# A word from SA regarding the "Insanity" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853 "2008-10-21T04:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mr.Svinlesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Mr.Svinlesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Svinlesha)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/81 "2008-10-21T20:39:30Z")
**Hentor:** Don’t waste your time with **Shodan.** He is, if possible, even a bigger waste of space than **SA.** ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/82 "2008-10-21T20:43:50Z")
> [@Mr.Svinlesha](#): > > Anyway, I’m desperate for debate with an intelligent, rational conservative, who won’t move the goalposts or otherwise welch out when he/she is wrong about something. I’m like that dude with lamp, looking for one honest man, only I’m looking for one honest conservative. Oh, that’s taking it to far: **Ex-Tank** , **Airman Doors** , and the long lost (and dearly missed) **Patriot X** all qualify. Problem is, for them, we are pretty much in agreement on most of the issues that matter: and not one would vote for McCain this year. Hold on one minute. This may open me up to criticism, but I’ll say it anyway: In any other election year I would have no qualms about voting for John McCain. In spite of the ceaseless handwringing about McCain and the allegations of McCain being “McSame”, I don’t buy the hype. John McCain is a good man, a good Senator, and he has represented the people of the United States well and with distinction. He’s made a few mistakes, absolutely, but none of them are showstoppers, not even the (in my opinion, overblown) Keating Five scandal. He simply has the misfortune of having (R) next to his name in a year when I think the Democratic candidate is the better choice. This election cycle I am voting emotionally rather than rationally. I am Republican fatigued and I want to see what Obama can do in spite of the fact that he represents the antithesis of most of my principles. I just couldn’t vote Republican this year. Please do me a favor and don’t make me regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/83 "2008-10-21T20:52:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No, actually I pointed out that you were trolling. You realized that the facts I presented were unassailable, so you attempted a hijack. I know you spent a lot of effort to try to get it to work. Sorry - I’m not as stupid as you think me to be. This is exactly what you did. Didn’t work, did it? > > Sorry, bitch. > > Regards, > Shodan Uh huh, right. If you thought it was such a hijack, why did you demand a cite before you ran sniveling off? Punk ass little bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/84 "2008-10-21T21:00:51Z")
> [@Mr.Svinlesha](#): > > **Hentor:** > > Don’t waste your time with **Shodan.** He is, if possible, even a bigger waste of space than **SA.** Oh, believe me **Mr. Svinlesha** , I know Shodan well. He is a veritable SDMB herpes sore. I’m just exceptionally amused that not just yesterday he did the very thing he accuses liberals of doing today. Projection ain’t just a river in Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/85 "2008-10-21T21:30:00Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So I decided fuck it, there’s no point in trying to be reasonable or diplomatic around here Let me rephrase: SA: “Sure I’m an incomprehensible asshole, but I’m an incomprehensible asshole because those libs are mean to me.” ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/86 "2008-10-21T21:33:36Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Let me rephrase: > > SA: “Sure I’m an incomprehensible asshole, but I’m an incomprehensible asshole because those libs are mean to me.” No, it’s more like “I’m an incomprehensible asshole to folks I think are liberal, but I’m only that way 'cause they were so mean to me” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/87 "2008-10-21T21:35:06Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > He simply has the misfortune of having (R) next to his name in a year when I think the Democratic candidate is the better choice. > > This election cycle I am voting emotionally rather than rationally. I am Republican fatigued and I want to see what Obama can do in spite of the fact that he represents the antithesis of most of my principles. I just couldn’t vote Republican this year. Please do me a favor and don’t make me regret it. You can’t tell me that the running mate as well had something to do with it. (McCain’s running mate, not Obama’s.) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/88 "2008-10-21T21:42:15Z")
[Quote=Starving\_Artist] I believe that my style at least keeps the message that they are full of shit from being lost in whirlwind of leftie bias that so thoroughly pervades this place. [/Quote] You may indeed believe that you are communicating that message, but you don’t seem to realize that what you are really communicating is something very different: that you are a mentally unbalanced, inflexible, intolerant ideologue, without any sense of proportion or the slightest respect for his audience. Whether you choose to believe this or not, you do the notion of conservatism harm every time you add another post to your total. What specifically have you ever done here to build a sense of respect for your opinions? When you go on and on and on like a burst asshole about the supposed evils of amorphous ‘liberalism’, what, specifically, makes you any different from a mad preacher ranting on a streetcorner? What specifically