# ZPG Zealot is a troll **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 23, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068 "2010-01-23T01:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/41 "2010-01-23T23:19:54Z")
Well, seven billion people worldwide - something extraordinary must happen to somebody somewhere just about every second of every day. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/42 "2010-01-23T23:39:51Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Yes, there’s a pattern -whenever the thread shows signs of dying off, she comes up with another question designed to push people’s button. Witness the latest. > > Partly my fault for feeding her. > [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Speaking only for myself, I didn’t consider myself indulging her as much as trying to expose the extent of her bigotry. I found it to be a rather amusing exercise. 🙂 Shodan, believe me, I’ve done the same, after several pages wondering what the hell I was thinking giving the recipient exactly what he / she wanted. But it can be irresistible. And Sarahfeena, glad to hear that was your perspective. Actually, interesting you’d both immediately follow my post, since it was you two in particular that made me want to shake her by her lapels and shout, “Cut it out, stop annoying these people!” as I skimmed through the thread. She is not worth your attention, not by a long shot; and there wasn’t even the opportunity to dispel the ignorance of others, since nobody sane believes the baloney she’s serving up. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/43 "2010-01-23T23:40:59Z")
Wow- she is all kinds of fucked up. Her early life sounds highly dysfunctional. I wonderd whether she was Irish Traveller or Roma because of the fortune-telling business and “family first” motif, but I don’t think so. I think she’s been hurt terribly and has formed various belief systems to deal with that hurt by denial. I don’t think we can successfully challenge her beliefs without her world crumbling. So, I’m suggesting we back away slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/44 "2010-01-24T00:22:16Z")
She has claimed to be Roma in other threads, and I see no reason to disbelieve her. They have some pretty atypical ideas, and a very tight-knit way of passing those ideas down to the next generation, otherwise they would have assimilated into the general population by now. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/45 "2010-01-24T01:25:14Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Shodan, believe me, I’ve done the same, after several pages wondering what the hell I was thinking giving the recipient exactly what he / she wanted. But it can be irresistible. And Sarahfeena, glad to hear that was your perspective. > > Actually, interesting you’d both immediately follow my post, since it was you two in particular that made me want to shake her by her lapels and shout, “Cut it out, stop annoying these people!” as I skimmed through the thread. She is not worth your attention, not by a long shot; and there wasn’t even the opportunity to dispel the ignorance of others, since nobody sane believes the baloney she’s serving up. Thanks, Strat, appreciate the concern! But ideas that are that way-out don’t bug me. They are kind of fascinating in a way…and I’m still kind of convinced she is genuine. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/46 "2010-01-24T01:31:38Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Be afraid. Be very afraid. > > Ignorance, including the willful variety, is much more common than malice. Indeed, and as I know you know: > [@Napoleon (prob.)](#): > > “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/47 "2010-01-24T01:35:04Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > She has claimed to be Roma in other threads, and I see no reason to disbelieve her. > > They have some pretty atypical ideas, and a very tight-knit way of passing those ideas down to the next generation, otherwise they would have assimilated into the general population by now. Early in the thread I pointed out that the Rom, (among other groups) had been subjected to forcible removal of children to be adopted out to the larger community and I speculated that someone from such an environment might take on a histrionic anti-adoption attitude. However, her beliefs go well beyond what I speculated and I see no reason to add more misery to the world by stereotyping all the Rom. In other news, [I’ve already killed that thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12030516#post12030516). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/48 "2010-01-24T04:49:16Z")
ZPG? As in “Zero Population Growth?” Did I stumble into 1970? Cuz it didn’t work then, either. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/49 "2010-01-24T15:18:27Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Shodan, believe me, I’ve done the same, after several pages wondering what the hell I was thinking giving the recipient exactly what he / she wanted. But it can be irresistible. And Sarahfeena, glad to hear that was your perspective. > > Actually, interesting you’d both immediately follow my post, since it was you two in particular that made me want to shake her by her lapels and shout, “Cut it out, stop annoying these people!” as I skimmed through the thread. She is not worth your attention, not by a long shot; and there wasn’t even the opportunity to dispel the ignorance of others, since nobody sane believes the baloney she’s serving up. What **Sarahfeena** says - it is very kind of you, but I wasn’t annoyed. Some time after we adopted our son, I got a letter from a local crackpot who combed thru public records looking for indications of foreign adoption or interracial marriages so he could send racist letters excoriating those who were violating racial purity. [Elroy Stock](http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200110/08_marsicanop_stock/) was his name, and being nuttier than Christmas fruitcake was his game. He mailed me a ten-page, single spaced letter, all neatly typed, that would have fit in fine to the _Volkische Beobachter_. I skimmed to the top of the second page, and then pitched the letter. Some attitudes you don’t argue with; you medicate. 