I am Ignoramus! Err, I mean Sparticus!

The BBQ Pit
1

I am Sparticus,

Your actions in this thread are beyond reprehensible.

Not only have you deliberately posted a vicious attack on Scylla’s character in a completely innapropriate place, you did so in a particularly tactless manner; polluting an interesting and obviously very personal thread with your vitriol for no good reason. Then, in an act of seemingly infinite stupidity, you did it again.

I’m not sure exactly how you read Scylla’s OP; but I am convinced you are in a small minority of people who see it as an attempt to “justify” racism. It is quite obviously nothing of the sort, and Scylla’s treatment of his grandfather’s character is far more complex and subtle than I think you could possibly understand.

I think it’s quite obvious who the real bigot is here.

Scylla sure isn’t a perfect individual, but he has a sense of intraspection which people like you, who are only capable of one-dimensional conceptions of character, will never achieve.

2

Why hasn’t he been banned? He was warned not to continue posting, and he continued posting the most idiotic sort of lies, crap, actually comparing Scylla to Nazis. Oh, wait, I see; Idiot Replies #2 and 3 came less than an hour later.

He’s a liar, a moron, and an asshole. He won’t be missed.

3

He apparently failed to consider that Scylla used “nigger” as he did for effect. I could picture Scylla spitting the word were he literally telling the story.

Whatever the case, sparticus was an asshole, and a defiant one at that. Insolent cur.

4

Well, I agree it was a mistake, but frankly the liberal use of the “n” word by people outside of the african american community is pretty upsetting to some people. I can see why he lost control and forgot where to post his rant. It may not bother some of you when it’s used in context and to illustrate a story, but it is a real hot-button word for some people. Like I.A.S, I find it to be one of the most offensive words ever, and I’d be hard-pressed to write it out or say it, even if I was merely quoting a disgusting bigot or a beloved grandfather. Obviously, not everyone reacts that way.

I don’t know how he posts elsewhere, but if this were an isolated incident I should think a warning is enough. Everyone fucks up now and then, and given how provocative certain language is to some people (I.A.S appears to be one) perhaps this fuck-up is understandable, if not excusable.

JMHO.

5

I’m not entirely certain how hitting the search function pretty heavily, in a lengthy deliberate rant attack is a forgetful error–nor how defiant “if you ban me for this, I shall be proud!” speeches are further mistakes involving minor lapses of memory. That may just be me, though.

6

It was a tasteless attack on Scylla and a shameless hijack of the thread. I really don’t know any word that would have achieve the same effect, and that coming from someone who really frowns upon the use of slurs, of any kind.

7

I’m guessing that IAS has some kind of death wish. Not only to ignore a mod’s warning, but then to go on with two more huge “fuck you” posts to both mod and Scylla, well…

Do the poor sufferin’ beast a favor and put him out of his misery. :rolleyes:

And this–

–was risible. It’s his “duty as a man” to make a lot of non-points and hijack someone else’s “personal recollection” MPSIMS thread?

So that explains why the boards were slow, a la the Bad Old Days, all day yesterday. Sparticus the Fuckwit was using the damn Search function ALL DAY.

Dipshit.

8

Cranky

I think that this is exactly the point of the story in the first place: many of us feel this way about racist attitudes that were prevelant just a few years in the past, but we have realitives who embrace these attitudes. We feel like we should hate, dispise, loathe them for it, but at the same time, we know fora fact of great things thta these people have done, and we can’t bring ourselves to do it. Should we feel guilty that we can’t get over the good things they have done and dispise them (as, on one level, they really do deserve?) Should we dispise ourselves? Is it a weakness to be ambigous about somoene like this?

I tend to think it isn’t, but then I’m sort of an agnostic Puritan at heart–we’re all sinners, and we’re many of us saints at the same time, and what makes a sinner into a saint may be as much the result of accident as of charecter. Faced with the fact that we would have done no better under different circumstances, and may well have done worse–are doing worse now and don’t recognize it–I don’t think it’s wrong to honor a racist realitive for what admirable things they have done. However, what wouldn’t be right would be to downplay the “sinner” part of their makeup, to ignore that it existed, because it stands as a reminder that, whatever admirable things we ourselves may do, we are all sinners who must be ever vigilent over our own sinful nature.

9

While I don’t know what possessed I Am Sparticus to respond in the way he did, I agree with much of what he said. I don’t know why so many people find this little piece of writing to be so heartwarming. And I disagree with the suggestion that he was repeatedly using a profane and degrading term for effect, and “spitting” every time he did.

Consider this:

This is the essence of racism. Using race to explain the horrid behavior of a number of individuals, and justifying the use of the term. If this piece were about redemption of racist attitudes, this is the crux that would have to be resolved. And how is it resolved?

