# A Quick Defense of t-bonham@scc.net **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 15, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033 "2016-03-15T01:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/21 "2016-03-15T15:21:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s a view sincerely held by a surprising number of posters on this MB. It’s unclear to me why anyone would assume it was a joke. If that poster wants to come in here and explain how it was intended to be a joke, I’m certainly willing to listen, though. The opinion that the military is evil? Sure. That an officer directly kills babies? Not even **Der Trihs** makes that claim. It has to be hyperbole of some kind. Though I agree that seeing it as a hyperbolic swipe is as tenable as a joke, if you didn’t know the poster’s previous history. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/22 "2016-03-15T15:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Jacket] How could you shoot women, children? Helicopter gunner: Easy. Ya just don’t lead 'em so much. Hahaha. Ain’t war hell? [/QUOTE] I took it as a joke along these lines… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/23 "2016-03-15T16:52:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The opinion that the military is evil? Sure. That an officer directly kills babies? Not even **Der Trihs** makes that claim. It has to be hyperbole of some kind. > > Though I agree that seeing it as a hyperbolic swipe is as tenable as a joke, if you didn’t know the poster’s previous history. It was a common meme during and after the Vietnam War. Returning soldiers were sometimes accused of being baby killers. I had a woman on an Amtrak train ask me how I could be “involved in the killing of children”. I told her I only killed as many as I could eat. Yeah, it’s gallows humor, and I would have read the thread comment as such. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/24 "2016-03-15T17:12:48Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > **John Mace** , yes, I’ve seen that view from other posters. They don’t usually say it just once. That’s why I went looking through the posting history in this case, to see if I could find evidence of that view from **t-bonham** elsewhere. I didn’t see it. Interesting. I almost added “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the mods to see if a given poster had a history of making similar, serious posts in the past in order to determine if he was joking or not”. Anyway, I didn’t think it was a joke because it “didn’t work” as one. But joke or not, it could easily have derailed that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/25 "2016-03-15T17:24:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Interesting. I almost added “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the mods to see if a given poster had a history of making similar, serious posts in the past in order to determine if he was joking or not”. I would have agreed with that statement. I don’t think anyone should post with the expectation that a moderator is going to do that, or that a moderator _should_ do that. I don’t feel like I had any such obligation. It became a point of curiosity with me this morning because of this thread, because the comment seemed so out-of-the-blue to me, and because I had the time to look into it. Once I had the information in my hands (meaning, I didn’t find any other such instances of that type of post), I decided act on it. I don’t think this case absolves anyone of the duty to consider how their posts read as they’re being composed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/26 "2016-03-15T17:35:58Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > As for your last point, moderators regularly have to make decisions that go against posters without direct input from those posters, sometimes relying on history or other evidence to support that decision. **I don’t see why the same process can’t be applied _in favor_ of a poster in this circumstance**. OK, that’s just _wrong_. Haven’t you read the Mod Manual? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/27 "2016-03-15T17:38:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > OK, that’s just _wrong_. Haven’t you read the Mod Manual? I’ll almost certainly be assigned to scrub the mod bathroom (do NOT go in there!) for the rest of the month after that comment. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/28 "2016-03-15T18:03:37Z")
You know, when one makes outre “jokes” like that, a “smiley” would help a lot\*. I think **Asimovian** did the right thing here- twice. \*(they wouldnt be magically _funny_, no, but we’d at least know you were making the _attempt_.)😛 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/29 "2016-03-15T18:11:14Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Change “showpost” to “showthread”. > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19180174&postcount=6](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19180174&postcount=6) > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19180174&postcount=6](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19180174&postcount=6) Or click on the link to the thread in the single post screen. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/30 "2016-03-15T19:08:06Z")
Note to self: Unless your name is Chris Rock or Steve Martin, best not to make jokes in GQ without a smiley attached. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/31 "2016-03-15T20:44:05Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Change “showpost” to “showthread”. > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19180174&postcount=6](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19180174&postcount=6) > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19180174&postcount=6](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19180174&postcount=6) Cool! Thank’ee! > [@simster](#): > > I don’t see the humor in that statement - dark, absurd or otherwise. Well, it’s like the humor in Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” It’s deadpan, but it’s humor. It’s bitter, nasty, dark, vicious humor…but it is humor. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/32 "2016-03-15T21:23:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Cool! Thank’ee! > > Well, it’s like the humor in Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” It’s deadpan, but it’s humor. It’s bitter, nasty, dark, vicious humor…but it is humor. Without any other context - it doesn’t come off that way. In the right context (see the quote from FMJ above) - it can - but as just a ‘flat statement’ with no other clues or in thread reason for it - it just doesn’t. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/33 "2016-03-19T14:56:23Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > Just my US$0.02, but I took it as a joke. I didn’t find it a very creative joke, though it worked as a juxtaposition within the topic of respecting the military, and so I snickered. But the dead babies thing is just so (yaawwwnn) 1970. > > > [@Chefguy](#): > > > > It was a common meme during and after the Vietnam War. Returning soldiers were sometimes accused of being baby killers. I had a woman on an Amtrak train ask me how I could be “involved in the killing of children”. I told her I only killed as many as I could eat. Yeah, it’s gallows humor, and I would have read the thread comment as such. Yes, it’s exactly _because_ the thing is “just so 1970s” (here) that marks it as irony/joke/sardonic comment-opinion. Similarly, “Yes, and my brother Moishe uses blood from Goyim to make his matzah.” Which usually is clear. But you never know. “Zionists kill children and harvest their organs” is not uncommon in the Mid East press and, in variations (the “child-murdering” part) as a not uncommon meme. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/34 "2016-03-19T15:50:38Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I’ll almost certainly be assigned to scrub the mod bathroom (do NOT go in there!) for the rest of the month after that comment. Nah, you get to handle Great Debates when Tom and I go on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/35 "2016-03-19T18:12:42Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Nah, you get to handle Great Debates when Tom and I go on vacation. Damn. That’s cold. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/36 "2016-03-19T19:46:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s a view sincerely held by a surprising number of posters on this MB. Why exactly do you find it surprising? The Dopers are an intelligent bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/37 "2016-03-19T19:55:51Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Nah, you get to handle Great Debates when Tom and I go on vacation. You know how they say it’s fun to watch other people’s children because you can just stuff 'em with sugar and then send 'em back home to their parents? So anyway, let me know when you’d like me to handle that assignment for you. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/38 "2016-03-19T21:31:48Z")
Wait, they let Tom and you get vacations??? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/39 "2016-03-19T21:59:34Z")
Someone keeps forgetting to lock them in their cages at night. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033/40 "2016-03-19T22:15:15Z")
Technically, that’s an 'escape’and not covered under out indentures [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-quick-defense-of-t-bonham-scc-net/749033.md?page=3)