Mod post

[lyndz.livejournal.com]

So I guess having two absentee moderators is pretty much worthless. I'm taking nominations to add another couple to the list. I apologize for all but abandoning LJ.

Comments

[zanganito.livejournal.com]

Thinking more about it, you're probably the only halfway qualified person who spends much time here that would also be tolerated by most of the membership. I nominate hardblue.

You should nominate [Bad username or site: Trog. @ livejournal.com]. Speaking of which, I don't see him around. I wonder if he ever took up beekeeping.

Edit: Oh, it looks like he's not here anymore.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

yes_justice and fizzyland have conspicuously and repeatedly demonstrated the opposite of those qualities. It's quite astonishing that anyone would nominate either of them, unless their motivation is to turn this community into a SJW echo-chamber.

I am, in fact, responding specifically to hardblue's even-handedness, critical open-mindedness, and diplomacy. I'm not sure what distinction you draw between "even-keeledness" as a quality that makes a good moderator and "political even-handedness" as a quality that does not, but in any case, I don't consider it a "mistake" to regard political even-handedness as the sole quality of a good moderator.

[oslo.livejournal.com]

And the reason that this sentiment hasn't compelled you to leave and has, rather, led you to believe you're in the position to opine on its moderation is...?

What irks me about these kinds of comments is that it requires a substantial amount of restraint to respond to you without indulging in precisely the same kind of passive-aggressive and snidely insulting commentary you engage in as a matter of course, as though it were your entitlement. You (and Jeff and Geezer) seem to expect that you're entitled to express your opinions and have them engaged respectfully like they're the seriously-considered, well-formed opinions that they're not, while at the same time you (and Jeff and Geezer) say things like, "I don't respect anyone in this community," or "Being accused of incompetence is character assassination," or "You're a lawyer, so you must have amazing mind-reading abilities." And when that juvenile behavior elicits a harsh response, you pout or you caterwaul about how unfairly you've been treated - must have been your politics, amirite?

Look, you've chosen to participate in this community. That's great! That's just neat. But the least you owe the members of this community is a modicum of respect. We're not here just so you can have an audience every time you want to feel morally and intellectually superior. That's why I engage in the degree of self-restraint that I do exercise, in nearly every comment I write to you - because it makes no sense for me to respond to you at all unless I assume you're worth the time.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Deal with it! ;)

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Nominated for spit take of the year...and now I have to clean my keyboard.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

I've stated my reason for being here: to keep myself on the cutting edge of emerging rhetorical trends, so I can practice my responses and tear down stupid ideas on both the left and the right when I encounter them in meatspace.

I don't mind harsh responses one bit. Unlike most people, I'm able to focus on content rather than form. I'd be happy if people just responded what my positions actually are. But most people are too mired in the false left-right dichotomy to avoid assuming and then responding to ideas that don't actually follow from anything I've said.

You, for example, keep implying that I'm a conservative, as if I'm not constantly at odds with Jeff myself. Why, because I constantly attack what I view as philosophical weakness and cognitive dissonance on the left? Do you similarly assume that Trotsky was a conservative because he criticized Stalin? Do you assume that Guevara was a conservative because he embraced violence?


"you owe the members of this community is a modicum of respect"

Wrong. I owe respect to people's inalienable right to hold stupid beliefs. This implies no debt of respect to those beliefs or to the people who hold them. The inability to make distinctions like this is one of the things that frequently loses people my respect.

What you call "self-restraint" is frequently nothing more than couching ignorance and bigotry in long-winded pseudo-intellectualism. I respond with the vitriol that the actual substance of your comments deserves.

[zanganito.livejournal.com]

Virtually everyone else here deserves to be insulted far more than the community rules allow.

Well, wow. At least you're honest I suppose.

I respond with the vitriol that the actual substance of your comments deserves.

So, you are of the opinion that you catch more flies with vinegar? ;)

[oslo.livejournal.com]

I've stated my reason for being here: to keep myself on the cutting edge of emerging rhetorical trends, so I can practice my responses and tear down stupid ideas on both the left and the right when I encounter them in meatspace.

So you apparently disagree that "we're not here just so you can have an audience every time you want to feel morally and intellectually superior." We're all here just to serve your own selfish needs. Gotchya.

I don't mind harsh responses one bit. Unlike most people, I'm able to focus on content rather than form.

Who's being distracted by "form?" Did you mean to say something else here? Like "substantive content rather than style or invective"?

I'd be happy if people just responded what my positions actually are. ... You, for example, keep implying that I'm a conservative, as if I'm not constantly at odds with Jeff myself.

