Subject: Okay, I finally have time to respond to this.
Author:
Posted on: 2017-05-25 15:59:00 UTC

I accept your apology for being forceful in your latest e-mails.

However, I can't bury the hatchet while you continue to insist that my treatment of you in 2014 was abuse. I understand that you didn't like it, and that it upset you very much, but that does not ipso facto mean that my behavior was unjustified or inappropriate to the situation. A parent insisting that their teenager do their homework completely and correctly before going out to party is not abusive, even if the kid yells and screams about it until their face turns blue. In the same way, me (and everyone else) insisting that you follow the Permission process completely and correctly before doing whatever you want with our universe was not abuse, no matter how upset you got over it.

Maybe I could have expressed my objections to your requests better. All right. I apologize for my ignorance, and I am sorry for your distress. It was never my intent to give you pain. However, saying that I abused you is insulting, offensive, hurtful, and false. If you want me to bury the hatchet, you're going to have to change your mind about that and take it back. You've said you want to be friends, but a few shared fandoms alone isn't enough of a foundation for friendship. Trust and respect have to exist on both sides, and right now, that is not possible.

One more thing. I want to talk about the word "like," since that seems to have been a serious bone of contention for you. "Like" is a real workhorse of a word. It does a lot of different jobs in this language. It's a preposition, an adjective, a noun, a verb, and an interjection. It's got at least 40 definitions, according to Dictionary.com.

I was using it in the second form, third definition, "to prefer." You did not prefer any of the prompts. You did not find any of them suitable for your purposes. You did not wish to use any of them. Right? Therefore, you did not like them. It is a completely normal and expected use of the word to which no reasonable person should have any objection. It's you who keeps insisting it carries emotional weight. Sure, it can, but it doesn't have to.

I used a simple, common word in a way that most people understand perfectly well. The fact that you have a problem with it reflects on you, not on me. Please adjust your perspective accordingly.

~Neshomeh

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