🙂 Much the same reaction to **ZPG Zealot** (once I wised up). There is no chance we will ever interact IRL, as with Elroy. [ul][li]You can’t argue with crazy[_]DNFTT[_]all of the above. [/ul][/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/50 "2010-01-25T22:33:41Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > If her question were genuine, it was answered quickly, and she would have moved on. People ask “questions” all the time that aren’t really questions–merely opportunities to soapboax. This is one of those. It’s not really “Why say Mom and Dad?” but rather “I think you’re wrong to say Mom and Dad.” They don’t really want to be informed or convinced–they just want you to show up so they can tell you how wrong you are. > [@Shodan](#): > > Some time after we adopted our son, I got a letter from a local crackpot who combed thru public records looking for indications of foreign adoption […] so he could send racist letters excoriating those who were violating racial purity. … Wait, so did he think you were having sex with the kid, or what? :rolleyes:😃 ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/51 "2010-01-26T00:49:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Some time after we adopted our son, I got a letter from a local crackpot who combed thru public records looking for indications of foreign adoption or interracial marriages so he could send racist letters excoriating those who were violating racial purity. My parents also got some anonymous hate mail when they adopted my older sister from Bangladesh. I don’t think it was the same kind of person (looking through adoption records), I think it was just some idiot who saw them around town. It was a small, almost exclusively white town. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/52 "2010-01-26T22:15:41Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Her head would probably explode if she read _A Modest Proposal_. I’ll buy THAT for a dollar! As to the “original premise”… I feel very qualified to explain it, having been adopted myself. The people I called Mom and Dad, for as long as they both lived, earned the titles. Anyone can breed. It takes no skill, just a working set of plumbing so to speak. However, it does take a certain extra something to raise a child, either your biological child or someone else’s, take on the responsibility put up with the grief and the attitude (and everything else). Dropping a litter is the easy part; sticking around and putting in the years to ummm, ya know, actually raise the child to adulthood is the hard part. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/53 "2010-01-26T22:52:17Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > What **Sarahfeena** says - it is very kind of you, but I wasn’t annoyed. > > Some time after we adopted our son, I got a letter from a local crackpot who combed thru public records looking for indications of foreign adoption or interracial marriages so he could send racist letters excoriating those who were violating racial purity. [Elroy Stock](http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200110/08_marsicanop_stock/) was his name, and being nuttier than Christmas fruitcake was his game. He mailed me a ten-page, single spaced letter, all neatly typed, that would have fit in fine to the _Volkische Beobachter_. I skimmed to the top of the second page, and then pitched the letter. Some attitudes you don’t argue with; you medicate. 🙂 > > Much the same reaction to **ZPG Zealot** (once I wised up). There is no chance we will ever interact IRL, as with Elroy. > [ul][li]You can’t argue with crazy[_]DNFTT[_]all of the above. [/ul][/li] > Regards, > Shodan Lucky you. We adopted too late to get our letter…but we live out near where he does and I’ve always wondered if I annoy him… ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/54 "2010-01-27T03:30:16Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The best part is I’m not exaggerating. Recently she went through _five different signs_ before she pulled the “Told ya!” bit. I usually let her be when she goes into her Zodiac bullshit, but I couldn’t help but to laugh that time. Set it up with a friend sometime, then get the two of them together. The friend answers No to every sign. When she runs out, the friend gives the appropriate sign from the Chinese zodiac (Rat for me). That will provide amusement. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/55 "2010-01-27T15:39:48Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Lucky you. We adopted too late to get our letter…but we live out near where he does and I’ve always wondered if I annoy him… Actually, I think he’s dead. So now he is either in heaven, or in hell. Either way, he now knows that both places are integrated. 😃 > [@interface2x](#): > > My parents also got some anonymous hate mail when they adopted my older sister from Bangladesh. How did your parents react, if you don’t mind my asking? At least I recognized who wrote the fan mail, and knew that he was merely a harmless crank. Anonymous mail in a small town might have been different. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068/56 "2010-01-27T19:48:53Z")
When we were adopting, we got a phone call from an unbalanced, well-known around here anti-abortion protester, commending me on my “unselfish” act of adopting (he got our number from an ad in the paper). It completely creeped us out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zpg-zealot-is-a-troll/526068.md?page=2)