Holy burning ears, Batman!
I knew there were still some people ragging on me in the Google Doodle thread, but i didn’t realize until just now that the incident had spawned a whole new thread of its own. Nor did i realize, until reading this thread, that Quasimodem had decided to take a break from the boards, apparently as a result (partly or primarily) of our confrontation.
I had previously decided to bow out of the Google Doodle thread, because it seemed clear to me that everyone had made up his or her mind about the incident and that there was pretty much nothing i could say that would change what anyone thought about my actions there. My first inclination was to do the same with this thread, but there are a couple of things i would like to say before leaving the issue alone altogether.
The first thing i’d like to do is reiterate that the insult i directed at Quasi was done in response to what i felt were insulting remarks directed at me, and at others who disagreed with Quasi’s opinion. More importantly, it seemed to me that Quasi was posting clearly and lucidly in that thread, and even if i didn’t care for the content of his posts, the posts themselves followed a line of reasoning that is quite common in the United States, especially among the older generation and among conservatives.
As i said in the Google Doodle thread, there is a strong current of “honor the military at any cost” in America, and this often comes with a large side-order of indignation directed at anyone who dares to criticize the military in any way. This was a thread about an internet widget, and i wasn’t interested in being accused of historical ignorance or insensitivity to military sacrifices just because i didn’t care that Google failed to put a D-Day doodle on its homepage. As i also said, i was accused of being a “friend to Saddam” when i expressed opposition to the Iraq War, and i’m sick of this sort of 100% Americanism that is sometimes used as a bludgeon in American political debates.
If i had believed that Quasi’s posts about the issue were colored by an episode of dementia, and that he was simply ranting, i would have let it go. But it’s precisely because he seemed to be well aware of the argument that he was making that i decided to give it back. It’s worth noting, too, that while i have been aware for some time of Quasi’s condition, i don’t follow him around the board, and i don’t follow his blog, so i don’t keep track of how bad (or not) it actually is. Out of curiosity, i looked up (using Google and the SDMB search engine) every instance i could find where i had been in the conversation with Quasi over the past year. I found four threads, and in every one of those he was completely lucid and as capable of making an argument as anyone else around here.
Here they are, if you’re interested.
People who pretend to not understand boarding groups for airplanes.
Well, Apparently I Have A “Diesease”
Lockerbie bomber dies.
I pit the Olympics. This is the final straw.
In three of the four cases, Quasi and i interacted directly. Here’s our discussion in the Lockerbie bomber thread, which Quasi himself started:
And here’s Quasi’s post in the carry-on luggage thread:
And his post during our exchange in the Olympics thread:
All of these posts show, to me at least, no signs at all of dementia or any other mental problem. He made fine posts, and engaged clearly and knowledgeably in multiple discussions. I’m not arguing here that Quasi’s disease is somehow less serious than people are making out; i’m simply arguing that what i’ve quoted here is typical of MY experiences with Quasi, and that these experiences determined how i saw him as a poster, and how i responded to him when he said something that irked me. I knew of his problems, but it always seemed to me that they had little effect on him here on the Dope. Yes, i knew there had been a couple of blow-ups, but Quasi is far from the only person who has ever had one of those on these boards.
My point here is not to change people’s minds about whether i was over the top in my posts to Quasi in that thread. Even some people who have defended me have said that they thought i should have been more temperate, and i respect their difference of opinion on the matter. My point is simply to note that i was dealing with him based on my understanding of his competence, as demonstrated in my interactions with him. More importantly (to me, at least), my point is also to rebut accusations like this:
and this:
These posts not only take issue with my actions, but claim to know what was going on in my mind. They criticize what i did (which i can live with), but also argue that i did it precisely because i knew that Quasi was in trouble, and that i wanted to hurt him becaue he’s a defenseless old man with a mental disease.
If beating up on an old guy with dementia is something that i so clearly enjoy, i wonder why i had all of those cordial exchanges with Quasi in the threads quoted above? I mean, his condition has been known around the boards literally for years now, and yet i waited until last week to spring my dastardly, bullying trap. Not only that, but i had friendly conversations with him just a few weeks before, in order to lull him into a false sense of security. I even disagreed with him about airport security, and yet did so in a friendly manner, just so he would be further tempted to think of me as a reasonable person. If you believe all that, i have some swampland in Florida you might be interested in.
I’ve laid out, as clearly as i can, my thought processes. Those who believe that i deliberately set out to target Quasi probably won’t have their minds changed by my explanation, even though one person grasped my thought processes pretty much perfectly:
Exactly.
I recognize that the post itself was intemperate. But i’ve been here for over ten years now, and anyone who has had interaction with me in the pit knows that i can be intemperate at times. I’ve called plenty of people on this message board worse names than i called Quasi, and included in that number are plenty of people whom i respect and like. I’ve had insult-laden run-ins with John Mace, Bricker, RickJay, Shot From Guns, Silenus, constanze, DiosaBellissima, and a bunch of others. In any cases, i actively like the people that i’ve insulted, and in others i don’t know them that well but have nothing against them. As i said in the other thread, i tend not to let these things carry over from one discussion to another, unless i have constant run-ins with an individual over a period of time.
My point here is that the insult i threw at Quasi was, like most of the ones i throw, something done in the heat of the moment that would be just as quickly forgotten. I tend to treat the insults i receive in exactly the same way; i burn about them for a while, but don’t let them prevent me from polite interaction with the person in other threads. It was not some calculated, nefarious attempt to bully a helpless old man, no matter what motives others might impute to me.
I’m not going to apologize for what i said or did. If i have one regret in this whole incident, it’s that it seems to be the main reason for Quasi deciding to take a break. I regret this particularly because of what i said in the last paragraph: for me, this was just a typical Pit confrontation that was never designed to go any further, and that would not have changed in any way my normal, cordial relations with Quasi in other threads. I like and respect him just as much as i did this time last week, and i hope he comes back. I still disagree with him about the need for a D-Day Google Doodle, though.
That’s my say on this matter, and i see no need to weigh in further on it, so i’ll leave it there.
Oh, except for one thing…
Jesus Christ on a Cracker, you are fucking retarded.