No such thing as a "harmless fool".

On the blog I'm no longer allowed to comment on (well, the most recent such, anyway) there is a tendency to allow commenters to present "arguments" that have been thorougly debunked sometimes in the very thread that they've just popped up in by other commenters with varying levels of probity, head-shaking bemusement, sarcasm and levity.


There is a concern for "civil discourse" which outweighs the concern for actually requiring that commenters who are making the same "argument"--with no basis in fact and an obvious lack of concern for the truth--not deliberately obfuscate, equivocate or simply tell lies.

My well known antipathy for liars and their enablers is not the issue, here. The issue is; What can be done to stop liars from dominating conversations, derailing threads, sowing discord  and otherwise turning the process of commenting into a shitstorm of "Fuck you, you fucking fucker!" jabs and counter punches?

I don't propose banning people for saying things I don't like, or for using a lot of profanity and intemperate remarks. What I do propose, for those who are serious about the blogs being places for discussion instead of name calling and shouting, is that they pay at least as much attention to the comments that are "civil" and, simultaneously, completely (and often deliberately) untrue.

If the truth is less important than civility, we are truly and deeply fucked.

I have moderated my comments here for quite some time. It's not because I actually give a damn what some troll thinks of me. It's also not because of their bluster and threats. It's because I prefer not to have to check my blog on a frequent basis to see what some hate-filled idiot has decided is required of him to post--so he can salve his wounded ego.

I saw the news about the moronazi in VA who decided that running his car into a crowd of Anti-fa demonstrators was the best way to make his point that he's a better person, 'cuz WHITE and PatriotiKKK.

Shortly afterwards, I went to a blog and saw this:

"If he's a domestic terrorist so is BLM and Antifa. They've each caused more death and destruction than this guy."

posted by Ghetto Tarzan.

I am virtually certain that the guy is completely full of shit, but I did ask for citations. And, now, rereading his comment I have to go back and edit MY comment to reflect that I will still need citations to check his math.

The level of politesse, here or anywhere else is of little concern to me if the truth is the first casualty of such policies.

So, I was about to turn off Kimmel and then he says, "We'll be right back, with Diana Krall.".

Class.

Ms. Krall is, for me at least, a wonderful blend of musicianship and magic.

That's really all I wanted to say.

So, not that anybody actually gives a shit about what I'm up to most of the time...

I am not polite to people who don't deserve me--or anyone else--being polite to them. Those persons include but are certainly not limited to trollz on the various blogs I visit.

I am exceedingly impolite to those who insist on being douchenozzles after being told, repeatedly, that they are douchenozzles (and that telling being done in polite terms by other bloggers with more restraint, better breeding or a higher tolerance--possibly due to family dynamics I do NOT want to even imagine).

With that background I decided to post the comment that follows, because it seems to me that a few people might want to read it and it got scrubbed, twice, in a pretty quick hurry.

I have no problem with being banned from a blog. It's happened before, in all likelihood it will happen again. When you say vile, profane things to people it will tend to upset them and, if they have the ability to NOT have to see it, they will do whatever they can to NOT see it. Unless of course you're the current embarassment in the Oval Office. That's a whole different thing.

Here it is:

I see that David Brayton has removed a lot of comments which he finds objectionable--including this one.

"In reply to this from David Brayton:

"DemoCommie--I'm tired of your petulant behavior. Your insults are not welcome. Any more of this behavior and you will be banned."

You gonna ban the trolls, too?

You don't like me, I get that. You don't like the way I talk, I get that too. You tolerate liars and trolls who infest the threads; I don't get that. Can you tell us why?

If you think my insults are inappropriate, I would suggest that you consider why they are going out and to whom they are directed.

Ban me if you like. I'm tired of your threats to ban me for my language on the comments threads or for being something less than your "ideal" of a commenter, while taking no apparent action to eliminate the trolls who have been polluting the threads here for several months, at least. They don't come here to argue or discuss, they come here to stir shit and disrupt the threads--I find it impossible to believe that you don't know that. So, why you tolerate their behaviour and not mine is a question that I would love to hear your answer to.

Do whatever it is that you need to do. I'm tired of being threatened while a far worse thing than my language-- that thing being the absolute dishonesty of the trolls--seems to be perfectly okay with you.

And if you ban me, expect some "Thank you's" from the people whose only purpose in coming here is hijack threads and complain to you about their mistreatment while they're busy taking a dump in the punchbowl.

And I see that it seems you've already started removing my comments, well--so I guess we'll just have to wait and see if you remove this one which doesn't really seem to have any terribly inappropriate language in it.

It appears that lying is okay--as long as we're civil about it."

It's always of course his privilege to do what he likes. Apparently he likes liars and dislikes profanity.

Thanks to those of you who have supported Ed and his blog and provided a lot of information and analysis.

It will be interesting to see if this gets scrubbed off, again. When someone decides to selectively edit what is on a thread--not for reasons of truth and accuracy but to maintain order, well, that's their privilege, as I said. Otoh, removing those other comments that are found objectionable would give most the impression that the persons making them had been the ones who derailed the conversation.

Since this comment will probably be removed--like the one I made last night-- I’ll just have to struggle along with the terrible burden of spending my time somewhere else--which, no doubt, will make Mr. Brayton and at least a few trolls VERY happy.

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THIS, is somewhere else. I can say what I like here, knowing that few if any other people will take note of it.

Commenting here is complicated by the fact that a number of genuine scumbagz have the habit of using this place for a toilet. For that reason ALL comments are moderated. That might change when I have a better idea who somebody is, but life is about compromises, I guess> {;>)