Jesus. As I said, I’ve unsubscribed except from direct mentions. I’ve said what I’ve done. I know folks want to be cute, and believe me, you’re adorable, but don’t make it out like I’ve said anything else
All these posts and I still am not sure why the two of you are squabbling. Can’t we all just come together and unify under our shared core belief that DrDeth is a fuckin jackass?
I don’t get LHoD’s objections either. He’s been on the SDMB long enough to understand there’s bound to be disparity of opinions, and there’s other reasons to be pissed off at DrDeth than his opinions on D&D.
(I replied to Gyrate instead of LHoD so he wouldn’t feel like he had to reply to a thread he said goodbye to multiple times)
I’m not sure, either. A number of people have stated that it’s DD that’s being mocked and not his father but LHoD has his mind made up.
@IvoryTowerDenizen explained it really well, I thought.
I can agree with @Gyrate that we should unify under our shared core belief that DrDeth is a fuckin jackass. Works for me.
I can’t get behind that.
DerDef is an fucken jakas.
Here’s the crazy thing about LHOD’s objection. The @DrDeth post linked in his OP features the exact same behavior that people are criticizing DD for in his posts about MacArthur.
Here’s DD claiming special knowledge about Dungeons and Dragons…
You’re alright.
I have to admit that my big lie was thinking your user name was TokyoBaker. My apologies to you and to any offended baked goods.
Anything I do is half baked so I think the baked goods should definitely feel insulted
I never did thank DrDeth for the compliment and it’s probably not the place or time now.
I don’t hang out in the game room, and the last time I played D&D was in high school decades ago so I wouldn’t have read the thread but I skimmed it now.
Interestingly, DD’s MO cuts across threads and topics.
It’s damn similar to one of his posts about his father and “Doug” where the claim of special insider knowledge trumps any reasoning or outside expert.
The funny thing is that LHoD would probably applaud a comprehensive dismantling of DD’s special connection with his buddy “Gary” if it were possible, even if it were to run into the same word count. It’s simply that LHoD isn’t interested in history but is passionate about D&D so the former is a “tedious wank-off” and the latter would be refreshing news.
Whacha gonna do?
[Hulk Hogan]
Whatcha gonna do, brother, when the @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness runs wild…on you?
[/Hulk Hogan]
Not at all. I don’t give a shit whether he knew Gygax or not, any more than I give a shit whether his dad knew MacArthur or not. If his claim to know Gygax checks out perfectly, that doesn’t support his claim about the man’s racist status, because the thread wasn’t about Gygax’s attitude around buddies: it was about the cultural implications of his work.
The reason I found your posts so tedious is because they don’t matter (to me). If every jot and tittle in his story about how his dad knew MacArthur checked out, would you say, “Oh my goodness, I suppose FDR really did know about Pearl Harbor in advance”? I certainly wouldn’t.
A claim of personal knowledge has an extremely small persuasive value. If you tell me, “I once served Bill Cosby a beer, and he was an excellent tipper,” I’ll likely believe you, and believe that Cosby was (at least on occasion) an excellent tipper. That’s not a subject on which I have any opinion, nor is the opinion of any consequence, so some random asshole online telling me a personal anecdote? May as well take it at face value.
But if what you’re saying is of any consequence or is in any way remarkable, I’ll discard it. Tell me (as someone once did) that Debbie Gibson beat you up and left you for dead? I’m not gonna change my mind about Debbie Gibson based on that. Tell me that Gygax wasn’t racist? Your personal anecdote is meaningless. Tell me your dad knew MacArthur and something something Pearl Harbor wasn’t a surprise? Fuck off.
And it beggars belief that anyone would have a different approach, would change their minds about anything of import based on some anonymous schmuck’s testimony.
So post awesome historical facts in threads about WW2, that’s great. Castigate DD for thinking an anonymous stranger’s claims about his dad will revolutionize the historical understanding of the war, cool.
But write ten million paragraphs picking apart the claim?
That shit’s tedious.
In anticipation:
- BUT YOU FLOUNCED! Nifty. Not what I said, but cool. Sometimes if a person can’t think of anything clever to say, some half-related tired-ass smirking is the closest they can get, and I can’t begrudge anyone that brief glimmer of joy in this vale of tears–much less begrudge it to the sort of sad sack that’d engage in this sort of nonsense.
- THE REST OF US FIND IT INTERESTING! Keen. Once I realized that, I dropped it. But people keep @ing me, so here I am.
- THIS POST IS WAY MORE TEDIOUS THAN TOKYOBAYER’S EVER WERE! Almost certainly true. I’m boring the shit out of myself just typing it.
- CAN’T WE JUST HATE ON HIM!!! Honestly at this point he’s said he’s gonna try to do better, so I’m not feeling the irritation I felt when I started this. If he keeps up with foolishness, I’m sure I’ll resume–but when he says his dad’s memories lack historical value, that feels like the end to me, for at least that bit.
- YOU DIDN’T ANTICIPATE DOPERS WOULD HAVE DIFFERENT REASONS THAN YOURS. This is the biggest enigma for me, because of your lengthy SDMB tenure.
I also can’t fathom why you would consider WWII history tedious. There’s no magic swords and dragons, but World War battles are real life “fate of the planet” struggles that inspired Tolkien and led to creation of the RPGs you love so much.
Uh, right. That’s why, when I realized other folks found it interesting, I bowed out. Folks keep after me, though, and because I’m a dumbass I keep explaining it to y’all again and again, as though this time you’ll get it.
That’s not remotely what I said. WWII history is fine. Ten million sentences of it all in the effort of proving inconsistencies in some random asshole’s dad’s supposed war stories? That’s not interesting to me.
I thought I was the only one. And it took me several years to get the name right. I have to admit I’m kinda relieved by this news.
j
I have to say, this thread has turned into a really thorough pitting of LHoD! Bravo to whoever started it…
I can’t let this stand.
WWI inspired Tolkien, not WWII so much. He fought in and nearly died in WWI. He lost many friends in WWI.
*OK, back to your regularly scheduled pitting, *
Nerd Out.
I said “World War” battles. I didn’t specify which World War. Focus on the main point instead of quibbling next time.
“I don’t understand why you don’t like WW2 history - an entirely different war loosely inspired something you do like” is a very stupid point, though, and I can’t blame @What_Exit for giving you the benefit of the doubt by assuming that wasn’t the point you wanted to make.
Nah, it’s not stupid, to me. The point was even though DD is swords and magic, it was inspired by World Wars. So, if you love DD, it’s not crazy to think you might care about the inspiration material.