Make Toddlers Cry - It's OK, Since It's For the Anti-Bush Cause!

[wonky]

@elucidator

Our efforts to gently guide him from the path of political error are bearing modest fruit. Rejoice!

The pokeweed along the fencerow bears modest fruit, too. That doesn’t mean I want to eat it.

[Bricker]

@jsgoddess

Okay, so when he comes back, as he is wont to do, and claims that RF “proved” his point, you would reply to him that he didn’t establish a point in the first place?

Absolutely. Shodan established no point with that line – he just hurled an insult. This is the right place to hurl insults; I have no problem with that. But let’s not confuse an unreturned insult with proving a point.

[RedFury]

@Bricker

How is it specific?

Here’s what Shodan said:

You want to pretend that RedFury isn’t given to surfing the left-wing blogs to find fuel for his hatred of the US and Israel and vomiting it up onto the SDMB? He does.

Does that mean RedFury reads a left-wing blog, finds a specific issue, and posts it here with a link back to the blog? Or does it mean that he reads left-wing blogs to increase his hatred of the US and Israel and then posts about his hatred here? Does every post in which RedFury says anything negative about the US or Israel qualify? It would seem to – any post that remotely criticizes the US or Israel can be said to be “hatred” which was “fueled by left-wing blogs” and then “vomited” up here… right?

You can see that Shodan’s comment is anything but specific; if read literally, its reach is quite sweeping. It cannot be read specifically; it’s merely a generic insult, devoid of any specific meaning.

The way I read Shodan’s comment was that I directly linking to to, or plagiarizing from, “left wing blogs.” It was under that interpretation that I issued my challenge.

OTOH, I can now see how it could be interpreted in such a generic fashion as to mean nothing more than yet another empty insult. Whatever. I can assure you or anyone else reading that I am as hard-headed as they come and have always marched to the beat of my own drum. And sure enough, I don’t like the drumbeat coming out of either the US or Israel at the moment. Pissant that I am in the overall scheme of things, 'fraid it’s not me that’s going to have change his tune.

Keep listening and you’ll see what I mean…

[Shodan]

@RedFury

The way I read Shodan’s comment was that I directly linking to to, or plagiarizing from, “left wing blogs.” It was under that interpretation that I issued my challenge.

Oh, I didn’t say or mean anything about plagiarism. I meant mostly this -

@Bricker

Or does it mean that he reads left-wing blogs to increase his hatred of the US and Israel and then posts about his hatred here?

I’m making an observation about some Dopers. It’s largely unprovable, as I cannot demonstrate with any degree of rigor what RedFury does off the boards, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. If you post often enough to condemn one side, it is legitimate to infer your motives.

God knows it happens often enough on the boards about me; I tend to discount the objections of those who go into a tizzy when I do it about them. If you expect me to show such a thick hide, you better not cry foul when you get back what you dish out.

@RedFury

Whatever. I can assure you or anyone else reading that I am as hard-headed as they come and have always marched to the beat of my own drum.

And that drum is consistently anti-Israel and anti-US, and fueled by a one-sided view of the facts on the ground. In my opinion.

You can refer to that as “hard-headed” if you like. Doesn’t really mean much in this context.

Regards,
Shodan

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

Apropos of very little, I just wanted to say that, even if it remains right-wing bullshit, insults and half-truths, it’s somewhat refreshing to see posts from Shodan that are a bit more thought out than “See, I told you. This is just further proof that all liberals are [fill in the irelevant nsult].” One gets the idea that there might after all be a person composing these more recent posts.

A half-wit, to be sure, but at least an organic half-wit.

[elucidator]

@Shodan

… It’s largely unprovable, as I cannot demonstrate with any degree of rigor what RedFury does off the boards, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true…

Of course, I can’t demonstrate with any degree of rigor that Shodan spends his weekends adopting kittens from the local shelter and stuffing them into blenders. Doesn’t mean it isn’t true…

…If you post often enough to condemn one side, it is legitimate to infer your motives…

Just so! All of this lefty partisan politics is spoiling our civic discourse. If only they would shut up, our civic discourse would be clarified.

…And that drum is consistently anti-Israel and anti-US, and fueled by a one-sided view of the facts on the ground. In my opinion…

Are those two seperate one-sided views, or one unified field?

…You can refer to that as “hard-headed” if you like. Doesn’t really mean much in this context…

I could, I suppose, if I like. Not the first words that leap to mind…

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@Hentor the Barbarian

A half-wit, to be sure, but at least an organic half-wit.

Nonsense! A true red-meat conservative like Shodan has no truck with organically fanatical tree-hugger types. Synthetic all the way, baby!

[Shodan]

@Hentor the Barbarian

One gets the idea that there might after all be a person composing these more recent posts.

A half-wit, to be sure, but at least an organic half-wit.

Gosh, I’m all teary-eyed here.

But EddyTeddyFreddy is right - omnivore here. Endangered species by preference, grilled on a bed of tropical hardwoods, and served by exploited Third World labor.

And it better be with a smile, or no tip.

Regards,
Shodan

[RTFirefly]

@Bricker

Or does it mean that he reads left-wing blogs to increase his hatred of the US and Israel and then posts about his hatred here? Does every post in which RedFury says anything negative about the US or Israel qualify? It would seem to – any post that remotely criticizes the US or Israel can be said to be “hatred” which was “fueled by left-wing blogs” and then “vomited” up here… right?

The weird thing, in this context, is that, as Josh Marshall points out, a minor issue in the lefty blogsphere these days concerns how little is being written there about Israel’s recent conflicts with Gaza and Lebanon:

As the Israel-Lebanon war has unfolded, there’s been an ancillary debate in the blogosphere about why liberal or progressive blogs have been comparatively silent on the subject.

And if they’re quiet about Israel now, it stands to reason that they say even less about Israel when nothing unusual is happening there.

Maybe Shodan can give us the names of some well-read lefty blogs that try to arouse anti-Israel feelings in their readership, to at least give us a sense of where RedFury might have gone to fuel his hatred of Israel, to at least verify that the possibility exists that RedFury might have done so.

Oh, and Shodan? I’m still awaiting a response to post #438, which is to say I’m still waiting for you to defend your posts 301 and 316 against the rebuttals on p.7 of this thread. Though I’m expecting Jesus to return first.