Poll: Should Darrell Johnston Be Banned From The HA Facebook Group?

[Winston]

Ladies and gentlemen, the trial of darrell johnston will now begin. Please be seated.

[momopi]

As the title of the forum suggests, this site is about visiting, working, and living abroad. It doesn’t matter if your purpose is vacation, retirement, seeking LTR/spouse, etc. I do not reside abroad but make effort to spend a month abroad every year.

If anyone does not want to (or actively discourage others from) travel or live abroad, then you’re in the wrong place here.

There’s nothing wrong with going elsewhere to find LTR/spouse. My ex coworker is Navajo and dating options were limited back home on reservation where his family raised sheep and grew livestock feed. So he moved to California, meet his Filipino wife in San Diego, and got a work assignment to Geneva (Switzerland) for 2 years. I remember because I picked the Asia Pacific region assignment and only got to travel, while he got to live in Geneva full time in company apartment for 2 years. Oops.

Should we bash him for not trying harder to find a spouse/job back home? Duh? He married a pretty Filipina, dined at lake front restaurant in Geneva, lived in company provided aparement, and got paid 6 figures as IT professional. If you told him that it’s his fault for not trying harder back home, he will probably look at you weird.

[Darrell_Johnston]

But darrell. The free speech thing only applies to the forum. The FB group is another kettle of fish. Does the group say that total free speech is allowed? What if a feminist woman wants free speech there? Then what?

I am not a feminist and i didnt break any rules of FB or your group

[Darrell_Johnston]

If anyone does not want to (or actively discourage others from) travel or live abroad, then you’re in the wrong place here.

Thats the point......I have NEVER discouraged people from traveling.......I dont know why anyone thinks I have. Can you show me where I have?

[Darrell_Johnston]

Ladies and gentlemen, the trial of darrell johnston will now begin. Please be seated.

Are you for real? A kangaroo court? How about letting me and Matt Hanson talk and iron out the differences? Tell him to grow a set and step up

[Darrell_Johnston]

What does he say matt? Can you paste some of the stuff he said that are false or offended you?

OK, so if this is a bloody court scenario, you asked Matt to copy and paste what I said that offended him, he has failed to do so, just quoted me out of context using his own words.....which i debunked easily as misunderstandings, unless he can produce a copy and paste words for word quote of what I have done wrong and explain why I am not allowed to say it.......then he has lost the case.

[Winston]

@momopi
So what is your vote? Do you vote to ban darrell johnston? Or what? We are waiting for 5 votes to be cast. Its now 1 for darrell, 0 against.

[Darrell_Johnston]

This is a lousy court, how can you have a verdict when the court in still in process? you are casting votes without seeing any evidence of his claims about me, you asked him to provide screenshots of what I have done or said, he has failed to do so. I say that he has 48 hours to provide evidence that I have said what he claims I have said. And also to explain why "if" someone DID said the things he is claiming.....why is that grounds for banning?.

He has gone quiet because he has nothing, his silence speaks volumes. If this was FB he would have kicked me out.....thats what he does when he realises he has no argument

Failure to provide proof of what I have said and failure to explain why it warrants banning means he loses for lack of substance or credibility, he will offer me an apology and allow me to return to the group and never ban me again.

[momopi]

@momopi
So what is your vote? Do you vote to ban darrell johnston? Or what? We are waiting for 5 votes to be cast. Its now 1 for darrell, 0 against.

If anyone does not want to or actively discourage others from visiting/residing abroad, they know where the door is. A vote is unnecessary if people learn to shun those who are against the purpose of this forum (or FB group). Same applies to distracting off topic discussions that does not contribute to going abroad.

Instead of worrying about Darrell Johnson, what did you do today (and/or plan to do tomorrow) toward the goal of going to Europe?

[Winston]

Ok since you guys aren't voting here, I've created a poll in the FB group instead. We will go by that poll instead.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/happier ... 661173955/

[Darrell_Johnston]

so evidence isnt required in this court?

[Winston]

so evidence isnt required in this court?

The evidence was already presented. Matt made his case, and so did you. Now the rest is up to people's opinions. It's not hard to figure out why he banned you and his reasons for it. I started a poll in the FB group so we will see how that goes.

[Winston]

I have no opinion because I have never been to the HA Facebook group. I don't even know where it is. Can someone post a link to it? Not that I would ever use it because I hate Facebook.

I hate FB too. But a lot of guys prefer it. Even ladislav is on there nowadays more than here. The link to it is:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/happierabroad2/

[Winston]

So far the FB group is divided on whether Darrell should be banned or not. Here are comments on both sides.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/happier ... 661173955/

Don Mills
The banhammer is harsh, and should be used sparingly. I've spoken with Matt about this. The very fact that someone styles himself as a flamethrower is not enough to warrant a ban. Bottom line, if someone's overall intent is to make positive contributions - and I think Darrell has made those from time to time - then keep him around. Only when someone has no intent of either being helpful, or in toning down the rhetoric, should banning be an option. But, we all have different standards on what constitutes helpfulness, or inflammatory rhetoric.

Dustin Young
He obviously doesn’t like happier abroad and is only trolling people here. He thinks we are all a bunch of fat slobs that don’t know to bang women even though he’s never met any of us to my knowledge (he damn sure hasn’t met me or he wouldn’t say shit about this improvement bs).

He doesn’t add anything of benefit to the actual “happier abroad” ideology. Instead he speaks against happier abroad fairly consistently. There must be better groups for him to be a part of. Maybe he could start Happier in America but he f**k his opportunities to be here by overstaying his visa. And then proceeds to offer us advice on how to live our lives... lol. I’ve never overstayed my visa and I don’t plan to. I have respect for the rules of other counties in this regards. My life is solid and well put together and I don’t have these foolish mishaps because I’m a solid leader and proper planner.

It’s plainly simple. He doesn’t belong in happier abroad since he doesn’t subscribe to the ideology. I’d say don’t ban him but make sure he leaves under his own will and get him to understand that this group is for those who truly believe in happier abroad, not for someone to troll those who do. If he doesn’t leave under his own understanding that he does not belong here - then ban him.

[Winston]

@Darrell_Johnston
A few questions for you.

1. You live in Vietnam right? If so, then you are a HAer to right? So why then do you speak out against the HA message and solution? I don't get that.

2. You said that location matters, but so does self-improvement. Yet Matt and some of the other guys said you told them to blame themselves for their troubles. But the thing is, you don't know these guys and have never met them in real life. So how do you know if they are the problem or not? How do you know if they are to blame? These are strangers to you that you don't know right? How can you be sure that they are to blame if you don't know them? I don't get that.

3. What do you mean by self-improvement? How do you define that? How much self-improvement does one need before one should go abroad? Did you know the Zen teacher and author Alan Watts said that self-improvement is a myth? At some point, continuing to improve yourself backfires, like when you try to oversharpen a knife and then the blade starts to dull and flatten out. See his lectures on the folly of self-improvement here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... mprovement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE5LMaf5hro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot1CA5DJ0u0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqqE1BLvISI

4. Are you saying that some guys shouldn't go abroad but instead stay in their home countries and "improve themselves"? If so who does that apply to? What criteria do you use to decide who should go abroad and who should not? Where do you draw the line?

Thanks.