A thought for Excalibre

The BBQ Pit
241

Oy! & Ensign Edison, I know that cow thread is just being used as an example, but really, I am Ok with it. I do think **Excalibre ** is a good poster and I have said so. I also think he enjoys being an asshole. I have friends like that.
While it sucks that he thinks poorly of me, it will hardly change my enjoyment of the dope and at least he is willing to be honest about why he finds me annoying. I can live with it and of course if he ever changes his mind I am always willing to extend the olive branch.
I have also tried to take his grammar criticism to heart and I have worked on improving this weakness in my posting and writing.

Jim

242

[QUOTE=Excalibre]
Has there ever been a thread involving cats (except for the “Look at pictures of my new kitten” threads) that has ever ended in anything but heartbreak here?

Ultimate flamefest: “Declaw your cat while watching Showgirls before your circumcision and gay marriage to Donald Rumsfeld.”
[/QUOTE]

“…in an SUV that you parked in a handicapped space without a tag as you breast feed your newborn in a public restaurant where you don’t plan to tip.”

243

[QUOTE=What Exit?]
I am sorry, I know it is inappropriate for a pit thread. But thank you for my first very good laugh of the day. I would hope that even DrDeth will get a good chuckle from that one.

Jim
[/QUOTE]

Yep. :smiley:

244

[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy]
Could be my memory is at fault, but I do recall you and SA having some intense battles over his insistence that the media are part of a vast liberal conspiracy.
[/QUOTE]
I’m having a busy day today and so therefore still don’t have time to address your previous post to me – nor of course, Excalibre’s – but I’m suscribed to this thread and saw your post when I checked my email and I did want to take the time to clear up this misconception on your part.

I do not believe, nor have I ever claimed, that there is a ‘vast liberal conspiracy’ (as Hillary would no doubt put it) involved in media bias. I’m invariably accused of believing in a liberal media ‘conspiracy’, because such a notion is easier to ridicule and dismiss.

I believe (or more accurately, I recognize that) the media is liberal-biased, and that it comes by its bias naturally, given that its members are overwhelmingly liberal themselves. I also think that by and large they aren’t cognizant of this bias themselves, given that they move in circles where everyone else thinks similarly to them…they just think they are normal, right-thinking Americans as opposed to those right-wing nuts out there – who, unfortunately for them, make up approximately fifty percent of the population.

245

[QUOTE=Starving Artist]
…snip…
I believe (or more accurately, I recognize that) the media is liberal-biased, and that it comes by its bias naturally, given that its members are overwhelmingly liberal themselves. I also think that by and large they aren’t cognizant of this bias themselves, given that they move in circles where everyone else thinks similarly to them…they just think they are normal, right-thinking Americans as opposed to those right-wing nuts out there – who, unfortunately for them, make up approximately fifty percent of the population.
[/QUOTE]

Can you cite that 50% part. That sounds ridiculously high. Are you basing it simply on voters that voted for Bush or something more accurate?
I am moderate republican that is occasionally embarrassed to admit to being in the same party as you, from a few of your posts.

Jim

246

[QUOTE=Guinastasia]
“…in an SUV that you parked in a handicapped space without a tag as you breast feed your newborn in a public restaurant where you don’t plan to tip.”
[/QUOTE]

:smiley: Beautiful!
Daniel

247

[QUOTE=What Exit?]
Can you cite that 50% part. That sounds ridiculously high. Are you basing it simply on voters that voted for Bush or something more accurate?
I am moderate republican that is occasionally embarrassed to admit to being in the same party as you, from a few of your posts.

Jim
[/QUOTE]
You are probably correct in that the fifty percent figure is possibly in error, given that a certain percentage of ‘moderate’ republicans undoubtedly voted for Kerry in the last election, the true percentage of republicans in the country is probably higher. (And no, I don’t have a cite; just my opinion based on my own observation. You are correct in seeing my original comment as a statement of fact; I should have said ‘IMHO’ or ‘it is my belief’ etc. My apologies.)

And thanks for the gratuitious slam. Perhaps you should just go ahead and change your party affilliation and be done with it. Surely no right-thinking republican could find anything objectionable in any of my posts. :wink:

So, now that I’ve done my good deed for the day and taken the time to answer your post, I’m out of here for the remainder of the day.

248

[QUOTE=Starving Artist]
You are probably correct in that the fifty percent figure is possibly in error, given that a certain percentage of ‘moderate’ republicans undoubtedly voted for Kerry in the last election, the true percentage of republicans in the country is probably higher. (And no, I don’t have a cite; just my opinion based on my own observation. You are correct in seeing my original comment as a statement of fact; I should have said ‘IMHO’ or ‘it is my belief’ etc. My apologies.)

