So to the question “Are you not entertained?” your response would be…?
You’re much more easygoing than I am. When Varn reveals the abyssal depths of his ignorance, and cheerfully states that if he wasn’t voting for the orange shit-stain he’d be voting for DeSantis, I just find that kind of cognitive dysfunction infuriating. And when I see that his writing is so thoroughly permeated with misspellings that he’s obviously a marginal illiterate at best, I’m just saddened by this clear exemplar of the failure of American democracy.
I just about lost it when he speculated that the FBI was desperate to keep Trump from not making Crossfire Hurricane documents public.
A program from 6-7 years ago Trump could have declassified at any time.
At least he admitted it was only a conspiracy theory.
That’s one of the things that makes me question if he’s an idiot or is trolling. That’s beyond conspiracy and into yanking chains.
Maybe, but I don’t think that rules out trolling. The nonsense he spreads in the Ukraine thread goes way beyond just pessimism - it’s virtually propaganda, and it’s impossible to believe that he believes all of it.
I’m sorry, I haven’t been keeping up with new lingo (more proof I’m getting old). What is a “trock”?
Troll/sock - someone trolling under a new identity, often because their original one was banned.
Ed’s response in that thread was entirely unhelpful. “When people are using dog whistle racist language, please consider that they might be right and you might be wrong.” Absolute bullshit.
Can the thread at least be reopened so we can comment in the right place?
Agree. That “ruling” is horseshit.
It was recommended it stayed closed as it had turned into an argument clinic.
But basically, (in all cases assume I mean Outside of the Pit)
- The moderators will not be working off an expanding word list of prohibited words.
- If someone says something offensive, it can be handled by other posters saying why it is wrong without insulting the poster that used the word.
- We’re leaving moderating as a case by case basis.
- Do not attack another poster even if you’re offended by what they said.
This conversation needs to be somewhere else. It doesn’t belong here.
Maybe a new ATMB thread where we don’t argue the merits of words themselves.
No list is needed or desired. What is needed is an explicit proscription of dehumanizing language, regardless of the specific vocabulary used.
Well, to be fair, (And I had a lot of reasons to complain in that thread about a poster that was insulting me by pretending that I never told him before that I was formerly an undocumented immigrant, and then being a jerk by trying to avoid how he was mis-using the “invader” word) Ed’s response does mention that context clearly makes a poster that pretends to be reasonable to be a bigoted one when using terms like “invader” with dehumanizing and insulting meanings directed to groups of people that come for many reasons to live in the US.
Unless it can be shown that there is a well-known dictionary that has the “invader” meaning to apply also to the undocumented. What it is clear is that there is very little reason for a poster to keep going and going accusing all undocumented immigrants of being violent and an army of guys taking over a place by eliminating others.
Does that go for misogyny, homophobia, and other disparaging or stereotyping comments? They might be right? Maybe they should argue their point in appropriate language no matter what it is.
Please start a new thread, remember the title and purpose of this one.
If you have complaints about a specific poster, start it here in the Pit.
If you want to talk about Ed’s post, start a new ATMB thread and keep it somewhat general. I will post in the thread early, it is not for specific incidents. I think that got beat to death already.
Link for below is here:
Done.
Back to talking about Michael_Varn - I’m with Darren_Garrison on his actions. I find that his RW posting distracts from his absolute insanity in other threads (DB Cooper, “The Author KNOWS me!”, etc). But I think it’s related. He finds his own theories to be credible, or rather, he’s a genius in his internal world. And he aggressively (see the second thread) self-inserts all the time. Combine that with a steady diet of highly slanted news, and it’s all about he personally knows magical facts that are clear to only him and we’re all blinded imbeciles.
He’s arrogant, and living in a dreamworld of ignorance, but I’d argue he probably believes the crap he’s spouting. But I don’t find him entertaining, so while I’ll sometimes read his posts, I can’t imagine regularly replying to them, what would the point be?
But we’ve been dealing with his crap in this thread since around #2970 - and I suspect for some time to come.
That’s been a theme of this thread from pretty much the beginning - some posters don’t differentiate (or don’t care) between genuine trolls and posters who are genuine but delusional/asshole/ignorant/etc.
And sometimes it’s a fine line. I’m sure many of us have at one point or another deliberately poked another poster’s soft spot once or twice but we also don’t cross the line into making it our sole or primary modus operandi. Or some do in a grand fashion when they decide to flounce forever.
When those who genuinely believe their arguments but habitually present them while stirring the pot, there is nothing to distinguish them from genuine trolls. Which is why, per the late Colibri, the two are not mutually exclusive.
[quote=“Great_Antibob, post:9583, topic:950518”]
Gee, I think this is the first Pit thread I’ve ever been mentioned in !!!
And
No, I am not a troll.
Yes, I am pessimistic about Ukraine.
I\m also very much aware that all the news about Ukraine that we see in English is biased.
There have been virtually no reliable reports on Ukrainian casualties
Every Ukr. citizen we see is patriotic and smiling, looking happy standing outside the ruins of his bombed house. The one time I saw an article quoting a Ukranian officer in Bakhmut who spoke the truth…(he admitted that the Russians were successfully advancing and taking over the city), that officer was fired …
My attitudes are shaped by my personal life.
I live in a war zone, though not nearly as dangerous as Ukraine. Like Ukrainian civilians, I have proudly and patriotically flown my flag while the air raid sirens blare. I have been hit (lightly) on the shoulder by shrapnel from incoming missiles which exploded over my head. And yes, I would proudly and patriotically smile for a foreign photojournalist, to show my resilience.
but only once…
I am an average guy, not a hero.
But, though I occasionally sleep in my bomb shelter, I have never had to live with massive destruction . And I know that if I had no electricity and no water for 6 months of winter, I would NOT be smiling. And if a hundred thousand of my neighbors had all fled because the entire city is rubble, I know that they would not be smiling either.
I deeply respect the Ukrainian people for being braver than I am.
But I wonder how long they can keep it up.
And I also wonder how long the Ukrainian army can keep it up.
Russia has shown that they can keep fighting as long as they want . No matter how many men and tanks are destroyed, they have enough new draftees and enough mothballed equipment to keep fighting for another year or two.
I hope that Ukraine does, too.