Introductions

[Fledermausmensch]

I was told once that "Fledermausmensch" was what they used for Batman's name in Germany (since adding "Mensch" on the end turns "die Fledermaus" into a masculine noun). And I liked it, so I've used it for a while.

[The Imperialist]

Oh. I see. (Shoudn't 'mensch' be turned into 'mann', but oh well)

[i_like_1981]

I was told once that "Fledermausmensch" was what they used for Batman's name in Germany (since adding "Mensch" on the end turns "die Fledermaus" into a masculine noun). And I liked it, so I've used it for a while.

I knew it had something to do with Batman. Having first noticed your username I was rather interested to see what I thought was a new German member to our forum. I am rather interested in German and the German culture having been a student of the language for years. I never actually had the good fortune of going there, but hopefully my chance will come sometime. I just need to get a plan together. Do you study German or have an interest in the language and/or country? I'm quite interested to hear more if you are a keen student of it. So welcome, Fledermausmensch. I like your username as well. I hope you stick around. And remember, just because we dislike sports does not mean we are completely opposed to physical activity. I myself went to the local gym earlier this evening; it has been usual practice for me on a Monday night since February now. I don't do it for more female attention, which is a hopeless venture for me anyway, but it is important to stay somewhat active in life. Keep the mind and body busy otherwise it allows things like depression and boredom to take a harder grip on you. Two problems I've become well acquainted with in life. Welcome to the forums.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[i_like_1981]

Oh. I see. (Shoudn't 'mensch' be turned into 'mann', but oh well)

"Mann" refers to a strictly masculine object or person. (Yes, in German, even objects have genders. Male words will be preceded with "der" whereas female will be preceded by "die". "Das" is the neuter form.)

Our new member Fledermausmensch is a woman, and "Mensch" can apply to any person. That's probably why she used "mensch" at the end of that word, not wanting to brand herself with a masculine term. But yes, I suppose if it was strictly referring to BatMAN, then it would be "Fledermausmann".

And one more thing to Fledermausmensch: don't worry if you consider your intro to be substandard. It's not a prerequisite that all new members have to submit huge introduction posts as soon as they sign up. I didn't do anything along those lines. Just get involved in discussions and reveal more information over time that way. It'll substitute well for a long introductory message. That's what I did. Enjoy your stay.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Fat Man]

I love Batman!

BUT I HATE SUPERMAN!!! HE SUCKS!!! HE'S JUST A BIG PHONY!!!

But I like Batman because he's not a pompous ass like Superman.

Batman is a mere mortal like the rest of us. He does not have any super powers like X-ray vision or heat vision, nor can he fly or leap over tall buildings, he's not more powerful than a locomotive or faster than a speeding bullet. He doesn't have any of that stupid bullshit going for him.

Being a mere mortal, Batman has to use a bat-rope and a grappling hook to climb up the side of tall buildings. He needs to use his Bat-mobile to get around or his Bat-copter to fly. So he used mechanical devices and technology to do his superhero stuff like fighting crime.

Batman is real. Superman is fake.

No, when I say Batman is real, I'm not saying that there really is a Batman, because as we all know, he's just a made up character, like Superman is also just a made up character.

But Batman can be real!!!

It's is possible for a real-life Batman to exist.

It you have enough money you could excavate yourself a hidden Bat-cave somewhere deep underground, and partially underwater, and have your Bat-cave equipped with your own super Bat-computer, and that is where you would keep your Bat-mobile, your Bat-copter, your Bat-boat or Bat-submarine.

And you can hire a Taylor to design your special Batman costume for you equipped with a utility belt.

Yes, you would have to be very wealthy, but if you have enough resources, you could do it!

It's perfectly possible for a real-life Batman to exist, because all you would need is a lot of scientific technology and equipment to set it all up.

But there is no way a Superman could ever exist in real life.

Superman is a phony, a total jerk, and a pompous ass through and through!

That's why I HATE SUPERMAN! BECAUSE SUPERMAN SUCKS!

But I love Batman because, Batman can be real!

No, he isn't real, but he can be real!

[The Imperialist]

I guess everyone will love The Major from Hellsing then...

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

I like Batman because he's not a pompous ass like Superman.

