# Yet another futile but pro forma discussion starring Der Trihs. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145 "2006-08-03T04:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/1 "2006-08-03T04:04:13Z")
Over in GD we are having a discussion titled [Is there a moral limit to collateral damage inflicted in self defense?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=381900). I asked what I thought was a reasonable question, to wit: > [@](#): > > Why is Israel being castigated for taking steps in their defense and accidentally killing civilians, while Hezbollah, while not exactly getting a pass, is being defended indirectly by people/countries that state that Israel is “going too far” in their actions when Hezbollah is the very example of indiscriminate killing? Now, I know that people will disagree with my premise, and that’s OK. But the subject of this discussion, **Der Trihs** , responded with this: > [@](#): > > Because the damgae caused by Hezbollah is so small in proportion to the response, that’s why. Should the US have used FAE on the Vatican in retaliation for the pedophila scandals ? This is jaw droppingly stupid, as I’m sure you will recognize immediately. But **Der Trihs** apparently thought that it was an apt comparison because when I rightfully gave him the rolleyes he responded thus: > [@](#): > > In other words, you have no good answer but don’t want to admit it. How could there possibly be a good serious answer to this? This is the epitome of false analogy, because 1) the Pope doesn’t have an army, 2) the Pope has never approved of such behavior, and 3) the Pope is not responsible for the behavior of every person who enters the priesthood: such control is a practical impossibility. That’s not even to mention that Catholicism never enters into this discussion because this is a Jew/Muslim conflict. So this is a total non sequitor, and I called him an idiot, which caused me to get my fingers pinched, and deservedly so. Anyhow, **Der Trihs** , in his most recent response, says this: > [@](#): > > Sexual assault on children isn’t violent ? Yep, he is equating mass rocket attacks and what is essentially full-scale war to relatively isolated cases of pedophilia, and as such it requires the Vatican to be destroyed by Fuel Air Explosives. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it? No, it still doesn’t make sense. It’s typical **Der Trihs** , bringing his hatred of religion into a discussion where it doesn’t belong and making no sense while he does it. Now, I know he won’t show up here (hence the futile/pro forma part of the thread title), but this is absurd. Why I let myself get trolled is beyond me, but I’ve nothing better to do right now, so here we are. **Der Trihs** is an idiot, and as such he should not be taken seriously, if he ever was before. When you see his name on a post, just remember two things- America sucks and religion sucks- and you’ll get the gist of his position. With any luck this will spare the rest of you from having to waste your time reading his nonsense, because I’ve just summarized it for you. By taking the bullet for you perhaps I can help you resist the urge to try to debate with this clown, ignoring him and saving your precious time and reasoned discussion for someone it won’t be wasted on. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/2 "2006-08-03T04:13:41Z")
Soooo…it would be wrong to drop the new and improved napalm on the Vatican? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/3 "2006-08-03T04:18:58Z")
Yeah, **Der Trihs** is nuts. Consistent, though. ---
**Author:** ![purpler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cab0a1/32.png) [@purpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purpler)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/4 "2006-08-03T04:27:00Z")
His posts are rarely longer than one or two lines long, and very easy to skip right past with nary a consideration. Not that i don’t agree with the sentiment of the OP, but this is probably the third or fourth time i’ve noticed him being pitted, and i’m starting to think that maybe ignoring him en masse might be a better strategy. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/5 "2006-08-03T04:30:47Z")
And no limericks. Let’s not forget that. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/6 "2006-08-03T05:09:20Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > This is jaw droppingly stupid, as I’m sure you will recognize immediately. But **Der Trihs** apparently thought that it was an apt comparison because when I rightfully gave him the rolleyes he responded thus: If you think it’s so damned stupid, you are rather more likely to convince me if you bother to explain _why_. > [@Airman Doors](#): > > How could there possibly be a good serious answer to this? This is the epitome of false analogy, because 1) the Pope doesn’t have an army, 2) the Pope has never approved of such behavior, and 3) the Pope is not responsible for the behavior of every person who enters the priesthood: such control is a practical impossibility. The Pope has a country, the Pope blames it on America, and the Lebanonese government doesn’t have control over every single person in Lebanon, either. > [@Airman Doors](#): > > That’s not even to mention that Catholicism never enters into this discussion because this is a Jew/Muslim conflict. What _does_ Catholicism have to do with anything ? I picked a random example of a hypothetical over response out of my hat. > [@Airman Doors](#): > > No, it still doesn’t make sense. It’s typical **Der Trihs** , bringing his hatred of religion into a discussion where it doesn’t belong and making no sense while he does it. You are hearing what you want to hear; my feelings about religion have nothing to do with this. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/7 "2006-08-03T05:13:20Z")
