That’s right – I pit all of you rational, fair-minded, logic-using members of the SDMB.
The SDMB was the first message board that I ever belonged to. As such, I got used to the idea of arguing and debating with logic, reason and facts, as opposed to hyperbole, exaggeration, ad hominem attacks and the like. That’s not to say that we don’t have our occasional troll, troublemaker or malcontent, but they are usually quickly identified as such and leave the boards shortly thereafter.
Sadly, however, as I go elsewhere on the internet, I find that is not the case. It was recently highlighted to me on a column on ForwardProgressives titled “10 Questions Every Conservative Needs To Answer About Their Support For Ted Nugent.”
While I do tend to lean conservative on some issues, I am certainly not a hard-core right-winger – and I don’t support Ted Nugent. So, I simply asked the author of the piece (in the comments) why he makes the assumption that every conservative supports Nugent.
For asking this simple question, another person in short accused me of supporting birthers, racists and the like. And, of course, the fact that I denied being a birther or a racist was, to him, proof enough that I was.
Without knowing me at all, he felt he had the right to simply assume that because I questioned the author, I must be some rabid right-wing fanatic worthy of nothing better than utter contempt. Never once did he actually attempt to simply answer the question I raised or engage me in a civil manner (I can be quite civil to those I disagree with).
I was taken aback by this. It’s not the mode of argument that I’m used to. I’ve always been used to the reasoned debate that I found here. Yes, it got heated sometimes, but for the most part, it rarely degenerated into ugly mud-slinging. It was this that I was used to, not the angry foul-mouthed invective I found on the other site.
So, it’s all your fault, SDMB. You spoiled me.
Zev Steinhardt