# To flame a Mockingbird **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156 "2003-05-19T02:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/1 "2003-05-19T02:05:41Z")
Hello Mockingbird. I’m just kidding about the flaming. I have no intentions of flaming you, at least not yet. I would like to have a word with you, though. I notice that in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=180080&highlight=mobility) thread you had some unkind words to say to me: > [@](#): > > Wow. Again Scylla is being a moron and deciding who is and is not in need of something. > > Before it was that people didn’t need a handicapped placard if they had a nice car. > > Bow down to the mighty Scylla and his amazing sense of who is deserving of adaptive equipment and reasonable accomodation. Somebody replied to this, suggesting you were being offensible, to which you replied: > [@](#): > > I’m not “looking for shit to get offended at.” > > Scylla has a history of taking offense when the commoners try and talk to him and looking at others and becoming angry because he jumps to conclusions about what their capacity is and what they deserve. > > So… you and Cheesesteak can go fuck yourselves. > > Scylla has been an attention seeking jerk since he came on here, and little has changed since his first entitlement laden SUV rant. Now I realize that this a sensitive issue to you, and I realize you have multiple sclerosis and things are not easy. I did not mean to offend you in that thread, and I’m sorrry I did so. I truly didn’t see anything for you to be offended about in my OP since it was specifically about casual and unnecessary use of mobility devices for able-bodied people, but I figured that I had unknowingly upset you, and since I had no reason to bear you ill-will, I decided to ask you how I could set it right. I said: [quote] Mockingbird: What can I do to mend fences with you? [/quote[ Either you didn’t see that, or you chose not to reply to it. That’s your perogative. Seeing as you didn’t I figured that was it, case closed. * * * Today though I noticed something else. There’s this very light, nice and funny thread around here. It’s Fenris’ [Manny, quit tossing your junk in my backyard] ([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=179106](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=179106)) thread. I was perusing that thread today, enjoying the humor and cleverness in it when I came across this poem you had authored: > [@](#): > > He claims tool, > yet he won’t look in a mirror. > We know his sperm count, > which doesn’t make him dearer. > His fear of Walmarts has been proclaimed, > his erectile issues are made plain. > Still he doesn’t see that he’s a dick, > for all his bluster he’s quite thick. Making fun of somebody in just is fine. Especially if it’s me. I can take it. Yet something about this weeks after you had some nasty words to me strikes a disturbing note. To say the least, the hurtful intent I sense in that, is pretty uncool. If you don’t like me, please feel free to ignore me. Please feel free to start a pit thread about me. I would however like to earn your goodwill if that is possible. Failing that possibility, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from unsolicited attacks in threads unrelated to the issue of your distaste. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/2 "2003-05-19T02:18:38Z")
**Scylla** , for what it’s worth, I read that original thread, and I agreed with you. I didn’t think you were deciding who did and didn’t need anything, just that you, as a rational person, realized that many people who don’t need them are using them. I’ve pretty much always respected **mockingbird** , and was somewhat surprised by the hostility of his (her?) reaction. I, for one, thought it was over the top. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/3 "2003-05-19T02:36:00Z")
**Mockingbird** is obviously a very unhappy person, who tries her damndest to make others around her as miserable as she. Every thread I’ve seen her participate in (in the Pit) she’s jumping all over somebody for “offending” her. It gets real old, real fast. **Mockingbird** seriously, get outside. Get a hobby. You’ll feel better about yourself and your life, and it may calm your oversensitive ass down. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/4 "2003-05-19T02:44:46Z")
Bravo on the pitting, btw. Given the provocation given to you by **Mockingbird** , most people would be calling her a festering boil on the arse of humanity. Your pitting is polite, thoughtful and disarming. Nicely done. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/5 "2003-05-19T02:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lezlers \* > \*\ ***Mockingbird** is obviously a very unhappy person, who tries her damndest to make others around her as miserable as she. Every thread I’ve seen her participate in (in the Pit) she’s jumping all over somebody for “offending” her. It gets real old, real fast. > > **Mockingbird** seriously, get outside. Get a hobby. You’ll feel better about yourself and your life, and it may calm your oversensitive ass down. \*\* FWIW, **Mockingbird** is a guy who has a degenerative muscular disease which inhibits movement. ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/6 "2003-05-19T02:50:56Z")
I concur. This is positively genteel. However, I must ask why you’re putting such a high premium on **Mockingbird’s** good will. From the posts of his I’ve read (and **Mockingbird** is definately a he. He used to post under the moniker **Hastur** and although the name has changed, his abraisive personality has remained unaltered.) he seems like the sort of petty minded misanthrope most people would run a marathon to get away from. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/7 "2003-05-19T02:56:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Lao \* > \*\*FWIW, **Mockingbird** is a guy who has a degenerative muscular disease which inhibits movement. \*\* I stand corrected, he. I always pictured **Mockingbird** as a woman. And having a degenerative muscular disease gives license to act like a jerk on a continual basis? In what world? Sorry to sound insensitive, but **Mockingbird** has been riding my nerves for awhile now, and while a muscular disease my be an explanation, it’s certainly not an excuse. And **Mockingbird** used to be **Hastur**?? The picture is all becoming clearer now… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/8 "2003-05-19T03:05:06Z")
