ANYONE WHO IS SICK AND TIRED OF ESPRIX'S 'POOR GAY MARTYR' ROOUTINE???

[Kent_Clark]

I don’t spend much time in the Pit. I just wandered in here because someone said an attack had been started on Espirix.

The attack seems to be under control here, so I’m not needed. But Espirix, you old U-U pagan, call me if you need me.

[Cantrip]

*Originally posted by Esprix *
cantrip, check out the OP - the name’s changed.

Thanks, Esprix - I usually bypass the OP and just go to the newest post, and “sassyKYredhead” still shows up on the front page as the thread starter. I know you don’t have to do it publicly, but never saw the OP after the thread went to 2 pages.

Green Bean said
But she will always be cowardlyIINFERIORTOASTROGLIDEhairdye to me.

I love this name.

[Nacho4Sara]

omni, I searched for MissDiagnosis, and all I got was the “Doesn’t Anyone Else Want Christmas to be OVER?” Frankly, it doesn’t fit sassyKY’s MO - not enough caps or punctuation. Is there somewhere she asked publicly to have her name changed?

To the contrary, MissDiagnosis’s thread in IMHO is chock-full of gratingly unnecessary exclamation points, question marks, and my personal favorite, the mix of both:!!!. I think it’s her.

[Lamia]

*Originally posted by Green Bean *
**
Whatta jerk. No wonder she wanted to change her name. But she will always be cowardlyIINFERIORTOASTROGLIDEhairdye to me. **

I think my mind is going. The first time I read this I thought, “What on earth is Toast-ro-glide?” The second time, too. I finally realized it was “to Astroglide” on the third try.

Hmmm, if there was such a thing as Toast-ro-glide, would you eat it with KY Jelly on top?

[MissDiagnosis]

This simply reaffirms what I was telling my husband… You can keep a bunch of people occupied for hours by simply making one post and leaving it alone. Hell, Esprix wasn’t even here until a short while ago!
For all you people who think that the reason for my name change was due to this thread, GET A LIFE! Why would I have changed my name for this when I knew it woud change EVERYWHERE??? I got some bad news about a good friend, and she suggested I change my name–It had nothing to do with you bunch of know-it-alls who can’t seem to find anything better to do than visit my thread! (BTW you may have been awake enough to notice that today is the first day I have been here since it was started!-- Once again, I refuse to have a battle of wits with an obviously unarmed army!) Guess some of us have other things to do than be obsessed with the opinions of someone they seem to care so little about on the outside, but secretly, must obviously be obsessed with me and my opinions…I’m amazed, but please, please, please, go back to your little lives, and have a wonderful holiday!

[Polycarp]

I haven’t had a whole lot to say here, but this one deserves response.

I don’t have a clue what in Hell brought about your OP, but I am personally overjoyed to see the good people of this board join together to defend one of their own.

It just so happens that Esprix happens, through no choice of his own, to belong to a minority, and one which is still in large portions of America the victim of irrational discrimination and slanderous allegations. He has chosen to be open about so belonging and to work for improving people’s understanding of what belonging to that minority means, how it feels to be discriminated against and slandered, and so on. And, since this is the Straight Dope, those who are a part of this board, whatever their other views may be, are particularly interested in and enthusiastic about the combatting of ignorance. In this field as in any other.

May I draw to your attention that he does have another life than “gay activist” which he has spoken of in numerous threads (e.g., moving, SCA, his quasi-dysfunctional family, his work in drama), but that the greater share of his posts here are focused on that aspect of his existence, for the reasons given in the last paragraph? It just so happens that as a sincere liberal Christian, a whole lot of my postings revolve around my attempting to deal with the questions revolving around Christian belief and how any sane person can hold such beliefs given the state of knowledge at the turn of the 21st Century. And I’d like to think I do a pretty good job of dispelling ignorance on that subject and defending my chosen beliefs adequately.

As Esprix does in combatting homophobia.

Now, besides criticizing another poster for focusing his efforts on something important to him, what have you done to dispel ignorance? I’d say Esprix, like myself and most of the other contributors to this thread, has gotten a pretty good life. To quote my favorite Person, “Go thou and do likewise.”

[omni-not]

Don’t know where to begin.

You can keep a bunch of people occupied for hours by simply making one post and leaving it alone.

Rarely have I seen a post left alone, regardless of the Forum. Didn’t you expect some kind of feedback, especially given that you asked a question in your OP?

For all you people who think that the reason for my name change was due to this thread, GET A LIFE! Why would I have changed my name for this when I knew it woud change EVERYWHERE???

I didn’t know that. When I came to the SDMB I posted under a different name; I changed it in November 1999 but, oddly enough, I can still find my first posts under my initial handle; must have been a computer glitch…

I got some bad news about a good friend, and she suggested I change my name–It had nothing to do with you bunch of know-it-alls who can’t seem to find anything better to do than visit my thread!

