Saturday, November 29, 2014

Perhaps there will be a guest post.

I was about to post this as a responding comment here, but instead thought it better to separate it from something unrelated.

If this turns into something backchannel, I will keep it that way.  Or, perhaps there will be a guest post that captures the exchange with topical continuity.   Who knows?  It all depends on--of course--"Anonymous".  Who said this...to the Election Day post:

Why don't you post on Facebook how we're all idiots rather than hiding your last word on a blog after you've exhausted the BS arguments on Facebook? It's crap that you repost the arguments here with some BS "courtesy" of using our first initials here…and your final word...why, because you have the need to whine about it in a place you have a very few followers, who are yes-men/women, and will "like' the crap rather than deal with those, who think you're full of yourself and your BS?

Which, I admit, just made me furious.  (On the other hand, it's also kinda funny...calling my paltry but loveable "Commentariat"...sycophants.)  And so here's the comment-that-became-a-post:

Well, "Anon", if you want to stand up and claim your part in one or more actual conversations, you feel free to do that.  You might also want to direct your comment to a more appropriate post--perhaps you noticed that this post makes no mention whatever of Facebook.

Now...if you really are one of the principals in one of my Facebook-related posts here, you have doubtless noticed that I no longer post "[my] last word" anywhere on my own Facebook stream;  the last evidence of any kind I see is from January, and prior to that April of 2013.

On the other hand, the principals that have "inspired" most of the FB-related posts here seem to offer, on their own streams, a steady diet of uncritically regurgitated talking points that ultimately go back to a small universe of transparently biased sources.  I ignore 95% or more of these, but every now and then my baser impulses override my self-discipline, and I momentarily forget that nothing in all the fecal flingery (which is, to be clear, usually from the linked source, moreso than from the principal--who is nearly invariably an otherwise marvelous person) is anything about wanting an actual two-way conversation.  And so I will make an isolated appearance on another's stream, calling out "BS", with as much support as is required for the exchange.  And every time, I ask questions and/or make points that go unanswered--even if the overshouting and retreat to the original talking points continue.

As well, "Anon", if you're actually privy to the history, and even dimly honest about it, you will note that I do not call the whole crowd "idiots";  in fact I do my best to avoid dehumanizing people because I view that as a great deal of the problem in the first place.  (That observation is usually written right into my first comment.)  Do not conflate--or project--my attacking of poisonous, dehumanizing thinking with an attack on the people that are taken in by it.  Jeez, I make no secret of the fact that I myself was taken by much such thinking for nearly thirty years of my life, and while I may pull no punches when calling BS on items that represent real threats to everyone (a sad lot of those, these days), I always have time for someone who actually does want to engage in dialogue.

Given that latter observation, I suppose I really should stop my few remaining attempts to engage.  Based on the nearly invariable response I get, I must conclude that nobody is interested.

As to Rifleman Savant, that's an outlet for me.  I've made no attempt to increase readership over the few people who either know about it or wander by, but nothing here is "hid[den]", either. 

You necessarily assume and/or project much, to arrive at your definition of "crap".  Foremost among that:  based just on the offensive Facebook exchanges that are catalogued at this blog, to say nothing of the other 95%+ that get no attention from me at all, the idea of attacking me for operating in some sort of echo chamber is...pretty damn hilarious.

You pursue me here, post from anonymity, and beat your chest over "[my] BS"?  Very well then, bring it.  Stand up with a name, and call me on "my BS".  Do here what you would not do on Facebook, and answer my core questions.

You insinuate somehow that I argue from ignorance?  Oh, I'll take that bet.

2 comments:

MamaLiberty said...

Ah yes... one of the very good reasons I have zero interest in anything at "facebook." sigh The month or two I spent trying to communicate there, the noise level was deafening and the signal increasingly rare.

I make no attempt to discuss anything with poo flinging monkeys.

Paul Bonneau said...

I too gave up on facebook, as much because of the infernal user interface as because of the low level of dialog.

As to conversations, at least on the gun issue, in about 40 years I have had maybe 3 or 4 that were honest conversations rather that the regurgitation of talking points. I have finally come to the conclusion that persuasion is itself a flawed concept. "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still." I think it better to just go about one's business and enjoy the internet and enjoy talking about guns. More people will get the itch and become curious, seeing people having fun, than any amount of persuasion will harvest. Only thing is that we will never see it happening. Read this essay to make you feel better about that:
http://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job