To be fair, while I am a big fan of Batman and he is easily my favourite superhero (although Rorschach is also possibly just as much of a favourite to me), he still can be a pompous ass. He was a spoiled little brat who didn't really have to work for anything, and his life was pretty much perfect other than watching his parents get gunned down in front of him in a dark alleyway when he was just a child. He barely had to work for the great amount of wealth he had as he inherited it all from his parents. Really the main reason why he fought crime was to avenge his parents, and he still lived the upper class pompous life while he wasn't chasing criminals. Although, sometimes I think he acts like a snobby rich guy on purpose to hide his identity and to help his crime fighting career. For example, in Batman: Year One, when Commissioner Gordon suspected Bruce Wayne of being Batman, he paid a visit to Wayne's estate to speak with Bruce Wayne. I haven't read it for a while, but I'll describe the following to the best of my recollection. When Gordon attempted to speak with the young attractive female that was at Wayne's mansion, Wayne informed Gordon that she spoke no English at all, which obviously would be quite shallow to have a female accompanying you when she can't even communicate with you. He was obviously just using her to make it seem like Wayne is simply a shallow pompous rich man and not a masked vigilante who was being hunted down by the law.

[Earl]

My name is Eve. I'm 20 and I'm currently a biomedical engineering student at the University of Memphis.

Welcome, Eve! Good luck with your studies at the U of M.

[Indurrago]

I guess everyone will love The Major from Hellsing then...

Well one of the main characters is a vampire that lived for hundreds of years, is the major or any of that other characters that much more of a stretch?

[The Imperialist]

Well, the Major (spoiler warning) is a cyborg but insists on his humanity

Hellsing is essentially the revenge of the nerds (with the highest concentration of bespectacled characters in recent anime) and because it also said "We will make them remember, those who have forgotten us" etc. etc.

But the Major is one of my favourite characters as he is not the jock type. He is fat, bespectacled, and have megalomaniacle but quite interesting plans. (And everything a military fanboy would love)

[Jerry McGuire]

Hello all. I've lurked the forum for a bit and decided that this place has enough interesting characters to sign up. Admittedly, I do enjoy sports quite a bit, so please don't hate me too much. What I have to say (usually) has merit behind it.I'm not very good with introductions so just ask me something if you want to know. Most things in my life aren't privileged information!

[Earl]

Hello all. I've lurked the forum for a bit and decided that this place has enough interesting characters to sign up. Admittedly, I do enjoy sports quite a bit, so please don't hate me too much. What I have to say (usually) has merit behind it.I'm not very good with introductions so just ask me something if you want to know. Most things in my life aren't privileged information!

Welcome, Jerry McGuire. Actually, as you can see, this place doesn't have many characters. I won't hate you at all. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to say much. I'm rushed now. If you're interested, you can learn a little bit about me by clicking on the following link, which (unfortunately) will take you out of this forum and away from this website. Be sure to read through the entire topic, which is only about 4 webpages long. I'm the Earl who posted in that topic. When you've accessed the first webpage of that topic, you'll have to scroll up to the top of the webpage in order to read from the beginning.

http://www.thegridironpalace.com/forums ... try2214693

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

Wow, I just read a couple of the first posts in that forum, and I couldn't even stand reading the rest. I had to skim over the rest of the topic, only reading posts from that point from 1981 and Earl.

I have been on summer vacation for a couple months and am about to enter school again less than a week from now, and in that summer, I had to face few sports related problems as I encounter most of them at school, and I even pretty much forgot the feeling of why I hate sports so much, however after reading a few posts in that topic, I remember why. Fuck sports. I am now in a mood of anger because of it, and I may regret saying this not too far from now, but I hate sports.

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

Wow, I just read a couple of the first posts in that forum, and I couldn't even stand reading the rest. I had to skim over the rest of the topic, only reading posts from that point from 1981 and Earl.

I have been on summer vacation for a couple months and am about to enter school again less than a week from now, and in that summer, I had to face few sports related problems as I encounter most of them at school, and I even pretty much forgot the feeling of why I hate sports so much, however after reading a few posts in that topic, I remember why. Fuck sports. I am now in a mood of anger because of it, and I may regret saying this not too far from now, but I hate sports.

As I mentioned in that post, I was angered by reading that topic, but now it has been a while and again, as I said before, I do regret saying that. I won't edit it out or delete it, but that wasn't something I would normally say. I will change my statement of "I hate sports" to "I (specifically, this does not refer to all athletes) hate ignorant jocks who can't accept that some people are bad at or dislike sports, and would pick on others for no good reason".

