# Sampiro, stop being a supercilious asshole, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877 "2010-12-03T23:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/1 "2010-12-03T23:35:31Z")
[Obligatory link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13211405&postcount=242). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/2 "2010-12-03T23:47:55Z")
You know, **LHoD** , I really like you. You’re one of the better posters around here, and you almost always have something interesting and insightful to say, and the John Brown thread was typical in that regard. Overall, I think you have the stronger argument. But _damn_, were you ever a prick in that thread, and for no good reason that I could see. Also, Pit threads that consist of nothing more than a link to the thread being pitted are incredibly lame. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/3 "2010-12-03T23:49:25Z")
Gosh, that felt good. I’ve been needing to tell you what a condescending, blowhard prick you are for about a week now. It’s hilarious, also, how misinformed you are and how bad you are at understanding what other people say, and yet you project your own faults onto others. If I were as willing as you to poison the well of debate, boy howdy. Jesus Christ, man–someone asks you not to wander off on irrelevant tangents, and you fucking well compare yourself to Shakespeare! It’d be funny if it weren’t so pathological. Nah, it’s still funny. The post I’m linking to sure is long, and you sure did use a lot of colors in it, but you still betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of what I was saying. I’ll explain it to you using simple words: I argued that John Brown wasn’t a hero only because he wasn’t successful. You dismissed that argument using some shit about whales. You then argued that he wasn’t a terrorist only because he wasn’t successful, and then, with a lot of condescension and colors, argued that his success was irrelevant and that he therefore ought to be considered a terrorist. Well, by your some-shit-about-whales reasoning, there was no chance whatsoever of his being successful, so there’s no reason whatsoever for him to be considered a terrorist. You dumbshit. Using your reasoning, it’s like calling a kid a terrorist because he mixes a baking soda and vinegar bomb that he hopes will blow up the school. Your some-shit-about-whales reasoning may or may not hold water. The point is that it applies equally to considerations of his status as a hero and his status as a terrorist. None of your color coding condescension addresses that point, you poster child for logarrhea. While I’m at it, lemme correct you on yet another point of fact, as you continually force me to do in that thread. Way back when, you posted that ELF and tree-spikers have cost lives. Bullshit. Read your history before you start spouting off again, whydon’tcha? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/4 "2010-12-03T23:50:31Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You know, **LHoD** , I really like you. You’re one of the better posters around here, and you almost always have something interesting and insightful to say, and the John Brown thread was typical in that regard. Overall, I think you have the stronger argument. But _damn_, were you ever a prick in that thread, and for no good reason that I could see. > > Also, Pit threads that consist of nothing more than a link to the thread being pitted are incredibly lame. **Miller** , the respect is likewise, and I’ll take your opinion to heart. Can you be more specific about where I was a prick? I thought I was fairly restrained. As for the link, the pit was mostly a vent-blowing, but check out the follow-up for explanation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/5 "2010-12-03T23:54:39Z")
Having skimmed the post linked to, I don’t think you’re portraying that post accurately. It’s clear that Sampiro as not claiming Brown wasn’t a terrorist because he wasn’t successful, for example, contrary to what you put in your belated OP. I would guess that you guys just got frustrated and were talking past each other. I like both of you guys, and I suggest you just give it a rest. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/6 "2010-12-03T23:55:59Z")
Linking to a post where someone dismantles your argument in a extremely amusing and erudite fashion is probably not a good way to make your point. Whatever that happens to be. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/7 "2010-12-04T00:00:52Z")
I went back and read more of the last page of that thread. Ugh. I don’t think many threads last that long without degenerating into a rat hole. Got me thinking… what is the longest GD thread that didn’t generate a Pit thread? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/8 "2010-12-04T00:18:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Having skimmed the post linked to, I don’t think you’re portraying that post accurately. It’s clear that Sampiro as not claiming Brown wasn’t a terrorist because he wasn’t successful, for example, contrary to what you put in your belated OP. > > I would guess that you guys just got frustrated and were talking past each other. I like both of you guys, and I suggest you just give it a rest. Probably good advice. To be fair, while I’ll read respectful posts carefully and closely, when someone insists on insulting me at least once a paragraph, I admit I don’t give it the most respectful reading. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/9 "2010-12-04T00:21:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > **Miller** , the respect is likewise, and I’ll take your opinion to heart. Can you be more specific about where I was a prick? I thought I was fairly restrained. I thought the coda at the end of 139 was kind of a dick thing to say, although in fairness, when I first posted here, I was conflating it with 148, which was significantly more dickish, but also came after **Sampiro** escalated things, and so wasn’t quite as out of left field as I’d recalled. Still, “Stop posting so many facts to this debate!” is a pretty dumb thing to say, even if the facts are only tangentally related to the central debate. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/10 "2010-12-04T00:24:13Z")
