His taste in entertainment is shit. Awhile ago when we were talking about the amazing NK Jemisin Broken Earth series, we had folks who loved and hated the series talking respectfully. Then he came in and started shitting it up with such pompous ignorance that ultimately it got the thread locked.
Dude’s a waste of space.
Absent photographic documentation, we really don’t have much idea how much space he actually takes up. I can see the argument for “waste of bandwidth,” though.
In his thread about how the democrats should have rolled over and let republicans pass a restrictive abortion bill that’s both redundant (because any protections it offers for babies born despite an attempted abortion are already covered by the 2002 act) and harmful (because it would prevent doctors from making the medical decision to provide comfort care instead of futile and painful attempts at resuscitation in lost cause cases, even ones unrelated to abortion, under pain of criminal penalty with no exception for doctor judgement) SlackerInc dropped the following “gem” in response to having the above explained to him:
You see, SlackerInc thinks the democrats’ stance on the issue is born out of a desire to win over radical feminist pro-abortionists or something, rather than an actual moral stance designed to prevent pain and suffering for everyone involved. According to him, this is just more evidence for America’s moderates of how murderous the democrats are. I decide to try and explain, but Kimstu does a much better job before I can:
SlackerInc ups the ante, necessitating this thread hop, because I can’t respond to this drivel in Great Debates.
Bolding mine.
What the actual FUCK is wrong with you? Telling people in that position to “get over it” – are you fucking kidding me? Do you have any idea what that is like, to lose a child like that? Because I’ll tell you what, I don’t. I can’t even IMAGINE how painful that would be. But I know enough not to be so fucking flippant about it. And you want to make it MORE painful for them just so that some imaginary moderates who are single issue abortion voters yet not already Republican won’t get the jimmies in a twist? You have no clue what you’re talking about. Thankfully, you’re wrong – most Americans don’t agree with you. Most Americans aren’t monsters. Most Americans want to let professional doctors who know what the hell they’re doing make the hard decisions they need to make sometimes.
The most impressive thing about Slacker is he manages to be misinformed or flat out wrong on pretty much any topic he opines on. That’s in combination to one of the shittiest moral codes I’ve ever seen someone admit to in public.
I started off thinking he was a troll, then swung to the stance that he was genuinely just an utter wanker, but with every fresh statement of utter nonsense or bigotry I’m having to revert to “Definitely doing this for effect”.
I’m afraid I cannot support this Pitting.
I haven’t done a comprehensive study of his posts. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes disagree, sometimes his views seem eccentric or exaggerated. But he is a sincere good-spirited guy. Many of his posts focus on why 40% of the electorate votes against the Ds, despite that they are seemingly crazy to do so. I think he often hits the nail on the head. Pundits from the left often do apply excessive political correctness and turn off mainstream Americans. The Rs are doing so much damage with their present political power that electoral success needs to be the priority for Ds, even if that means toning down the rhetoric.
I look at some of the SlackerInc posts that some object to, and wonder what the fuss is about. Mentioning male circumcision in a thread about female genital mutilation? Inappropriate perhaps, but if read as a parenthetical comment rather than as intended to diminish the gravity of mutilation, then what’s the objection?
I agree, something about him screams disingenuousness
Eta - that was directed at Gary, I got disagreenja’d!
Septimus, toning down the rhetoric is one thing, but he is arguing that the democrats should have passed a bill that would do real harm, just because the republicans came up with a snazy name for it. Or negotiate the law to the point where it’s useless because it doesn’t do anything the old law didn’t do, but then pass it anyways just to show that they’re doing something.
Okay, how to count the stupid? (You asked for this.)
(1) In the scenario presented, the only difference (allegedly) was that the baby is going to die quickly, or after resuscitation efforts. Right? So it’s a disturbing thing happening right before the baby dies, or a more calm but still very sad setup. This is not about the baby living or dying. (Or if it is, it’s because the scenario is not honest and we really are talking about infanticide by inaction.) A little extra unpleasantness added to a deeply tragic and rare scenario is not worth walking right into a Republican trap that could have ripple effects through races up and down the ballot if Democrats get smeared with this kind of extremist image.
(2) Your implicit assertion is that the only way issues flip votes is…single issue voters? Uh, no. There ARE swing voters–look at the changing composition of our government over the past 20 years for evidence of that–but they operate based on a mosaic of influences, not just one. But this is a heavyweight within that mosaic.