And thanks for the gratuitious slam. Perhaps you should just go ahead and change your party affilliation and be done with it. Surely no right-thinking republican could find anything objectionable in any of my posts. :wink:

So, now that I’ve done my good deed for the day and taken the time to answer your post, I’m out of here for the remainder of the day.
[/QUOTE]

I thank you for replying and if you consider my rather mild comments a “Slam” then I apologize. You are from what I have seen far to the right of myself. This makes you very far to the right on this board. You like Bush, I hate him. I was one of those moderates that had to stomach my distaste for Kerry and vote for him over Bush and cronies last time. As I find Bush an embarrassment to the Republican party, maybe you can understand why I would be embarrassed by your defense of his policies.

I hope you enjoy the weekend,
Jim

249

Not having read many of his posts I wasn’t aware that a number of Dopers, other than myself, have had** Excalibre** say they have insulted him.

But over in Cafe Society, in the thread about Lassie’s penis, Excalibre decided to play junior mod and castigate another poster for their use of smilies.

I responded to that poster, telling them not to worry, that some posters take it upon themselves to be board arbiters of taste. I didn’t even mention** Excalibre**'s username. But later he came back and demanded to know what my reason was for insulting him.

Yes, I suppose I could provide the link to that thread, to cite my statements above. But if anyone truly cares they’ll go and take a look on their own. All I wanted to do is vent a bit here, without responding there, and hijacking the thread. It’s pretty funny, and bids fair to stay on course now.

250

You just don’t know your own strength, Baker. Your powers of insult are truly AWESOME! The merest dismissive snark from you is the equivalent of a fire-of-a-thousand-burning-suns FLAMEFEST!!

Og help us if you ever decide to Pit someone. It probably comes from all the exposure to Phelps.

251

[QUOTE=Baker]
But over in Cafe Society, in the thread about Lassie’s penis, Excalibre decided to play junior mod and castigate another poster for their use of smilies.
[/quote]

I didn’t play junior mod. Junior modding would consist of telling him a certain behavior was against the rules; I didn’t do any such thing (and it would be bizarre to do, since it would involve implying that certain combinations of punctuation are forbidden.) Nor did I even approach “castigating” him. What a bizarre, counterfactual assertion you’ve made here.

So you insulted some vague collection of posters, and you weren’t implicitly making reference to me? You just happened to come into the thread to mention it? And, I suppose it’s only afterwards that you noticed that your post could be somehow connected to my “junior-modding” and “castigating”?

I’m not sure I’m convinced of this.

I don’t really know who you are. But the evidence to hand suggests that you’re a disingenuous liar. It seems to me that if someone like you doesn’t like me, I must be doing something right. Thank you! I appreciate knowing that my conduct is appropriate and useful.

252

Isn’t he cute when he gets mad? Tee-hee!

253

[QUOTE=Baker]
Isn’t he cute when he gets mad? Tee-hee!
[/QUOTE]

What’s that you say, Pillsbury Doughboy? You weren’t…surely, you couldn’t have been...trolling Excalibre, were you? Just trying to get a rise out of him, a little of the sweet bad attention your way? So you could do nothing more than sit back and laugh about the fact that he reacted when you poked him with a stick? Is that what you were doing, you contemptable wad of fuckless banality?

If not, you’ll come back with something more substansive tomorrow, certainly.

254

[QUOTE=Baker]
Isn’t he cute when he gets mad? Tee-hee!
[/QUOTE]

I keep making the mistake of thinking that people are going to feel some desire to tell the truth. Your characterization of what I said is striking only in its dissimilarity to reality.

I’m not angry, so you know. In fact, I’m not sure what I’ve done that could even be construed as showing anger. I’m a bit disgusted by you, but I don’t blame you for the way you act. I kind of doubt you can help it - after all, no one would choose to be the way you are.

255

[QUOTE=Ensign Edison]
… you contemptable wad of fuckless banality?

[/QUOTE]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those before. They sound rather naughty.

256

[QUOTE=Excalibre]
I didn’t play junior mod. Junior modding would consist of telling him a certain behavior was against the rules; I didn’t do any such thing (and it would be bizarre to do, since it would involve implying that certain combinations of punctuation are forbidden.) Nor did I even approach “castigating” him. What a bizarre, counterfactual assertion you’ve made here.

So you insulted some vague collection of posters, and you weren’t implicitly making reference to me? You just happened to come into the thread to mention it? And, I suppose it’s only afterwards that you noticed that your post could be somehow connected to my “junior-modding” and “castigating”?

I’m not sure I’m convinced of this.

