Nah, he doesn’t make you look like a centrist, you make him look like that much more of an extremist.
It’s Der Trihs’s inability to comprehend the way power operates in society that gets to me. He just picks a group, and if decides that group is at the top of the food chain everything becomes their fault. Everyone else is a victim and the selected power group is the perpetrator.
He is a stereotype of a college dorm-room leftist bong session. He recites by rote the same shit that every wide-eyed leftist who listens to Rage Against the Machine, and gets involved with activism to pick up chicks, recites.
His ideas never grew past the, “Power is evil”, stage.
I agree that a message board needs a range of ideas expressed. Even those that are a bit “out there”. But there are limits, and people get Warned or Banned for going past those limits. The “ignore” feature is over rated. You wind up seeing posts that are hard to make sense of because they were in response to a poster you had on ignore.
But the larger issue goes back to The Rules. We have rules against spewing hate speech and a rule against being a Jerk. On the hate speech alone he should have been Warned a gazillion times, to the point of being banned. Do a search for his take on religionists (of which I am not one), America, the American military, or conservatives. I’m sure there are some posts that should merit a warning. But even if there weren’t, he’s close to the line often enough that he earns the right to be judged by the other rule.
Pay attention to threads and you will notice this shit all the time. And it’s cousin, something that I call the “We all have told you over and over”. People say that as if it means anything at all that most people in a thread agree with them. Sure, because everyone reading a thread is also posting. Geez.
I should have been born more handsome and to a wealthier family. Sadly I cannot change these things in the same way people can’t change how Der Trihs rants are handled by the mods.
I didn’t say it was hard to do, just that in doing so there’s a downside.
Un, no, those things are not the same. While the mods might not be convinced to ban him and improve the GD experience, the membership could influence them. Or should be able to influence them. Shouldn’t they?
The only problem I have with the fellow is that he’s so darn inflexible. It may not be the case, but it really appears as though he is incapable of examining his views after he has come to them, and that’s a great pity - for him.
But he does a good job of defending them, so what’s the problem?
I like Der Trihs’ posts; he cuts right through the bullshit. Of course I haven’t gotten into an argument with him; I might have a different opinion if I had. I don’t particularly agree with all of his opinions, but I do appreciate that he gets right down to the issue.
I also like Shodan’s posts. Every time I read one of them I hear a “ZING!” He can really deinflate people with a short phrase. NB: I don’t really agree with his opinions either, but he generally has some funny posts. I can imagine that some of his victims aren’t his biggest fans, but as someone who’s not his victim, I can enjoy his posts.
Rand Rover probably got laid-off, and is too embarrassed to come back to the board. Karma, bitch, etc.
I don’t have a major problem with Der Trihs and actually respond to him fairly often. In generally I’m not on his ‘side’, of course, though it depends on if we are talking politics or talking about something like nuclear power (in which we actually are on the same side, more or less). Also, I’ve found his input in some of the technology or science threads to be interesting, and I’m generally in agreement with him on those subjects. I’m even, generally, on his ‘side’ in most of the religious debates, though I think that, as in the political discussions he’s to over the top and hide-bound to take completely serious on those subjects.
Get him away from any discussion about the evils of America, or demon religion, however, and you will find he has interesting things to say. IMHO anyway, FWIW and as a poster that is probably equally ignored by a large chunk of this board.
For those that don’t/can’t see the moderator bias in DT’s favor, check out this post in this thread. This is after post #31 and post #52 stating that this wasn’t a debate thread. And several posters pointed out that the OP calls for facts, not opinions.
Frankly, I’m surprised that anyone says that he backs up his opinions well. He never offers evidence; he just restates and assertion. Take, for example, his claims that pro-life is code for “hates women”. How does he respond when asked about all the women pro-lifers or about how thinking that fetuses are alive is a smear against women? He doesn’t. He just restates that “anyone that says they’re pro-life really just wishes women were sex slaves.” He’s a joke of a debater, really.
That being said, the man argues like a liberal teenager. So yeah, I ignore him as much as I can. Because you can’t actually say anything to him about politics or religion that will provoke a thoughtful response. You can, however, add me to the list of people that think he contributes to non-political threads (such as science or literature) in a meaningful way.
