Maybe I do understand and you're just a fucking idiot

[erislover]

DAMN I hate that insult. Which one? Oh, let me set the scene.

[Debating or otherwise informative posting occurring]
PersonA posts something.
PersonB criticizes it.
PersonA accuses PersonB of not being able to comprehend English, misunderstanding everything, blah blah blah.

This isn’t a rant about people being right or wrong in these cases ('cause that’s what the discussion is for, to work that out), it is a rant because it seems to be a real common “insult” on this board and it frankly annoys the living piss out of me. I must have read it three times in as many days by three different people, and in some cases the one accusing another of an inability to comprehend (whatever, usually English but there are other variants) is the one that is ultimately wrong. Because, hey, we’re not in ImSoPerfectLand, you’ve been wrong before and you’ll be wrong again so maybe you shouldn’t be such a fucking sanctimonious prick to others that are wrong—one day [again] it will be you. This is not an application of the golden rule or some touchy-feely “let’s all get along” mandate, it is a suggestion: you’re not half as smart as you think you are. I’ve yet to see a poster on this board always be right (close, bot not always). If you want to leave your ignorance behind, it helps to toss the ego standing in your way. That ego blocks my ignorance from leaving, and yours.

Just because you think you are right doesn’t mean you are, and just because you think you are right doesn’t mean the person you are oh-so-decisively critiquing doesn’t think the same thing. If you ponder for five fucking seconds, you may come to see your own post as petulant whining and either abandon the cause as fruitless or get your fucking act together. Being right does not grant you the right to arbitrary abuse. Being offended does not grant you the right to reprisal.

Feel free, I suppose, to keep doing it. I’m not trying to be a nanny here, I’m not saying I’ve never said it before (I know I have, this just means I’m on my own shit list for it), I’m saying it makes you sound like a fucking jerk.

Maybe you are a fucking jerk. If that’s the case: it shows.

[NinetyWt]

Agreed. I quote from Dread Pirate Jimbo:

One of the things I like about the SDMB is the free exchange of ideas among people with various perspectives. I appreciate it when someone corrects me or takes up an earnest debate with me. But <snip> seems to prefer to dismiss contrary opinions and berate them as clearly stupid, rather than engage in honest debate. This is neither honourable nor intellectually stimulating. Anyone can go around saying “Your ideas are wrong because they aren’t the same as mine.” As Monty Python noted, that’s not an argument, it’s just contradiction and it goes nowhere.

[Liberal]

Eris wrote:

Just because you think you are right doesn’t mean you are, and just because you think you are right doesn’t mean the person you are oh-so-decisively critiquing doesn’t think the same thing. If you ponder for five fucking seconds, you may come to see your own post as petulant whining and either abandon the cause as fruitless or get your fucking act together. Being right does not grant you the right to arbitrary abuse. Being offended does not grant you the right to reprisal.

I don’t think you understood what I meant. I wasn’t saying that I was right and you were wrong. I was just saying that my view is sound and yours is dubious. I don’t know why I am always the object of these random and ceaseless accusations. It simply isn’t fair. There’s no reason I should have to endure this sort of bullying. Oh, woe is me! […sobbing…]

[Neurotik]

And then there are those that make themselves out to be the official Board Martyr for whatever cause they are advocating.