It looked less like trolling and more like satire to me. Was it in bad taste? Yes. Too soon? Yes. Not funny? Yes. But what I’ve seen of their previous comments gives me the impression of an honest poster with a slightly sarcastic or satirical presentation.
Deserved a note. And some ridicule. And a closed thread. But not a warning for trolling. IMO.
Seriously, dude, bullet proofing kids through natural selection isn’t trolling?
No more than feeding them to the poor is.
Agreed. We can’t all be Jonathan Swift, but I read it as being more in line with “A Modest Proposal” than trolling.
ETA: I did not see post #3 before I posted that!
No, but we can all stop trying.
I think it would have worked fine in the Pit. It expresses genuine exasperation with the absurdity of the whole situation, using humor as the vehicle.
Not trolling at all.
Taking the whole thing as poorly executed satire, I actually think that’s the best line in the post.
Huge overreaction. Do you really want to drive away clever, creative posters because somebody got their panties in a bunch?
For those who haven’t read it here is a link to the full text:
A Modest Proposal
For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick
By Jonathan Swift
Years ago I wrote an essay for an English class titled Raising Dead Babies for Fun and Profit (by squeezing out the baby oil and selling the remaining baby powder). The teacher told me it reminded him of A Modest Proposal.
I guess pretty soon we won’t have any controversies here, or any disagreements, or anything that might be insulting, or a “trigger” (whatever the hell that is) and won’t it be all butterflies and flowers. Whee.
Just a comment to say that I’m paying attention to this thread, and I’ve also raised the issue in the loop. I don’t find the satire as obvious as some of you here do, and in combination with it being in the wrong forum, if satire, and still in poor taste given the timing, my leaning is still toward the warning. But consider it under discussion.
Meanwhile, for what I’m sure are completely unrelated reasons, I have this song in my head this morning: Eat All The Old People
I, too, was looking forward to the discussion. I found it no more absurd than that “thoughts and prayers” crap.
Beats, “Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun”.
Man, THERE’S one she’d never get away with now. Much less have a moderate hit and radio airplay with it.
Controversy and disagreement /= trolling a tragedy.
Except that his post was neither clever or creative. It was crude and not at all original.
I agree with this. The post was in bad taste but it’s hard to see it as trolling – I certainly saw it as a (bad) attempt at Swiftian satire, the satirical theme being, hey, if nobody is going to do anything about this, maybe we can find a bright side to it. I would have closed the thread as inappropriate but I don’t see the basis for a warning.
It’s not being judged for literary quality.
ETA: I just noticed that your remark was in response to another post calling it “clever and creative”, so I withdraw my comment. I left it in for the record.
Yes, it’s tricky. The difference between effective satire and pointless inflammatory nonsense is simply the quality of the writing. And the latter may be indistinguishable from trollery in any one instance, because to call someone a troll you really need a pattern of behavior to discern intent.
And I agree that the line about bulletproofing kids through natural selection was the best line, that redeemed it as satire for me. Trolls aren’t usually that creative.
After discussion in the loop, I have downgraded the Warning to a Note. I’ve left the original thread closed. The OP (or anyone else) is free to raise the topic again more tastefully in IMHO, or if satire/parody is the desired goal, in the Pit.
I appreciate all of the feedback given here.
Thanks, Asimovian. I have always admired you as a poster and as a mod, and it’s good to see you taking others’ views into account.
Thanks, Asimovian!
I, for one, did not know that. Thanks again!
I agree. My own sense of humour is rather… dark. And yes, sometimes it’s gotten me into trouble IRL.
I don’t think it even warrants a note, even if it is in poor taste, is too soon, etc. Closure should be enough.
Thank you for listening.