I am an annoying sod, I am a complete shitface. I like to offend people. I am compulsive, weak, stupid, ignorant, a downright twat.
pleeeeasse avoid me, If you avoid me for long enough I might get fed up with dirtying this haven for intelligent people with my stupidity. I shouldn’t be here. It turns out this is not a place for the ending of ignorance, it is in fact a place for clever people to make the ignorant people feel like they have shit in their head. and they succeed most of the time.
Dude, I have no fucking idea what your damage is, but get a fucking grip, OK? You open these annoying threads, then you open more threads berating yourself. What do you want–pity? Moral support? Tonguelashings?
Dude, you are just phosphors on the screen, and you and I will never meet this side of the Bardo. If you’re looking to an Internet message board for emotional support/therapy, you are most definitely barking up the wrong motherfucking tree.
To be honest, although he has phrased it very poorly, I think he has a point. Patriotism isn’t the word he wants, Defensiveness or Jingoism are. “My country right or wrong” is a pretty pervasive attitude in the US. True patriots love their country enough to acknowledge it’s problems in the hope they can be corrected.
That doesn’t make lobley any less of an ass, though.
Actually, if one confines onself to the factual fora (Comments on Cecil’s Columns, Comments on Staff Reports, and General Questions, as well as the actual columns by Cecil and the Staff Reports), one will notice that it is a place fighting ignorance without resorting to condescension or insult (well, aside from Cecil’s personality).
If, however, one chooses to expose one’s own opinions to the rigors of analysis in IMHO, Great Debates, or the BBQ PIT, one will, indeed, discover condescension and disdain if one’s arguments are weak or one’s information is poor.
(MPSIMS and the Cafe will also expose one to dissent, although the nature differs, somewhat.)
The only thing I want is to be able to never click “Straight dope message board” In my favourites ever again.
don’t attempt to rationalize anything I have said in the past hour. I am not worth it.
I am sure it isn’t, I live in the US so that is where my experience lies.
It does seem more institutionalised here. Nixon’s enemies list, Ashcroft calling anyone who opposes his views a supporter of the terrorists. There seem to me to be more people here ready to question your patriotism than in other nations.
I’ll even give lobley credit for mentioning one of the reasons- America is a young country; Europe has experienced the negative effects of jingoism, and I think Europeans may be more likely to distrust it.
I’m just talking out of my ass here, trying to deal with what he seemed to be saying (I doubt I could’ve phrased it more poorly myself. I haven’t been to Europe- but most Europeans I’ve met don’t seem to be as quick to wrap themselves in their flag as some Americans are.
Now let’s get back to calling lobley a toad-fucking ass wrench.
Sounds like your having a frustrating time of things, lobley. Don’t worry, we all have those.
Might be worth remembering that this board is pretty accusatorial, rather than inquisitorial, in style – bit like the difference between a courtroom in England and one in, say, France or Germany. In other words, it can be damn brash.
But that’s the way things here get thrashed out. It also encourages clear thinking (hopefully) and everyone is ultimately better informed.
To be honest, I’d say your other thread was a bit of a dogs breakfast: It looked like you hadn’t thought through whatever you wanted to say and, because it read like an emotionally based criticism rather than, for example, a reasoned comparison of ‘national characteristics’ apropos patriotism, you got jumped on.
FWIW, I’d encourage you to take it all on the chin: Apologise to those offended, have a think and then bounce back with better, more clearly thought through ideas. How about it ?
