[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Richard at 16 Jan 2002 19:33:31: Re: Politician?
As an answer to: Re: Politician? written by rjk at 16 Jan 2002 17:16:03:
>>>No, one doesn't have to have experienced a condition in order to be able to give advice on that condition.
>>On principle, you are right. However, in the case of the circumcision debate, there are enough anti-circ extremists who are making all sorts of claims that one must be careful about any statement that circumcision is never necessary and that creams/stretching will solve all foreskin problems.
>>If one does not have personal experience with such stretching, and one *appears* to base his arguments on what he has read on the anti-circ web site, then one has little credibility, especially with those who have experienced circumcision and know that much of what the anti-circ folks say is wrong or exagerated.
>You are right on target here, Halfclip. One might hope the aim of all postings here were to share valid information gained through one's own experience --the truth-- not to present allegations aimed at supporting one's personal bias.'Truth' gained from personal experience is not necessarily universally true. I am not "presenting allegations", simply sharing my experience in the hope that it will help the ignorant, worried or just plain curious. This forum ain't rocket science.
>>Also, I find it disconcerting that "100% success" statements are being made without having even seen a picture of the problem penis, even less having examined it.
>Also, I find it contemptible to try to scare hell out of inexperienced kids, or to heap undeserved scorn on them, as appears to be the main objective of much we find here.If you read my previous postings you'll see that the majority of them have been written so as to try to REASSURE newcomers who are scared of having a tight foreskin. I have NEVER heaped scorn on ANYONE. The MAIN OBJECTIVE, if such a disparate group of people can have one, is to help and reassure young men and teenagers who are ignorant of their condition and what can be done about it.
More than anything else, it seems to me, what is going to scare people is arguments among regulars more concerned about defending their own point of view than helping the worried.
Richard