(3) You seem to have completely disregarded the information I provided about Minnesota and other states to illustrate. How about some more polling data that completely destroys your last claim, about “most Americans”. So put this in your pipe and smoke it:
Sol you are sitting there among your 18 percent (probably higher, maybe much higher, where you live and especially among your social group), and generalizing your POV to the other 82 percent. That’s not good politics.
The dangerous thing, though, is that while 18 percent is very far from a majority, it’s not tiny either. It might be half of all Democrats, perhaps more of the activist wing of women who have risen up against Trump. So they (you) are influential to the party. But that also makes you a menace. Your extremism threatens, as I said in my OP, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
You don’t take strong stands on principle in politics when the public is three to one against you, not when the harm is to make a few grieving parents feel a little worse than they already feel. Not when the risk is getting years more of Donald fucking Trump (or Mike Pence). Get a grip. :smack:
ETA: I’m part of that 66 percent, BTW. But I’m going to stay a loyal Democrat regardless. You might well not find the same is true of others who aren’t as attached to the party as I am.
Thank you! I really appreciate that. I certainly like to think of myself that way, even if I do live up to my ENTP “Debater” nature in relishing an underdog role and taking on all comers.
I know there are at least a few people who tacitly agree with you, as they have privately reached out to me, often on Twitter so I don’t know who they are from the board and perhaps blow up their spots by saying something about it on the board, LOL. But it’s brave to say out in front of everyone. They may gang up on you for daring to oppose their group “callout” shaming circle. Or maybe now they won’t, just to prove me wrong. 
You’re aware he’s an openly self-admitted racist, right?
A racist who aligns more with black voters and politicians than any other group. Who has gone on record repeatedly stanning for reparations for slavery, universal always-on body cameras for police, and increased funding for heavily minority schools. Who practices a personal form of reparations by cutting my black tenants (who are now both my current tenants) more slack than white ones. Even if you don’t like some of the things I believe, none of it precludes my being a “sincere good-spirited guy”. 
No, the racism definitely does.
Well, that’s, just, like, your opinion, man.
As in he supports better funding for black schools because black kids are genetically less intelligent and so need more resources and lower expectations so that we can get them to functional. That’s not being a good guy. That’s being a paternalistic, consescending asshole who uses pseudo-sympathy to balance out his smug, superiority boner.
It’s the exact same reason he goes into FGM threads so her can be so sorry and sympathetic about ither people’s poor, mangled penes and go on (and on) about all the reasons why his is better.
Or go into any creative venture threax and talk about how is taste is more enlightened than everyone else’s and how baffled and disappointed he is that everyone else is missing out on his elevated aesthetic experience.
Going into political threads and explaining that he’s one of us, only more enlightened than the rest of us, is just the same pattern. He’s only happy if he thinks he’s the Most Specialist in the room, and he uses feeling sorry for his inferiors as some weird cherry on top.
Given your personality, if you were an asshole, you wouldn’t notice.
True!
ETA: I am obviously an asshole as far as a lot of people are concerned. But other people really like me. When I was staying with squatters in the Netherlands, a majority of the group got so fed up with me, they demanded that I be kicked out (something they rarely did to anyone). But there was a contingent of about 20-25% who really liked me, partied with me every night; and those guys found other places for me to stay until my flight went back to the U.S.
Being liked doesn’t mean you aren’t an asshole. Any asshole can find people who don’t care. Being a bad person makes you an asshole. Liked or not is irrelevant.
Well, I’m a good person so that doesn’t apply 
So-called swing voters are generally not going to fall prey to “Republican traps” like this. The ones who scream “ZOMG! Baby Killers” aren’t even remotely ‘swing’ voters; they’re toxic conservatives - full stop.
And in any case, I’m not worried about losing true swing voters who might be so gullible as to fall victim to what amounts to a political scam. If we lose an election because idiots fall for that nonsense, well, I guess that’s tough shit, but that’s not going to stop me from supporting the principles I believe in.
I’ve read that, ironically, as much of a douche bag as Donald Trump has been to Latinos, some Hispanic voters are in alignment with his anti-abortion positions, so I suppose there’s a kernel of truth to what you’re saying. Even so, I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter. Democrats can make the case that they’re interested in the welfare of babies just as much as Republicans can. It’s their job to do it and to point out how in Republican utopia, 13 year-old kids who get raped and impregnated by their sick uncle are forced to endure 9 months of emotional agony. Like, point that shit out more.
Says the self confessed “benevolent” racist who would be happy to fuck a drunk, knowing they’d regret it the next day.
Self awareness and you just don’t overlap, do they?