In this thread, Jesse Leigh (whose homepage link leads to a discussion forum called ‘Christian Viewpoint’), posted one of the most infuriatingly moronic things I’ve seen in IMHO in some time:
followed by
In other words “Everyone loves themselves because the Bible says so”. This in a thread about parents who hate their own kids. I consider not challenging a statement such as this to be directly contrary to the boards’ ethos of fighting ignorance. I posted a response, but then had second thoughts about hijacking the thread more so than it was already, and sent Jesse Leigh a PM explaining my issue with his posts in that thread.
This was his response - to repost my PM and his reply on the public forum. I consider this to be thoroughly assholish, hence this Pitting.
I disagree with both the claim and the biblical interpretation—but, the most moronic thing you’ve seen in some time? Really? Worth opening a Pit thread over?
I don’t get this pit at all. Sure, she posted your PM, which is considered a bit rude. But, your message was pretty much the same thing you said in the thread. If you didn’t want to hijack the thread you could have said that in the PM. Since you didn’t. She probably figured you really wanted to talk about it and she might as well not repeat herself.
And, if that’s the most infuriatingly moronic thing you have read in some time you need to widen your reading habits to conservepedia or free republic. They are more moronic than that several times an hour.
Yawn. She says it is her experience that people love themselves, and adds that she thinks that quote from the Bible backs up her perception. That’s not my understanding of what that particular passage is getting at, but you know, I hear Protestants get to do that sort of ad hoc biblical interpretation. (There’s a snigger in that sentence somewhere. )
If she had instead said the following:
*I don’t know the expression of your faith, according to the Dalai Lama, ‘Love and compassion predominate in the world. And this is why unpleasant events are “news”; compassionate activities are so much a part of daily life that they are taken for granted and , therefore, largely ignored.’
Just a point to ponder *
Would that also have been witnessing? 'Cause I’m just not seeing the witness part of your witnessing here.
I probably would not have posted the PM word for word in her place, but I also would not have posted and PM’ed to make the same point. I mean, Jesus, why not send a singing telegram while you are at it?
So I’d say the quanta of assholishness are roughly equivalent. But with this lame ass pitting you pull ahead on that scorecard.
I don’t understand your interpretation. If it’s a given that everyone loves themselves, Jesus’s message is to love others as oneself. The premise “everyone loves themselves” is assumed to already exist in the bible; it is not introduced there.
Of course, debating anyone on grounds as slippery as whether or not people really love themselves strikes me as a huge waste of time, akin to debating if chocolate is really the bestest flavour for ice cream.
Jesse is not only too fucking dumb to take a hint, ignorant enough not to know that it is rude to post PMs received from someone else in the public forum, but pig-headed enough to take no notice of an explicit request to argue with me here and stop hijacking the thread. So I’m reposting in this thread her rant at me from over there, instead.
That horse you’re riding, Jesse. It’s really, really tall, isn’t it? Also, notice how thin the veneer of love and best wishes to all that Jesse presents actually is!
Oh, and the PM I sent when I saw my first Private Message posted and the hijack continued… You’d expect something brimming with “hatred and vitriol”, blistering in its rage and ferocious in its attack, wouldn’t you? Well…
I have to agree with the OP. Jesse Leigh has been told many, many times to take it elsewhere and warned by a modonce about witnessing in a thread. It doesn’t stop her from mentioning God at every possible opportunity. She is quickly proving herself to be a female lekatt!
Seriously, *yeah. * You’re coming across as kind of a dick here, bluecanary. While I will admit I don’t know Jesse’s history (though the fact that I haven’t noticed is a pretty big indicator that she isn’t a huge problem), you’re flying off the handle here for. . . nothing. It looks like she just hit some trigger in you and you’re going off on some perceived grievance.
Maybe she has witnessed before, but the mere mention that HER world view comes from a Biblical stand point is not witnessing- it’s just expressing her view point. The forum, after all, is IMHO, for cryin’ out loud. I don’t know about you, but I come here to hear the opinions of those that are different than me- it’s what makes this place interesting and intellectually stimulating. Sure, sometimes I read things that I raise an eyebrow to or perhaps want to engage in further discussion about because they seem so absurd, but freaking out about something so minor? Yeah. Yeah.
Stating things like, “Everyone loves themselves. I know this is true because the Bible tells us so!” might not be witnessing, but it is a less than compelling form of argumentation. It’s also somewhat insensitive to post in a thread about parents who don’t love their children, leaving the children (some of whom were posting in that thread) with a deep and abiding sense of self-loathing. Also, I don’t think Jesse Leigh is correctly interpreting the Bible passage that she is using to dismiss and deny the feelings of so many people in that thread. She sounds pretty smug and condescending IMO, and using the Bible as a vehicle for such arguments is rather ironic.
Jesse’s posts mentioned in the OP might not be particularly Pit-worthy, but her derailment of this thread is a perfect example of what bluecanary is talking about. When posters repeatedly asked her to stay on topic and stop moralizing the thread, she responded by accusing the “majority rule” of invalidating her opinion because it wasn’t within their “comfort zone.” She seems friendly, but she’s really just being passive-aggressive and obnoxious.
The starting every post with “G’Morning!” is also fucking irritating, but that might just be me.
This. Rubystreak has articulated what it is that rubbed me up the wrong way so badly about Jesse’s original line of argument.
Still, despite that, I didn’t want to take such a new poster who was, after all, polite (if somewhat condescending) to the Pit over it - until the reposting of the PM. If you don’t see why I consider that, in and of itself, deserving of a Pitting, remind me never to communicate with you with the expectation of privacy. The clue is in the name - Private Message.
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