People actually read Der Trihs’ posts? Why? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/8 "2006-08-03T05:18:33Z")
Provides an opportunity to feel centrist. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/9 "2006-08-03T05:31:48Z")
He makes **Reeder** look fair and balanced. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/10 "2006-08-03T05:54:37Z")
> [@](#): > > If you think it’s so damned stupid, you are rather more likely to convince me if you bother to explain why. Because it as a Chewbacca response - it had nothing to do with the subject being discussed and was not a similar situation. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/11 "2006-08-03T05:59:03Z")
But are we dropping naplam or not? I love the way it smells in the morning… ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/12 "2006-08-03T06:00:17Z")
Grrr…napa **l** m. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/13 "2006-08-03T06:19:34Z")
> [@](#): > > the Pope blames it on America, Thus demonstrating, once again, both your selective reading and your inalterable bias. When the first reports about Geoghan and Law hit the wires in a big way, then-cardinal Ratzinger speculated that the issue was being blown out of proportion in the U.S. media. Subsequently, he was put in charge of actually examining the problem and came to the conclusion that it was both real and needed to be put to a stop. You, on the other hand, have taken a five-plus-year-old sound bite and clung to it because it reinforces your prejudices rather than following the actual story that might compel you to lay aside your uninformed, one-phrase synopses of every event in the world. Aside from those occasions (such as this) when you post outright errors, I cannot be bothered to correct most of your posts, figuring that any member of the TM with the brains to open the SDMB will recognize how silly your rants are. I disagree with pitting you. It gives the appearance that you are worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/14 "2006-08-03T06:42:15Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I disagree with pitting you. It gives the appearance that you are worth the effort. Like I said, this is an attempt to obviate that so it won’t be necessary in the future. You’re welcome, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/15 "2006-08-03T07:24:25Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I disagree with pitting you. It gives the appearance that you are worth the effort. That pretty much summs it up for me. Thats also why I don’t normally even bother responding to him anymore. After a while the whole US is evil/facist schtick just gets old. There is essentially no getting through to him, so why bother? Fortunately the vast majority of dopers, reguardless of which side they are on, tend to ignore him…though I can practically hear the rolling eyes whenever he attempts to interject another of his rants into the discussion. I guess nothing he does is against board rules as he really believes this stuff…but I wish he’d get the hint and modify his posting style some to be a bit less of the wild eyed, foaming at the mouth fanatic. -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/16 "2006-08-03T08:47:41Z")
I do have to say one thing though…when he posts in other forums, especially about books or games or what have you, he is a reasonbly interesting poster. He posted some interesting stuff in my Honor Harrington thread, and I believe in my Rome Total War thread as well…and I’ve seen him post some interesting insights in other such threads before. Its only politics or religion that seems to drive him around the bend. Anyway, just thought I’d share. 🙂 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/17 "2006-08-03T09:11:58Z")
Props to you, **ADUSAF**. This time **Der Trihs** actually turned up to the Pitting. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/18 "2006-08-03T10:24:44Z")
So let me get this straight. The Vatican actually _launched_ pedophilia against America? Then hell yeah. Bomb 'em back to the Iron Age. Or at least the Industrial Revolution. > [@elucidator](#): > > Provides an opportunity to feel centrist. This guy hits my funny button like nobody else. Thanks. I needs me a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/19 "2006-08-03T11:41:52Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > **Der Trihs** is an idiot, and as such he should not be taken seriously, if he ever was before. When you see his name on a post, just remember two things- America sucks and religion sucks- and you’ll get the gist of his position. With any luck this will spare the rest of you from having to waste your time reading his nonsense, because I’ve just summarized it for you. By taking the bullet for you perhaps I can help you resist the urge to try to debate with this clown, ignoring him and saving your precious time and reasoned discussion for someone it won’t be wasted on. Meh, I enjoy his stuff while I can. One of these days, **Der Trihs** is going to be old enough to drive, and his face is going to clear up, and then he might start dating, who knows? Once he discovers girls and–dare we dream–french kissing, he’s going to lighten up about all this religion and war guff. He’ll lay off the psycho wingnut posts, and then I will be robbed of one of the primary reasons I feel good about myself in the morning. So enjoy him while he’s riding the gnarly wave of puberty. It won’t last forever. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145/20 "2006-08-03T13:26:34Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > He makes **Reeder** look fair and balanced. Hell, he makes me look intelligent, and I would have thought that nearly impossible. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-futile-but-pro-forma-discussion-starring-der-trihs/367145.md?page=2)