After seeing the completely wild and vicious screaming rants against Scylla in this thread, I would like to make the following statement:
[ul]
[li] If I make a joke about a Basset Hound, and you go bananas because your beloved Basset Hound ‘Joey’ just pulled you from a burning building and then died heroically while going back in to save your prized collection of “People” magazine, you can kiss my ass.[/li][li]If I come home from a bad day and rant about the asshole in the Pinto who cut me off in traffic, and say that rear-ending him would teach him a lesson, I don’t want to hear it if your poor uncle Ned died in a Pinto. He probably deserved it.[/li][li]If I let off a bit of steam by complaining about the giant slob who reached past me to grab the last three boxes of Oreos in the store, proceeded to eat them while standing in the checkout line, and thus disrupted my munchie-run, I don’t want to hear about your personal weight problems and how much pain it has caused you in your life. Learn to love yourself, or go take your frustrations out on a cat (any cat), or just stop cramming food into your gaping pie-hole, for Christ’s sake.[/li][li]If my use of the name of the Lord God Almighty in the last sentence offended you greatly, I don’t want to hear it. God is dead.[/li][li]If you are too short, or too tall, or too thin, or too fat, or not too smart, or a geek, or you have halitosis, or there’s something growing out of your back and you thought it was just a mole but then one day it started to move in purposeful ways, or your skin is too dark, or too light, or you have no skin, then face it: You’re a FREAK. Please make sure to make everyone around you aware of this fact 24 hours a day by taking offense with anything they say. But if you do it here, to me, I will rip that freaky mole off your back and torture it in front of you until the anguished cries of your mole-creature cause your easily-offended brain to overload and explode with a great gushing POP, just like a zit.[/li][li]If I left you out, and you feel that I’m being insensitive by not recognizing your personal affliction, then all I can say is whatever the hell is wrong with you disgusts me. I hate people like you, whatever you are. [/li][/ul]
Psst: Scylla, I’m covering you. Make a break for it!
So Scylla or anybody can rant about any old crap which offends them but if anyone feels like saying, fuck you mate that’s not how it is, we’re somehow out of line? The first person with an opinion wins? We only post in support of rants?
I think however that you are both very right, and also terribly wrong.
The professional offenderati and pile-on scum are indeed nothing that you should give anything to other than contempt.
But being insensitive does hurt people. The things where people yell at me about how offended they are doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is where I later figure out that I hurt somebody and they never said anything, never got angry. They just hurt because of what I said or did.
The angry crowd claims to speak for them, but I don’t think they do. Sometimes however they are in the same vicinity, and I keep meaning to be more careful about who I hit with the bombs I lob with righteous intentions.
But, I never am.
Grendel72: Uh, just how from that rant did you come to the conclusion that I am white and straight? Sounds like bigotry to me.
Minty: Me too. I hate it. Have you seen some around here lately? I haven’t.
*Primaflora: I see. So, if I say, “You know, sometimes it bugs me when people do X”, and X is slightly insensitive, you think it’s acceptable to repond,
or,
or,
or,
and here one for you, Primaflora:
You people just don’t get it. You’re upset because Scylla was being insensitive, but your responses were 100 times worse than anything he said. Pot. Kettle. Black.
Sam Stone’s lesson for the day: Tolerance means being tolerant of people who don’t think like you. When you start reacting to people who don’t speak exactly the way they ‘should’ by throwing a temper tantrum on a message board, it’s time to regroup and think about just how tolerant you really are.
And yes, that sounds condescending. Sometimes that is the appropriate response.
And anyone who thinks I was actually BEING a jerk in the OP needs to go out and buy a sense of humor. My rant at the people who have small sentient beings living on their backs might have been a clue. And by the way, I fit into at least two of the categories I ‘ranted’ about. Not counting the Basset Hound. I exaggerated a bit - the stupid thing wouldn’t go back in for my magazines, so I had him put down.
I interpreted the thread mostly as an homage to the Viper, a sort of modern day Shelby Cobra. If you don’t understand the appeal, well, you just don’t.
I don’t apologize for defending disabled parking spots. Wheeling through a busy parking lot is not for the fainthearted. What with all the big assed SUVs, nobody can see down that far…I know, couldn’t help it.
Nor do I think that my post was one of the many venomous (Viper thread, “venomous,” get it?) attacks. I get the feeling that this board serves as primal scream therapy on a keyboard for some people. It is better than punching your spouse or kicking your dog.
I really don’t get this. You’re mad because a lot of people all thought Scylla’s posts were rude and offensive, and said so? Would it have been OK with you if it was only five people? Two? How many people are allowed to disagree with an OP?
You have a right to rant in a public forum about handicapped people or giant slobs in the checkout line or Basset hounds or whatever you want. Go nuts. If your post is funny, I’ll laugh. If your post belittles something that is important to me, I’ll tell you to go fuck yourself. Don’t sanctimoniously lecture me on tolerance, twerp. Act like an asshole, and people will call you an asshole. That’s just how it works.
