guillotine Westerns. (Misnomer, as it's about just outside of NashChat.)