There is no further resolution of this core element of racism. The solution appears to be having been brainwashed by happycrap into reviling a loved one. Ultimately this revulsion is broken through by the ultra heriocs of naked grandpa, who is then defended against those who only stand and watch. Well, presumably this means that the happycrap scales have fallen away from his eyes, which were there to contradict the core elements of racism.

Thus the repeated use of the profane term becomes not an attempt to call attention or an effort at irony. Perhaps he was spitting each time he wrote it, as his grandfather may have spit during his racist diatribes.

This piece is not heartwarming, but disgusting. A failure to read it closely and follow the themes, especially given the language, is inexcusable.

On a minor note, Scylla previously stated that he intentionally lied, and defended his lying as an attempt to influence the reader,
in the “Bigotry of the Southern Strategy Thread.” It makes me wonder about the veracity of the story itself.

Those of you who shed tears over this story, please tell me how you felt that the vicious racism I quoted above was successfully resolved by the narrator.

10

The issue of how skilful his diatribe was, or whether or not one agrees with it, is irrelevant. The problem here is to do with board rules, of which he’s in flagrant violation. I think he’s missed the point.

11

Just to clarify, the racist quote above is from Scylla’s rant, not from I Am Sparticus’ response.

12

This will amaze old-timers here, but I’m stepping up to defend Scylla.

No matter how you try to revise history so that race relations in the United States have always been smiley happy people holding hands, it ain’t so. In fact, it still ain’t. As it has become a matter of legislation, racism has simply become more insidious, more subtle, and just as ubiquitous as ever.

People are not these paper dolls that you cut out of your imaginations and pretend exist. They are complex — so much so that even Jesse Jackson breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes that the shadowy figures he sees at night are white.

But I’m different. When I realize they’re white, I become afraid. Some of the meanest sons of bitches in history have been white: Jew Hater Hitler, Christian Hater Stalin, Indian Hater Jackson, and going all the way back to European conquerors who “discovered” the “new world”, the popes who led the Crusades, and the Romans who stole and pillaged land.

Scylla’s point was that his grandfather was a complex man, a man who grew up in a different time, who, despite seeing the world through racist filters, was a good man at heart — a man who was blind to race when it mattered most.

If words like nigger and Injun offend you (and I wager that one offends you more than the other), then just be offended. Lots of people are offended by lots of words and phrases around here, and we all just have to live with it.

Scylla demonstrated that he is a man with profound insights into the psyche of other men. And Lord knows I’ve had my share of conflicts with Scylla.

But Sparticus demonstrated that he is a one-dimensional parrot of his zeitgeist. He has no mind. He only has a knee.

13

Hentor:

Pity on you.

14

Gee, it’s not like this was unexpected or anything.

From the first appearance I saw of his: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134694&highlight=Sparticus+Anthracite

it was clear he was a person who was consumed by irrational vitriol and anger, who really didn’t give a shit about anything but his own sense of misplaced indignation. From his first words which I saw:

It was clear that he was either 13 and had just turned on the new PC he got for his birthday, or else was an asshole who wanted to attack me in the most hyperbolic way he could.

Some of his postings don’t even make sense at all. These were clear and unambiguous signs that he would eventually either meltdown or be banned, in that thread and many others that followed. The real (rhetorical) question is why we could not have saved the Board of 700+ posts of his shit.

15

I agree. Scylla and I don’t always get along, but I thought this story was worthwhile. My only problem with it was his dismissal of those people who held his grandfather in contempt: I think they were more right, given their knowledge of the man, to do so, than Scylla was to hold them in contempt.

Otherwise, great story, showing the complexities of prejudice and self-sacrifice.

Daniel

16

Wow, much respect for Libertarian’s rhetorical skill.

17

Well, it looks like Sparticus has been banned, so let’s all jump off the dogpile.

18

Excellent post, Hentor, and right on. Scylla’s simple dismissal of it was unfortunately typical of him, too - note that this charming thread immediately followed an 11-pager full of his endless variations of “I know you are but what am I?” and “Fuck you”, leaving one to suspect the story may simply have been an attempt at image management.

I too am curious why so many thought it was introspective. I’d much rather have seen him state how he outgrew the racist lessons of his youth beyond “being taught happy crap”. I’d also rather have seen how Scylla reconcile conflicting aspects of his grandfather’s behavior within the man’s same personality - but there was nothing there beyond, essentially, “Anyone who doesn’t know or understand is nothing”. What greater understanding does he have now than he did at the time?

IAS got what he explicitly asked for, if anyone is still wondering.

19

Yeah. I’ll close this up.