Meanderings and mutterings. Cats. Garden. Weather.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Satire
I cannot make this a political site, I just can't.
But, please, if you feel that being liberal minded is an honorable position, and that many frightening actions are happening at the upper levels, thank Stephen.
Was someone trying to force you into political commentary? Sorry. I couldn't help smiling when I read the first sentence...thinking...Well, Zhoen, I don't believe we (your readers)are actually expecting that? We like what you DO write.
I am not as brave as Stephen Colbert. I am afraid, and I do feel helpless in the face of willful stupidity and closed minded greed. I have been bullied into silence.
It's not that I don't have political opinions, or don't express them in person. It is that I have seen on-line discussions digress into a morass of flame wars on far less provocation. A few, or even one person, taking a beligerent stance, and all the reasonable folks responding with valid arguments, and the idiot attacks back, then everyone loses their critical thinking skills. The anger gets caught up in itself, and sites have been destroted. See what Pinko Feminist Hellcat had to resort to lately?
All of you who comment here, I do trust to be reasonable people. But there are always trolls lurking. Them I worry about. I've seen what kind of search terms are used that get googlers here. It ain't pretty, lemme tell ya.
Are you talking about the fact that you have to log-in to typekey to comment on PFH now? I thought that was in response to spambots rather than trolls. Did I miss something? As far as I can see the trolls at PFH are just as (un)common as they’ve ever been.
I really understand what you mean about avoiding politics though. It can be difficult enough to read comments pissing all over someone else’s blog, let alone your own. Often I come here when I’m too stressed to deal with that sort of thing.
Um, and on that note, consider this to be a timid, retroactive (o) for the past 10 months or so.
I was on a wonderful discussion board when 9/11 happened. It started off small, but the lightly moderated forum turned into an ugly mess of accusations and intimidation. I notified the owners of the site, and completely withdrew myself from an alarmingly toxic situation. It was bad enough that I sent a notice to the FBI of some posters threats.
I still miss those folks, and the lively talks about obscure subjects.
The spambots have been a merest trickle with the word verification on, here. I was in defensive stance against the all too human trolls. I was assuming politically hostile individuals were the problem at PFH. Perhaps her higher profile just made her a juicer target for the bots to use more intrusive methods.
Thanks for the pile 'o (o)s. I shall make a cairn.
Politics is an inescapable fact of being human. And even our blogs, which are not consciously political, are in fact political by default. I've chosen to live with that, and simply speak my piece (and my peace). Occasionally, I'll grumble more directl politically, but otherwise, let it all speak for itself.
Of course, liberal-mindedness, as you Americans would put it, is an honourable position. It's one I take, even though i do not feel compelled to agree with every single stance that is labeled "liberal".
I understand completely about flame wars - and it's why I don't engage much in political discussion either. It seems to me that any problem is made worse by fury and people becoming entrenched in polarized positons. Discussion is useful...but the internet often provides a convenient wall to hide behind when you want to behave in a way you'd never dream of displaying in a face-to-face discussion. And I've noticed that people will cling to opinions like they are the only raft available in the middle of an ocean storm. I had the bad luck to be part of an email group on 9/11 and suggested, to people who were very upset, that we all try to keep our heads until the shock passed. I had to report one member for spamming me with hate mail afterwards. No need for this stuff.
10 comments:
Political commentary is not my forte either, but sometimes you just have to shout: THANK YOU!
Political commentary is not my forte either, but sometimes you just have to shout, THANK YOU!
Was someone trying to force you into political commentary?
Sorry.
I couldn't help smiling when I read the first sentence...thinking...Well, Zhoen, I don't believe we (your readers)are actually expecting that?
We like what you DO write.
I am not as brave as Stephen Colbert. I am afraid, and I do feel helpless in the face of willful stupidity and closed minded greed. I have been bullied into silence.
It's not that I don't have political opinions, or don't express them in person. It is that I have seen on-line discussions digress into a morass of flame wars on far less provocation. A few, or even one person, taking a beligerent stance, and all the reasonable folks responding with valid arguments, and the idiot attacks back, then everyone loses their critical thinking skills. The anger gets caught up in itself, and sites have been destroted. See what Pinko Feminist Hellcat had to resort to lately?
All of you who comment here, I do trust to be reasonable people. But there are always trolls lurking. Them I worry about. I've seen what kind of search terms are used that get googlers here. It ain't pretty, lemme tell ya.
Are you talking about the fact that you have to log-in to typekey to comment on PFH now? I thought that was in response to spambots rather than trolls. Did I miss something? As far as I can see the trolls at PFH are just as (un)common as they’ve ever been.
I really understand what you mean about avoiding politics though. It can be difficult enough to read comments pissing all over someone else’s blog, let alone your own. Often I come here when I’m too stressed to deal with that sort of thing.
Um, and on that note, consider this to be a timid, retroactive (o) for the past 10 months or so.
Pacian,
I was on a wonderful discussion board when 9/11 happened. It started off small, but the lightly moderated forum turned into an ugly mess of accusations and intimidation. I notified the owners of the site, and completely withdrew myself from an alarmingly toxic situation. It was bad enough that I sent a notice to the FBI of some posters threats.
I still miss those folks, and the lively talks about obscure subjects.
The spambots have been a merest trickle with the word verification on, here. I was in defensive stance against the all too human trolls. I was assuming politically hostile individuals were the problem at PFH. Perhaps her higher profile just made her a juicer target for the bots to use more intrusive methods.
Thanks for the pile 'o (o)s. I shall make a cairn.
Well, you might as well throw a five pound bag of (o)s on there for me too, since I´m very negligent about dribbling them out as I go.
... With a mosaic floor around it...
Politics is an inescapable fact of being human. And even our blogs, which are not consciously political, are in fact political by default. I've chosen to live with that, and simply speak my piece (and my peace). Occasionally, I'll grumble more directl politically, but otherwise, let it all speak for itself.
Of course, liberal-mindedness, as you Americans would put it, is an honourable position. It's one I take, even though i do not feel compelled to agree with every single stance that is labeled "liberal".
You go, colleague.
I understand completely about flame wars - and it's why I don't engage much in political discussion either.
It seems to me that any problem is made worse by fury and people becoming entrenched in polarized positons. Discussion is useful...but the internet often provides a convenient wall to hide behind when you want to behave in a way you'd never dream of displaying in a face-to-face discussion. And I've noticed that people will cling to opinions like they are the only raft available in the middle of an ocean storm.
I had the bad luck to be part of an email group on 9/11 and suggested, to people who were very upset, that we all try to keep our heads until the shock passed. I had to report one member for spamming me with hate mail afterwards.
No need for this stuff.
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