well well, I’m going to take a rare holiday in the Pit.
That is a reaction I frequently share when reading December’s nonsense, often based on “sources” that even a filfhty sewer rat ought to think twice about citing. I find December’s dishonest tactics quite repulsive, especially on a forum such as this. In my opinion December is not an utter idiot, he just plays one on these boards.
It’s the only possible explanation to account for the idiotic content he usually posts, his legendary selective reading (and confirmation bias), his veiled prejudices, and his classic decembrist replies, the ones that dance all over the place and run over with allusions but that often accomplish nothing of substance. December is, quite simply, a troll who has discovered that by trolling in accordance to certain guidelines he gets to troll and spread political crap in a forum where it may very well be taken seriously and in good faith by some of the more uninformed members. He’s recruiting and proselytizing for the ranks of the ignorant, wilful and non. I don’t think he’s very successful, because you would have to be thoroughly ignorant to take his crap at face value, but that is not to say he is harmless.
I really don’t want to bring in the whole conservative/liberal bitch-fight. There will always be idiots on both sides, however I am hard pressed to think of a worse offender in terms of fighting ignorance than December, the Prince of Lies. And, by extension, his supporters.
Now, to embark on the rest of that Pit holiday:
Scylla, I enjoy reading some of your posts – not all of them, but the ones where you give a straight answer and do not attempt to equivocate every point you disagree with but can’t find a direct objection to. Shorter, clearer, more direct posts with a clear thesis would be much appreciated, rather than long, winding, equivocatory sophistry or similar arguments, often seeming to appear as a defence of the indefensible.
minty green, my one comment to you would be to cut back on the caffeine a bit; you seem rather edgy. You also have a tendency of arguing along the lines of "So, what you’re basically saying is … " – which is usually a bad start.
Shodan, regardless of whether he was banned for a while, no one in the last months (or years) has done more to fight ignorance than Collounsbury as far as the Middle East and related topics are concerned, and if you think otherwise in the face of the tousands of words of evidence he has contributed, let’s see some real arguments instead of your snide remarks. C has consistently been a valuable source of information and perspective on MENA. I also see nothing “ironic” in “a formerly banned Doper … fulminating over december’s behavior”.
That’s not irony, unless you subscribe to the inchoate Alanis Morrisette definition of the word. Oh wait – there is actually one way in which C’s OP might be considered ironic, but I don’t think you would agree:
My emphasis, obviously.