Ouch, **Dr Lao** posted while I was writing my post above and I missed it on preview. I was unaware that **Mockingbird** was burdened with such a severe physical handicap. I would have cut him some slack if I had (sorry if this sounds patronising but I know that if I were in **Mockingbird’s** shoes I’d probably fly off the handle from time to time as well.) As such I’d like to retract, well, if not the sentiment of my post then at least the snide vitriol with which it was presented. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/9 "2003-05-19T03:14:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lezlers \* > \*\*Every thread I’ve seen her participate in (in the Pit) she’s jumping all over somebody for “offending” her. It gets real old, real fast. \*\* Pot, meet kettle > [@](#): > > [\*originally posted by lezlers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=184434&pagenumber=2)\*\*\* > Gee, has comedy central picked you up yet? Or did you just not get enough attention as a child and now insist bashing anyone different from you to get a few pitiful laughs? > \ > Do you tell “tard” jokes to mentally handicapped people and then get pissed off when they take offense? Shit, they just need to get themselves a sense of humor right? And the colerds? Do ya get a good chuckle outta them when you tell them jokes? How bout the spicks? Are they lacking a sense of humor too? > > Boy, people are just too damn sensitive, aren’t they lonsomepolecat? \*\ ***lonesomepolecat’s** chief offense was that he posted a satire about a Satanist Grotto. Yep, according to **lezlers** , satirizing Satanism is being insensitive. Maybe the line about Darth Vader bed sheets was too much. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/10 "2003-05-19T03:18:42Z")
Monkey with a gun, did you post in the wrong thread? ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/11 "2003-05-19T03:22:22Z")
Mockingbird has issues with Scylla that go farther back, and have nothing to do with handicapped scooters. It appears he was waiting for an opportunity to vent. Patience, Mockingbird. Scylla will eventually say something that truly warrants offense (we all do). Wait until then before opening the can of whoop-ass. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/12 "2003-05-19T03:25:12Z")
In truth I was not aware that Mockingbird is the poster formerly known as Hastur. That doesn’t change anything, though. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/13 "2003-05-19T03:25:20Z")
> [@](#): > > And having a degenerative muscular disease gives license to act like a jerk on a continual basis? No, but it does make it hard to “go outside and get a life.” I like **Mockingbird**. Yeah, sometimes he gets a little hysterical, which leads to him being very abrasive. On the other hand, I’ve read some of his posts about stuff that he’s gone through in his life, and he has had a simply amazing amount of shit dumped into his life. I won’t go into details; it’s his life and his choice who he tells about it, but I can’t help cutting him two or three miles of slack over it. I think he’s spent so much of his life in a defensive crouch he can’t get out of it anymore. Plus, the guy is an absolute master of creative vulgarity, which is a skill I much admire. All that said, I think it was inappropriate to post that in **Fenris** ’s thread. Whatever history has gone on between him and **Scylla** is their business. I just think it was bad manners to drag it into **Fenris** ’s thread. It’s the sort of thing that can totally derail and ruin an innocent thread, and even when the target has enough class to avoid the hijack, a burst of hostility like that in an otherwise light hearted thread can be a real buzzkill, even for people not remotely involved in the fight. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/14 "2003-05-19T03:26:20Z")
Oh, I was waiting for this shit. [Scylla, please excuse this breif hijack] Thank you so much **Monkey** for taking that quote out of context. In that other thread (that has nothing whatsoever to do with this thread I may add) I’m actually defending my own religion (no, not Satanism, Wicca, which **lonsesomepolecats** also lopped in his response) not Satanism. Yeah, I do call out people when they’re acting innappropriately, or shamelessly insulting a group of people or religion. **Mockingbird** however, as I posted earlier, enters every thread I’ve seen him enter (in the Pit anyway) under the guise of “sticking up” for the wronged party. In. Every. Thread. He. Enters. See the difference? Me. One or two threads. **Mockingbird**? Every. Single. Fucking. Thread. Have you ever stuck up for somebody? Ever stuck up for yourself? Oh you have? Then you’d better not say shit in this thread because you’re being a hypocrite. :rolleyes: If you’ve got a problem with me, then pit _me_. Don’t chase me into other threads waving posts made by me in that last thread trying to “discredit” me. That’s just sad. [End hijack, thanks Scylla] ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/15 "2003-05-19T03:44:53Z")
Oh come off of it **lezlers** , you can’t criticize someone ( **mockingbird** ) for being too easily offended when you do the _exact same thing_. Scylla, I apologize for the mild high jack, but I loathe hypocrits. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/16 "2003-05-19T03:54:33Z")
I really don’t want to get involved in this as both parties are good friends, **Mockingbird** , in real life and **Scylla** ’s my arch-nemesis, but I hope I can clear one point up. I believe that **Mockingbird** was unaware of my ongoing friendly “feud” with **Scylla** and was defending me/sticking up for me. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/17 "2003-05-19T04:05:11Z")
Look, I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I’m popping in to say I see this turning real ugly real fast. Two well-known and often controversial posters meet in the Pit. Soon the shit will fly and no one will be immune. Already I sense battle lines being drawn. It’s your classic “two go in, one comes out” situation, and frankly there’s been just a few too many of these happening lately. Lawn chairs will appear, coolers will be opened, and things will be said that perhaps should not. Yes, this is the Pit. Yes, people are free to say whatever they please so long as they don’t violate board rules. But maybe this is something that should have been taken to e-mail. I love reading Pit threads, I’ll admit it. You often see a huge outpouring of creativity and emotion that the other forums lack. But when threads degenerate to board popularity contests like I see this one quickly doing, it’s not long 'til a trainwreck and a lockdown. Maybe we should just get the hell off the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flame-a-mockingbird/176156/18 "2003-05-19T05:01:45Z")
Sounds like a good idea, **ratty.**