[Earl]

Hi, HugeFan. I apologize for inadvertently putting you into a bad mood. Believe me, I know how you feel after reading online comments of the sort that you read; and I know how you feel about the summer ending, knowing that school is starting again. In the summer that preceded my senior year in high school, I participated in an international charity that provided free disease-preventing hypodermic injections to villagers living in Central American countries. I went to Guatemala. I ended up counting the days when I would return to the States. But as my parents were bringing me home from the airport, I began to feel disgusted and even angry because I knew that another year of high school was about to begin. I hated high school. During my senior year I had only three friends at my school. Many of my classmates were jerks. They were spoiled rich kids. When I graduated, I actually felt a sense of relief because I knew that I would never have to deal with any of them again. So, I know exactly how you feel.

I also know how you feel about the posts you read at the gridironpalace website. One of the reasons why I started supporting our website was because of the intense hatred expressed by most of the sports fans who had actually bothered to leave messages. I wanted to defend this website because it was under attack by a bunch of jerks.

But since you didnâ??t read all the posts (Not that I blame you. Not reading something that you know is only going to make you mad is the smart thing to do), there is something about the gridironpalace thread that you did not notice. And that is, several of the members changed their tone, especially after I posted. Andy and Tony (as they initially identified themselves on the Guestbook webpage) had been insulted without cause and treated rudely by two other guys; so, they felt like our website was an expression of contempt directed against them. They actually turned out to be nice guys who did not expect to be put on a pedestal, but just wanted to be respected and not ridiculed and insulted for being athletes. We all like to be respected. This may not sound macho; but athletes have feelings, too.

First, several of them said I was a nice guy for defending Andy on the Guestbook page. Andy had merely objected to being negatively stereotyped as a football player. I could relate to that easily because I had been negatively stereotyped myself as a nonathlete when I was a teenager and even in my preteen years. Andy also said that he was a caring person. I had no trouble believing him because he had chosen nursing to be his major. When I was a teenager, the very idea of men becoming nurses was unheard of. A nephew of mine entered nursing school about ten years ago and faced constant discrimination by the instructor. Today a young guy subscribing to machismo might want to become a doctor because of the high pay and the prestige, but why would such a guy want to become a nurse? Even one of the 4chan trolls ridiculed Andy for choosing nursing as a major. I think you get my point.

When I was posting there for the first time, I was afraid that Iâ??d be ridiculed for saying that I didnâ??t even know how the game of football was played; but I was complimented because I was not willing to look down on them. None of them ridiculed me for not being interested in sports. My willingness to respect them was enough. Thanks to the way I was raised by my parents, I strongly believe in the principle of respecting others. Thatâ??s one reason why I resent jocks who bully other students.

One of them quoted a hateful message that one of their members had posted in the â??Letters 2009â? column as â??Haroldâ? (which is not the username that he uses in the gridironpalace) and said that it didnâ??t help their cause, implying that he disagreed with it. Another member quoted an insulting message that had been posted previously on the Guestbook webpage and said that he could understand why we were so testy. In other words, these two members understood how we felt. Also, interestingly enough, â??Haroldâ? did not feel free to insult me in the topic, knowing that he would not receive any support from the other members.

I think I understand the dynamics that were at play in this situation. Andy and the other members viewed us as deliberately insulting them, and they responded in kind. Hence, the comments that understandably upset you, HugeFan. But once they saw that I did not look down on them, the tone of their posts changed. One of them said he had other interests besides sports and that he didnâ??t think there was anything wrong with people who werenâ??t interested in sports. The members who continued to post in this thread turned out to be nice guys.

I have learned from this experience that when people yell at each other (which so often happens on the Internet), there is no way there can be any understanding. Just to give an example, in his first message on the Guestbook webpage, Andy was saying that P.E. should be mandatory. But when I started writing to him via e-mail and told him how lousy and hurtful mandatory sports-centered P.E. was for nonathletic boys, he changed his stance and said that nonathletic boys should not be forced to take P.E. with athletes. If I had just yelled at him, he never would have written to me; and he never would have understood our point of view about P.E. He turned out to be a â??gentle giantâ? who had been in a fight only once in high school, and that was to stop a bully who had been picking on other students. Even though he was the one who started the topic to protest our website, Andy showed himself to be an honest person who was willing to listen. Incidentally, near the end of Andyâ??s first post at our website, i_like_1981 ended up defending Andy (comparing his gentle rhetoric with Samdamanâ??s abusive rants) because he recognized that Andy was different.

HugeFan, Iâ??m sorry that reading the first few posts upset you. But I think that if any of these members of the gridironpalace website who posted in that topic were classmates of yours, they would not cause you any grief and would respect you. I hope that what Iâ??ve said will help to take away some, if not most, of the anger you feel. Believe me, I know just how you feel. I get angry at the â??jock cultureâ? myself. Then I remember that there are some decent ones out there, and I feel better.