I gotta say, **John** , that even trying to read past his ridiculously unfounded assumption of intellectual superiority over me, it appears to me that he’s making two separate points in the post I responded to: one dealing with the inability to define terrorism by number of deaths, and the other claiming that Brown’s failure is relevant to his definition as a terrorist. Do you disagree? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/11 "2010-12-04T00:26:19Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I thought the coda at the end of 139 was kind of a dick thing to say, although in fairness, when I first posted here, I was conflating it with 148, which was significantly more dickish, but also came after **Sampiro** escalated things, and so wasn’t quite as out of left field as I’d recalled. > > Still, “Stop posting so many facts to this debate!” is a pretty dumb thing to say, even if the facts are only tangentally related to the central debate. Okay, I think that 139 was mildly dickish, sure, but I was getting really tired of his posting trivia that was completely irrelevant. I mean, seriously, the reason for a famous poet’s father’s names goes way beyond tangential; it was getting on my nerves. Still, if that’s the worst, then I’ll cop to that. What in my head was some mildly constructive criticism probably came out way wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/12 "2010-12-04T00:29:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I argued that John Brown wasn’t a hero only because he wasn’t successful. > > You dismissed that argument using some shit about whales. I begin to get a vague sense that it was a good idea for me not to check out that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/13 "2010-12-04T00:41:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > and the other claiming that Brown’s failure is relevant to his definition as a terrorist. Do you disagree? It seems to me that **Sampiro** was arguing that his failure was irrelevant. Brown was a terrorist because he wanted to kill innocents. Whether or not he was successful doesn’t come into it. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/14 "2010-12-04T00:50:20Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > It seems to me that **Sampiro** was arguing that his failure was irrelevant. Brown was a terrorist because he wanted to kill innocents. Whether or not he was successful doesn’t come into it. Shit, that’s a typo on my part, sorry. I phrased it correctly in my second post in the thread. I agree with you that that’s what he was saying; my point there and here is that if his failure is irrelevant to his definition as a terrorist, then it’s irrelevant to his definition as a hero, and vice versa. I’ve argued since the beginning (and bizarrely **Sampiro** now seems to agree) that it was the stupidity of his plan and its hopelessness and failure that kept him from being a hero; **Sampiro** dismissed that argument, and then argued that the stupidity of his plan and its hopelessness and failure did not prevent him from being a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/15 "2010-12-04T03:00:41Z")
I’m not saying that John Brown was not a hero or that he was not a terrorist who did not act to not save lives, or that LHoD is not a weasel or that Sampiro is not another weasel and definitely not that I’m not making a not-satirical comment on the increasing obscurity each use of “not” adds (or does not add) to a discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/16 "2010-12-04T03:10:46Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m not saying that John Brown was not a hero or that he was not a terrorist who did not act to not save lives, or that LHoD is not a weasel or that Sampiro is not another weasel and definitely not that I’m not making a not-satirical comment on the increasing obscurity each use of “not” adds (or does not add) to a discussion. Good point. Not. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/17 "2010-12-04T04:12:19Z")
Gotta agree with **Miller**. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/18 "2010-12-04T04:42:21Z")
Y’know, it probably was a dickish thing to say. But was it untrue? I mean, it’s one thing to pad a post with too many examples; if that were what I’d said, then sure, you could characterize it as “Stop posting so many facts.” But that wasn’t what annoyed me: what annoyed me is all the **completely irrelevant** facts. **Sampiro** himself admitted that there was no relevance to Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s father’s middle name’s provenance in a debate about John Brown (as if there’s any doubt), and I think he admitted that nobody cared about Harriet Tubman’s supposed narcolepsy in a debate about John Brown, either. Those were the kinds of things that kept showing up that I was commenting on. Isn’t there some limit to what reasonably belongs in a debate? And if there is a limit, wasn’t Sampiro busting way beyond that limit? And if he was, is the problem that I mentioned it at all, or that I wasn’t more politic in how I mentioned it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/19 "2010-12-04T09:54:51Z")
Well, now, you’re getting into what’s basically an aesthetic question. For myself, I enjoy **Sampiro** ’s digressions. Even when they’re irrelevant to the central topic, I find they still add something to the discussion - not so much a context, as a texture. Mind, my interest in a thread like the John Brown one isn’t exactly the debate itself, but the subject matter in general, as revealed through debate. Does knowing that Harriet Tubman was narcoleptic help me decide the morality of John Brown’s actions? No. Does it help me get a better understanding of American culture and history in the years leading up to the Civil War? Yeah, absolutely. Learning these little details and trivia is one of the best things about the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877/20 "2010-12-04T14:27:27Z")
I agree with **Miller** and **Shodan** (and yes it’s partially because I really wanted to type that sentence). I mostly lurk in those threads where I’m much less familiar with the subject matter than the main participants. In many such threads, my favorite posters include **LHoD** and **Sampiro** , because I learn things I didn’t know and because they’re entertaining and because for the most part they don’t senselessly squabble on a personal level. Spirited argument and off topic digressions are part of what makes Great Debates such a kickass forum. Good posters make you want to follow them down those sidetracks and snark trails. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sampiro-stop-being-a-supercilious-asshole-please/562877.md?page=2)