I don’t really know who you are. But the evidence to hand suggests that you’re a disingenuous liar. It seems to me that if someone like you doesn’t like me, I must be doing something right. Thank you! I appreciate knowing that my conduct is appropriate and useful.
[/QUOTE]
My observation is that (based on the “Lassie’s penis” incident), you have a notably low threshold that must be stepped over for you to call something an “insult.” I’ll grant you that Baker, in pointedly mentioning that your name did not appear in her post was apparently engaging in a bit of, errrmm, misdirection. I won’t defend her selection of the term “junior mod.” But I also won’t grant that the term is confined to as rigid a definition as you appear to be implying.

But “insult?” That strikes me as about as appropriate as Oakminster’s insistence of “bigotry” in the Prickly City thread.

“Disingenuous liar?” That kind of escalation tends to feed the meme that, when an individual’s perception of circumstances (including the weight to ascribe to each element of an incident) differs from yours, you decide (and state unequivocally) that your perception and interpretation is the only possible valid one.

It had been my impression that you were acquitting yourself rather well in this thread. It’s not utterly destroyed yet, but you did undermine it some with your last set of posts. You might want to read what Emerson had to say about the relative value of praise and critique.

Ensign Edison, that was a pretty doofusy and ignorant thing you said to Baker. I’d warn you to beware of a smiting, but I was really just kidding about her having supernatural-level insulting powers (as far as I, personally, know :slight_smile: ^_^). It is my impression that, having had personal experience of the plague that is Fred Phelps, she has a sense of perspective that will allow her to ignore your comment in the manner which it deserves.

I guess if she returns to this thread, we’ll learn whether my impression is correct.

257

[QUOTE=Excalibre]
I keep making the mistake of thinking that people are going to feel some desire to tell the truth. Your characterization of what I said is striking only in its dissimilarity to reality.

I’m not angry, so you know. In fact, I’m not sure what I’ve done that could even be construed as showing anger. I’m a bit disgusted by you, but I don’t blame you for the way you act. I kind of doubt you can help it - after all, no one would choose to be the way you are.
[/QUOTE]

Holy crap! It’s like you’re Jesus. Except Jesus isn’t snotty like you.

Oh, and Jesus is the one who according to those who believe, actually got crucified, died, was buried, resurrected, etc, etc.

You need to take yourself down a notch. You’re not in his league.

258

[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
My observation is that (based on the “Lassie’s penis” incident), you have a notably low threshold that must be stepped over for you to call something an “insult.” I’ll grant you that Baker, in pointedly mentioning that your name did not appear in her post was apparently engaging in a bit of, errrmm, misdirection. I won’t defend her selection of the term “junior mod.” But I also won’t grant that the term is confined to as rigid a definition as you appear to be implying.
[/quote]

Maybe this is part of why I sympathize with Excalibre. He believes that people are responsible for what they say, not just in content, but implication. Now sometimes, especially online, this kind of standard can go haywire if you misread the implications. But most of the time, you end up calling out the kind of people who like say things like “It’s not that black people are inferior, it’s just that their culture is immoral and unproductive”* and then say “It’s JUST MY OPINION, why are you demanding I back it up?”

Of course he was being insulted. Whether he was being a jerk is a different matter (I don’t think so, but I do understand why others might), but certainly, he was being singled out and denigrated for his behavior.

Maybe we read different threads, but I didn’t see where Excalibre pulled one single source’s definition of a word out of the net and then insisted that it was the final arbiter of all discussion on the matter.

To be honest, if someone ever called me a wad of fuckless banality (a phrase I never dreamed of until the moment I typed it, but which I am immediately attached to), or anything like that, I would ask them if we could call it a truce and be friends, because I would see that our values were nicely aligned. If she does that, I’ll be happy to accept… provided she can support her attack of Excalibre with something other than empty tittering, of course. Which I continue to be sure will be coming any time now.

I think you’re subtly trying to call me a troll, btw, with the Phelps talk and your little wink-signals to Baker. I’m curious what led you to that conclusion, if I’m correct?

*I am in no way implying that anyone involved in this discussion is racist or that the issues at hand are similar to racism.

259

[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Except Jesus isn’t snotty like you.
[/QUOTE]

Cite?

260

[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
“Disingenuous liar?” That kind of escalation tends to feed the meme that, when an individual’s perception of circumstances (including the weight to ascribe to each element of an incident) differs from yours, you decide (and state unequivocally) that your perception and interpretation is the only possible valid one.
[/QUOTE]

Pray tell. Under what circumstances would “junior modding” or “castigating” apply to what I said to Clockwork? What possible interpretation of what I said fits either of those terms?

And Baker implies that he wasn’t targeting me in particular. “I didn’t even mention Excalibre’s username.” The only way I can parse that is in claiming that he wasn’t referencing my behavior. Whose behavior was he referencing?

The first point makes him a liar. The second point makes him disingenuous. I’m afraid that I am unable to come up with an interpretation of his comment under which he isn’t a disingenuous liar. If you wish to argue that point, feel free.