# SmashTheState **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 30, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731 "2009-07-30T01:00:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [July 30, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/61 "2009-07-30T18:37:28Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > The way that I am reading the OP is that in essence there are a very few people around here that seem to actually think and who actually have any balls in terms of expressing their convictions and standing by them. I am sure that someone is going to be along any second now to claim that I am being whooshed by the whole thread but it seems to me that the predictable masturbatory one lines and in-joke bullshit that this thread is getting as a response pretty much prove the point that the OP is trying to make. Good job one and all! I don’t think you’re being whooshed, but I don’t see how the “masturbatory one-liners” and “in-joke bullshit” prove that “very few people around here that seem to actually think and who actually have any balls in terms of expressing their convictions and standing by them.” These seem to be wholly unrelated issues. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/62 "2009-07-30T18:40:03Z")
Hitler had the balls to think through, express, and stand by his convictions. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/63 "2009-07-30T18:51:25Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > Hitler had the balls to think through, express, and stand by his convictions. Don’t you mean “Hitler had the ball” ? ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/64 "2009-07-30T18:56:36Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Don’t you mean “Hitler had the ball” ? True. Funny how he let Goebbels do so much of the talking, when he didn’t have any at all. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/65 "2009-07-30T19:06:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t think you’re being whooshed, but I don’t see how the “masturbatory one-liners” and “in-joke bullshit” prove that “very few people around here that seem to actually think and who actually have any balls in terms of expressing their convictions and standing by them.” These seem to be wholly unrelated issues. This is going to be a little nuanced and probably a little nebulous, so please bear with me. It is something that I have personally struggled with. There is this thing that a lot of the “cool kids” do where they approach life cynically or ironically. In essence, think of the gestalt “vibe” that you get from this message board. There is a lot of sarcasm and detachment in approaching life. It has elements of the film critic and the armchair quarterback. In essence it is an attitude of consuming culture, second guessing everything and above all and at all costs making sure that you can always claim to be just joking or not really taking the position that you seem to be taking. I can not make the claim that I contribute a whole lot to life, nor can I say that I am really about anything or even really particularly know a whole lot about what I even like or believe. But I can say that I am attempting to engage with life with sincerity and that I am striving to contribute to life. A lot of what I see around here is people who aren’t even on the journey. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/66 "2009-07-30T19:15:05Z")
You’re kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/67 "2009-07-30T19:18:32Z")
Who is kidding about what? Can you be more specific? ---
**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:** [July 30, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/68 "2009-07-30T19:18:55Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > But I can say that I am attempting to engage with life with sincerity and that I am striving to contribute to life. A lot of what I see around here is people who aren’t even on the journey. Richard Nixon said something a lot like this. He described himself as being “in the arena” whereas his critics weren’t. Or so he thought. Bear in mind that reflexive-appearing snark in many cases comes from people who have seen the same horseshit posted over and over and over again in varying forms and styles by people who mistakenly think they are original, and for whom criticism (of any kind) merely reinforces their preening sense of apartness and self-importance. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/69 "2009-07-30T19:24:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Richard Nixon said something a lot like this. He described himself as being “in the arena” whereas his critics weren’t. Or so he thought… So what is the Nixon version of Godwin? And how have I lead you to think of me in that light? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/70 "2009-07-30T19:25:38Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Bear in mind that reflexive-appearing snark in many cases comes from people who have seen the same horseshit posted over and over and over again in varying forms and styles by people who mistakenly think they are original, and for whom criticism (of any kind) merely reinforces their preening sense of apartness and self-importance. And at other times it just comes from pompous jackholes who try to pull off condescending intelligence, but just end up demonstrating their ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/71 "2009-07-30T19:31:31Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > …condescending intelligence… Band Name! Hu huh huh huh ! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/72 "2009-07-30T19:48:37Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > pompous jackholes Better band name! ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/73 "2009-07-30T19:53:09Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > But seriously, if you want us to stop equating conservatives with trailor trash then you might want to stop appealing to them as your base. There was a time when there were tons of thougtful conservatives such as William Buckley. Now a conservative rally looks like a convoy of short busses stopped on the way to a Monster Truck Rally. Here we have more evidence of something I’ve said many times: Liberals hate working class whites. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/74 "2009-07-30T19:53:20Z")
I have no particular animus for anarchy any more than any other political philosophy, but I think of them as hothouse flowers, designed for debate and intellectual exercises but having little if any real value. Libertarianism is my number one candidate, but communism is just as much. They are abstractions, and as such are not directly applicable to how people behave, or how they ought to behave. Mostly harmless, unless taken seriously. Many intellectuals who would have made perfectly good leftists were sucked into Marxism and spent far, far too much time trying to defend the practical value of concepts like “urban proletariat”. And, of course, perfectly sensible socialists drowned out by criticism from the right for being too much like Marxists, and criticism from Marxists for refusing to accept classical Marxism’s claim to “history” as a direct and inevitable force. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/75 "2009-07-30T19:55:17Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Here we have more evidence of something I’ve said many times: Liberals hate working class whites. Well, they don’t much like you, but then again, who does? ---
**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:** [July 30, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/76 "2009-07-30T20:00:58Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > So what is the Nixon version of Godwin? And how have I lead you to think of me in that light? 😕 I think it’s the jowls and the five o’clock shadow. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/77 "2009-07-30T20:02:40Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > Yep, a personal appearance that is the epitome of “rode hard and put up wet”. > > Oh, and the bars in the window are a nice touch. Cheerful, even. > > _Moreso than mine, drat it._ I think those are venetian blinds, not bars. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/78 "2009-07-30T20:10:12Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > I can not make the claim that I contribute a whole lot to life, nor can I say that I am really about anything or even really particularly know a whole lot about what I even like or believe. But I can say that I am attempting to engage with life with sincerity and that I am striving to contribute to life. A lot of what I see around here is people who aren’t even on the journey. This strikes me as an astoundingly hubristic and unwarranted conclusion to draw from a sarcastic aside made on an internet message board. Particularly in the context of this thread. Some subjects do not merit a sincere response. The OP is one of them. Really, what is the value in a “sincere” response to an asshole telling us all how much we suck? Why should that be dignified with anything but ironic condescension? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/79 "2009-07-30T20:10:57Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That said, the stuff he was spouting in the schizophrenia thread was full-on bullshit. This differs from 90% of what is said in GD exactly how? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731/80 "2009-07-30T20:16:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, they don’t much like you, but then again, who does? On the SDMB, none; out in the real world where it actually matters, a good many people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smashthestate/504731.md?page=5)