Not sure what the first part has to do with anything. As for the second part, are you impying that we should have ignored it completely?

Once again, I refuse to have a battle of wits with an obviously unarmed army!) Guess some of us have other things to do than be obsessed with the opinions of someone they seem to care so little about on the outside

Heh, heh. So much that could be said here, especially about the relative arsenal in each camp. As for your last sentence, I first thought you were refering to yourself before it became clearer that Esprix was the subject of your barbs.

Please visit us again, sassy. As Ben Stein would say: ‘You might learn something’.

[Trion]

MissD:

First of all, I’m sorry about your friend.

Now, on to the matter at hand. You call us an “unarmed army”. I beg to differ. The following are the intelligent points made in regard to your original post:

From Hastur:

We appreciate your submission and return to you that Esprix just recently made an OP about his annoyance with country music that had no mention of his gayness.

From RugbyMan:

Well, Esprix has done a wonderful job of standing up for the rights of people he disagrees with, so I certainly must applaud him for that and do the same for him!

Personally, I’ve thought he’s done a wonderful service. “Ask me those questions which you’d otherwise be afraid to and I’ll give you a fair and honest answer”. That level of honesty is also much applaudable!

Even though I’m sure that him and I would disagree on several issues (promised a debate on hate crimes legislation, for example), I certainly support the right of people to do as they see fit so long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of another.

So yes, you have the right to not read his threads as well as the right to open a thread like this to express your beliefs just as Esprix has the right to speak on whatever issues he chooses, just as every one of these people here has the right to respond to either thread as they see fit.

From Green Bean:

Hmmm…I never thought of Esprix’s routine as a “poor gay martyr” thing, or a “feel bad for me” thing. I think it is more like “Weeeheee! Look how much fun it is to be gay!” Esprix is well-versed in the issues affecting the homosexual population and he has an interest in discussing these issues. He definitely takes an activist role. His contributions are important, as he often beings information to the table which is not well-known outside of the gay community. Also, he and the other gays and lesbians on the board serve as reminders to avoid heterocentrism.

From Byzantine:

But seriously, folks, just as I’ve got a thing for “fat” issues he has a thing for “gay” issues. If you hate him so much or dislike his “where I’m coming from” so much you have this great little software bit called “scroll”.

Get a big grip on “hey, that’s life and having a point of view” and get on with it.

From MinxMom:

Yes, he does start a lot threads that revolve around gay issues. My sister talks about gay issues a lot (too much, IMHO), as well. It’s people like them who are “out” and speak up for themselves and their quieter brethren who have brought their unique issues to light for the general public. – If you want me to expand on this I will, but I’ll stop here as the thread is about Esprix not about public policy and gay rights.

From Jello:

From what I’ve seen, Esprix isn’t trying to be a martyr. He just posts examples of people discriminating against homosexuals in the legislature, workplace, etc. that simply raise consciousness about all the bad stuff in the world today. They’re basically “activism alerts” rather than “cry for me, this is what I have to live with.”

From omni-not:

From what I’ve seen, Esprix isn’t trying to be a martyr. He just posts examples of people discriminating against homosexuals in the legislature, workplace, etc. that simply raise consciousness about all the bad stuff in the world today. They’re basically “activism alerts” rather than “cry for me, this is what I have to live with.”

Damn. Look at that. I’ve only just started on page two of this thread and I have so much already. I’ll stop now before this post becomes too huge for words.

My point, in case you missed it is that there’s plenty of smart people here who’ve made good points refuting your OP - and you have ignored all of them. Calling us unarmed when you are the one who clearly can’t come up with counter arguments is an unfounded accusation.

This message board is dedicated to fighting ignorance. That means that anyone who comes here should not only be willing to share what knowledge they have, but be willing to have their own ignorance removed. And that means listening to other posters when they make a point. You have failed on this last part. But hey, if you wanna try again you can start with your intelligent counter-argument to the above quotes and when you’re done I’ll quote the rest for you.

[omni-not]

I obviously misread the first quote I posted (hey, it’s early in the A.M.), but I still find it a bit unusual that the author of a thread waits until the third page of comments to manifest him or herself. And only to contribute very little to the discussion. Was the OP the extent of your thoughts on the subject? Have you lobbed the one grenade you had in your arsenal?

Trion: I appreciate the quote but I’m not its author.

[omni-not]

Methinks MissD is simply trying to fan the flames. Hey, it worked the first time around…

[Trion]

Damn. My huge and blatant mistake. I quoted Jello twice. My omni-not quote was supposed to be the following:

I, personally, don’t give a flying fig if Esprix is homo-, bi- or heterosexual. I find him to be a witty, intelligent young man whose posts I very much enjoy reading. I don’t care if he has an agenda, as long as he doesn’t try forcing it on me. And he doesn’t.