gives you the idea that the most effective response to what you perciave as bad behavior is to be twice the asshole that your opponents may be? The condescencion with which you treat readers here is, frankly, astounding. You clearly assume that no one here can see through the alleged ‘whirlwind of leftie bias’ and actually think for themselves without your dubious help. I don’t need for you to explain what liberals think or want; there are more than enough around here if I need to ask something. In case it’s not at all clear, your sole apparent utulity for many members of this board is to provide a cartoon of a raving, spittle-flecked reactionary to poiint and laugh at. If you really feel that’s something worth doing, please continue to knock yourself out. And now I must go out and protect street gangs from prosecution for a while. Ta! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Svinlesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Mr.Svinlesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Svinlesha)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/89 "2008-10-21T21:48:46Z")
**Airman:** > [@](#): > > \*Hold on one minute. > > This may open me up to criticism…\* Oh. God forbid I should criticize you. > [@](#): > > \*but I’ll say it anyway: In any other election year I would have no qualms about voting for John McCain. In spite of the ceaseless handwringing about McCain and the allegations of McCain being “McSame”, I don’t buy the hype. John McCain is a good man, a good Senator, and he has represented the people of the United States well and with distinction. He’s made a few mistakes, absolutely, but none of them are showstoppers, not even the (in my opinion, overblown) Keating Five scandal. > > He simply has the misfortune of having (R) next to his name in a year when I think the Democratic candidate is the better choice. > > This election cycle I am voting emotionally rather than rationally. I am Republican fatigued and I want to see what Obama can do in spite of the fact that he represents the antithesis of most of my principles. I just couldn’t vote Republican this year.\* I guess this is what I meant, basically. Plus you also agree the Bush administration has been crap, the invasion of Iraq was a mistake built on false premises, and so on. Your ability to go from supporting the invasion – because you believed in the administration’s propaganda – to opposing it – after learning that there were no WMDs – indicates you are capable of changing your beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence, and is one of the many reasons you’ve earned my respect over the years. I have two objections to what you write, above: one, I don’t hold quite as high an opinion of McCain as you do, and two – more importantly – I don’t agree that your decision to vote for a Democrat is exclusively “emotional”. Given the Republican track record over the last eight years, I think you’re making a rational decision as well. It seems to me, anyway, that it is entirely rational to look at how the Republicans have governed during the last decade and, based on their record, decide to throw the bums out of office. Having said that, you are right that I should be careful not to exaggerate the commonalities between us. But you are an honest and bright fellow, and I feel certain were we to have a opportunity to discuss these thing at more depth, I would be able to lead you away from the Dark Side and save you from the evils of conservatism. 🙂 > [@](#): > > _Please do me a favor and don’t make me regret it._ Never! Still, I’m afraid that’s up to Obama, should he win the election. Not much I can do about the state of things in the US over here. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/90 "2008-10-21T22:07:23Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Uh huh, right. If you thought it was such a hijack, why did you demand a cite before you ran sniveling off? > > Punk ass little bitch. To demonstrate that it was, obviously. I said in the other thread that what I had said was true, and that only a fool would deny it. Here you are denying it. Another of my laws: It is easier than it should be to debate with liberals. No matter how outrageous the claim you make against them, some buffoon will always show up and prove your claim is right. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/91 "2008-10-21T22:09:16Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You can’t tell me that the running mate as well had something to do with it. (McCain’s running mate, not Obama’s.) Nope. I decided before Palin was nominated. Her selection was utterly irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/92 "2008-10-21T22:15:45Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I believe that my style at least keeps the message that they are full of shit from being lost in whirlwind of leftie bias that so thoroughly pervades this place. Interesting. I masturbate furiously in my front yard every Monday morning, because I believe it keeps the werewolves at bay. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/93 "2008-10-21T22:17:24Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > To demonstrate that it was, obviously. So, to prove it was a hijack, you asked for a cite? Yeah, I think we all see the clear logic there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/94 "2008-10-21T22:45:56Z")
Well, you don’t, but that was sort of the point. Anyway, don’t bother your tiny little head about it. You tried something, it didn’t work, go sit on a running chainsaw. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/95 "2008-10-21T23:25:11Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Well, you don’t, but that was sort of the point. > > Anyway, don’t bother your tiny little head about it. You tried something, it didn’t work, go sit on a running chainsaw. > > Regards, > Shodan This must be the civility that Starving Artiist keep going on about. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/96 "2008-10-21T23:40:18Z")
