I think it’s just fine and dandy that Beck has a fan club. Certain people like certain of her posts - hooray for her!
But to pretend that Beck is never uncivil, when she tells people to “shut up” in the Politics & Elections forum and in the In My Humble Opinion forum is ridiculous.
Of course, it is perfectly cromulent for her to call another poster a “jerk” while telling them to shut up as long as she’s in the Pit, and a good thing, too, because she did.
She can certainly be condescending, by telling someone to “calm down” in IMHO. (She got a mod note for that, I see.)
And she does seem to embrace the concept that other people (men, in this post) tell her she shouldn’t have an opinion. I’m not sure that’s the case, actually.
And as long as I’m linking to that "how do we feel about teachers fired for posting homemade porn? thread, I think it is a great example of why some people think of Beck as crotchety and - I’ll borrow the word @We_re_wolves_not_werewolves used for some of the rest of us - “mean-spirited.” She flounces and returns at least twice in that thread. (Why bother?)
Her point of view in that teacher porn thread, to which she is absolutely entitled (and I don’t think anyone would say she isn’t) is, to those of us with a different world view, very judgmental toward teachers and utterly lacking in compassion. She also tells us at one point that the thread should be closed (well, she’s had HER say, so what could possibly be left?)
Finally, this thread is the poster child for Beck’s MO. The topic is about the approrpriateness of thread-splitting, but Beck jumps in immediately to complain “I have never been criticized in all my years as much as I have on this board.” Okay, that is unfortunate, but that’s not what the thread was about.
Honestly, I don’t care at all if Beck wants to be folksy, hold opinions (even mean-spirited ones) that are contrary what many of us believe, if she pushes buttons so that she becomes the focus of many threads she enters, or even if she’s rude or belligerent (while not running afoul of the rules, of course). I’m all for crusty, curmudgeonly posters! Beck can be very witty and plenty of fun, anyway.
I just wish that (a) we didn’t have to have these conversations where people treat her like a maligned saint (she is NOT a saint!); and (b) she’d cheerfully accept the mantle of sometimes-contrary poster. Nothing wrong with that, unless you insist you’re always sweet when you aren’t.