I’ll just go sit in the corner now.

[omni-not]

I like this quote much better in fact:)

[Coldfire]

*Originally posted by MissDiagnosis *
For all you people who think that the reason for my name change was due to this thread, GET A LIFE! Why would I have changed my name for this when I knew it woud change EVERYWHERE??? I got some bad news about a good friend, and she suggested I change my name–It had nothing to do with you bunch of know-it-alls who can’t seem to find anything better to do than visit my thread!

cough [sup][sub]Bullshit![/sub][/sup] cough

Never forget, Sassy, that the Administration actually reads the mails your sending them. Including those about name changes.

Carry on.

[Esprix]

I’ll say it again - you guys rock!

And Coldfire, you really didn’t think I’d let that comment pass without a call for elucidation, eh?

So, why, exactly, did inaneLUBRICANTfuckup ask for a name change, hmmmm?

Esprix

[Green_Bean]

*Originally posted by MissDiagnosis *
**This simply reaffirms what I was telling my husband… You can keep a bunch of people occupied for hours by simply making one post and leaving it alone. **

So, you’re saying that you’re a troll?

[waterj2]

This simply reaffirms what I was telling my husband… You can keep a bunch of people occupied for hours by simply making one post and leaving it alone.

Yep, we enjoy ourselves by fighting against ignorance and stupidity, even if it’s unlikely to work. Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, we were having a rather amusing conversation without you. Personally, I find it useful when people post crap like this in the Pit, and are called on it, but don’t return to defend themselves or admit that they were wrong. It helps me figure out who the intellectually dishonest around here are, so that I can add them to my mental list of posters not worth my time.

Once again, I refuse to have a battle of wits with an obviously unarmed army!

Oh, the classic “all of you are wrong, but you’re all too dumb for me to bother actually defending my position.” I love that one. Right up there with “Ha! all you fools took my bait” and “I was doing research.” This coming from someone who posted as a subject for the OP a subordinate clause (with the word “routine” misspelled) in all caps followed by three question marks. Yup, obviously all the rest of us are the mental midgets here.

Guess some of us have other things to do than be obsessed with the opinions of someone they seem to care so little about on the outside, but secretly, must obviously be obsessed with me and my opinions.

We were mocking you largely for our own enjoyment. I mean, you provide such great material for it. Although I must point out that the person who started a thread to complain about another poster’s personality is not really the best person to tell the rest of us who’s obsessed with whom.

Anyways, as far as I’m concerned, it’s off to Coventry with you, and I’d urge the others to do the same.

[Polycarp]

Nice job, Water. Let me note two people who, in quite variant ways, are head and shoulders above Ms. Sassy KY Demeanor Redhead Nextnamechangepending, member in good standing of the Termagant Ruminators Of Lower Latvia.

First, red_dragon60, who was called out on having suggested demeaning another high school kid by making him out to be gay. After a herd of people, headed by Oldscratch and Rasa, came along and demonstrated in great detail what was wrong about that, he posted a response that was not only manfully accepting of the responsibility for having erred, but actually went a bit overboard on guilt. If this is how decent he is at high school age, I want to be the first to endorse his campaign when he turns 30 or so and runs for office.

Second, Wildest Bill, who has some harebrained ideas to be sure, but sincerely tries to live the Christian life he espouses and to evangelize decently rather than force-feeding indigestible chunks of Leviticus with Galatian Dressing down people. Called out by Esprix, he sputtered and fumed for a bit, but when all the hostility had been worked through and someone posted a rational criticism of what he’d been doing, he responded in equally calm and rational fashion, acknowledging some of the criticism and refuting other parts of it. In a post that on first read appeared to be without typoes and with a single coding error, something else he’s been challenged to do better on. Whoever compared him to Jesse Helms owes him an apology; Jesse doesn’t listen, and Bill obviously does.

Makes a nice contrast to Her 'Tudeness, doesn’t it?

[vanilla]

WHO here is tired of Polycarps “sincere liberal christian” routine???

Poly, you are THE most christian person on here. Now get off, yer hurting my leg…

[Esprix]

Poly, that was me, and I didn’t get the same thing from his post that you did - sorry, bud.

Esprix

[Polycarp]

Esprix, that may be, but you’ve at least gotta admit that he’s much better to debate with than a one-post wonder. I’m sorry; I like Bill, warts and all, and I think he’s improved his “style” a lot over here. And maybe needs a little positive reinforcement?

Vanilla, sorry about your leg. Maybe if I skootch over this way a bit? There, more comfortable now?