> [@](#): > > And on preview, Little Nemo, your point is very well taken and sounds reasonable on the surface. Unfortunately (and maybe this is just me) but to me whenever a conservative around here posts a well-reasoned, well-stated and well-cited post and is then met with howls of derision, insults and mischaracterizations of what they said, they and their positions can appear weak if they allow that behavior to go unchallenged. But if somebody posts a reasonable statement defending a conservative viewpoint and a liberal poster comes along and calls them a fascist asshole, then it will be the liberal poster who looks like a fool and discredits his ideology. When the people down in the pit try to throw some mud up at somebody else, it usually just falls back on their own head. It’s only when you get down in the mud with them, that they have a good shot at hitting you with their attacks. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/97 "2008-10-21T23:49:03Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Interesting. I masturbate furiously in my front yard every Monday morning, because I believe it keeps the werewolves at bay. Well, I’m no werewolf but it would certainly keep me at bay. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/98 "2008-10-22T00:40:00Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Further, I don’t know where you’re getting all this stuff about my so-called debating style. It would please me to be half as clever as you seem to think I am, but the fact of the matter is I don’t really try to engage much in debates, per se. My style is more one of flatly stating my opinon, and then if someone wants to argue about it, indulging them. > > There is a difference - in my mind anyway - between arguing and debating. Debating involves cites, statistics, and details that I believe never lead to a conclusive resolution and only serve to further muddy up the waters of whatever is being discussed at the time. Arguing, on the other hand, simply involves a back-and-forth where two or more people are giving each other a piece of their mind. > > I have no illusion that I am gonna come up with any conclusive cites to prove my point of view, and I have no illusion that you’re or anyone else is gonna come up with any cites to prove their point of view to me. Thus I’m content, in the threads I enter, to speak my mind and let people make up their own minds as to whether or not my points have merit and to allow my opponents to do the same. You, on the other hand, seem always to be trying to shoehorn me into a formal debate of some sort, and then when I refuse to play along you get into high dudgeon and the accusations of dishonesty fly. > > The thing is though, this is just a message board. I’m entitled to state my opinions \*\*or to make my case \*\*in whatever way I choose. I think, given the likelihood (based on your previous paragraphs) that you do not come to this message board for debates, but merely for arguments, you could have left the bolded, oversized phrase out of that sentence, and it would not have done any violence to your overall thesis. Nice that you’ve finally spelled out the limits of your intent to participate, though. I’ve taken the liberty of bookmarking it, for future reference. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/99 "2008-10-22T01:01:32Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I think, given the likelihood (based on your previous paragraphs) that you do not come to this message board for debates, but merely for arguments, you could have left the bolded, oversized phrase out of that sentence, and it would not have done any violence to your overall thesis. > > Nice that you’ve finally spelled out the limits of your intent to participate, though. I’ve taken the liberty of bookmarking it, for future reference. I disagree. An argument, depending upon how you define it, can be a reasoned dispute (Do not debators “argue” a point, after all?). Clearly, **SA** has come here for the sole purpose of flinging poo on people he blames for fucking up his life. (I’m guessing that he lives in a basement filled with garbage, since he’s _always_ saying he’s “off to enjoy a nice wine while looking at some art” and yet has **never** posted anything like photographic proof of this. (He’s been asked to do so. I did it some years back, if someone cares to dig up the thread on it. IIRC, it was another Pit pile-on thread of **SA**. Should only be a couple thousand of those to dig through.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853/100 "2008-10-22T01:11:20Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I disagree. An argument, depending upon how you define it, can be a reasoned dispute (Do not debators “argue” a point, after all?). As you say. “An argument, depending on how you define it…” But how **SA** defines it is as something quite distinct from a debate. Indeed, he seems, from his claims of “giving as good as he gets”, to define it as an exercise in flinging poo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-from-sa-regarding-the-insanity-thread/468853.md?page=6)