I don't think I've ever responded to you as though you've taken positions you haven't taken. I appreciate that you're not a "conservative" in the same sense that Jeff might be, and if you feel I've painted your churlishness-as-typical-"conservative"-behavior with too broad a brush, I'm sorry for it. But let's not slip between the two.

Wrong. I owe respect to people's inalienable right to hold stupid beliefs. This implies no debt of respect to those beliefs or to the people who hold them. The inability to make distinctions like this is one of the things that frequently loses people my respect.

The reason you owe the members of this community at least a modicum of respect is that you seem to want and expect them to read your comments. I'll agree that, if your only stated purpose in participating here is to practice wiping your ass with us so that you can be assured that your ass is clean when you offer it up to a meatspace prostitute, there's no reason to regard us with any respect at all, but you shouldn't expect us to thank you for the opportunity or pay any attention to you at all, other than to say, "Go fuck yourself."

The inability to appreciate the distinction between what I've said and the ludicrous strawman you've first attributed to me and then insulted me for holding is a key reason why I have to restrain myself so often when addressing you.

What you call "self-restraint" is frequently nothing more than couching ignorance and bigotry in long-winded pseudo-intellectualism. I respond with the vitriol that the actual substance of your comments deserves.

If I am ignorant or bigoted, you're free as always to demonstrate as much and charge me with the task of either defending what I've said or admitting my limitations. Happy to go either way. But all you seem to be capable of doing is to read a lot into what I've actually said and then insult me for saying things I haven't said, which suggests to me a possibly insurmountable problem of reading comprehension.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

I always found that a funny idiom because you literally do catch more flies with vinegar.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

"The reason you owe the members of this community at least a modicum of respect is that you seem to want and expect them to read your comments."

Perhaps I'm being pedantic, but I don't "owe" anyone respect for that. I'd barter the pretense of respect for that if it were necessary, but apparently it isn't.

I retract and apologize for calling your ideas ignorant and bigoted. I do think you often attempt to cloak weak arguments with verbosity and academic airs, but as for bigotry, I was confusing you with someone else.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

I really HAVE to drop out. I've made my personal dislike too evident in several cases and I am working to manage a new phase in my career right now that means I post here mostly because adding a funny is so much less work intensive that trying (and often failing) to provoke thoughtful in depth discussion.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

I always hated that Galadriel ended up looking up like that Judge character from Who Framed Roger Rabbit....

[zanganito.livejournal.com]

you literally do catch more flies with vinegar.

Partially true, though it really depends on the species of fly you are out to catch. (Pomace flies are attracted to acetic acid for sure, most other species, not so much.)

[oslo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I'm being pedantic, but I don't "owe" anyone respect for that. I'd barter the pretense of respect for that if it were necessary, but apparently it isn't.

It is implicitly owed, insofar as your comments are offered with the expectation that they be treated a certain way.

I do think you often attempt to cloak weak arguments with verbosity and academic airs,...

Well... I wouldn't deny that... But in any event I do try to remain open to correction. My verbosity is a habit, not a strategy to avoid being called out, even if many people fail to see through it.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Easy, the first one is practicing to be a major league superstar, the second will probably be flipping burgers.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll do it since apparently I'm being shanghai'd.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy if people just responded what my positions actually are.

You're the one currently repainting the premise in another post right now. If you're not comfortable with people replying to the issues underlying the positions you profess to hold instead of the positions themselves, maybe you need to look at your own behavior.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

[rowsdowerisms.livejournal.com]

There was a Steve potocin on Facebook that looked pretty authentic.

[madam-shapo.livejournal.com]

Why don't you do it?

[madam-shapo.livejournal.com]

Looks like nobody agrees with me.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

No just mine.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

politicartoons is why I joined LJ. convert_me was one of my great pleasures. T_P has to some extent replaced convert_me in my affections.

My interest in political art and cartoons has been with me since I first saw a Carl Giles cartoon in the early '60's. This place is special to me, though I still miss Latuff.

Well, at least no-one proposed wayneforbush08 as a mod. What's happened to this comm's sense of humour?

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

It would be interesting to see you construct your own dream community.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

. I'd be happy if people just responded what my positions actually are.

If everyone seems to misunderstand your positions, Occam's Razor indicates that you are communicating ineffectively, not that everyone else is incorrect.

Wrong. I owe respect to people's inalienable right to hold stupid beliefs. This implies no debt of respect to those beliefs or to the people who hold them.

If you don't respect me (or others here), why do you demand respect for yourself, hmm?
Ja, ja, ich kenne - wir sind die Untermenschen. I've heard it all before from you.