An Announcement
Posted on 01 September 2010
It has been brought rather sharply to my attention that I have been quite rude and condescending both to people I respect and admire, and to the people whose respect and admiration I have no reason to diminish beneath its current realistically low level.
The internet tempted me, and I turned into a troll on my own blog.
I hereby repent, and announcing the initiation of a new policy of a kindlier and gentler curmudgeon — and maybe I can remember that half the people I disagree with, the disagreement is because they are right and I am wrong, rather than the reverse.
I make such a boast about addressing my honorable opposition with Houyhnhnm-like logic, it is doubly shameful to realize that I indulge in Yahoo-like antics.
So, next time I stoop to sarcasm and condescension, I will not only be guilty of being uncharitable and, worse, illogical, I will also be guilty of violating this solemn promise to you, my dear reader, whoever you are.
Next time I start getting out of line, anyone and everyone is welcome to drop me the hint and reminder that I made this announcement.
* * *
ADDENDUM: (Despite the above announcement, the kindlier and gentler curmudgeon is still going to ban anyone who “corrects” my grammar or vocabulary according to the rules of political correctness. That is not a matter of honor nor of courtesy: it is a political powerplay pretending to be a matter of honor or courtesy.)
May I say, I hope this is honest, and that you keep yourself under control from now on.
I say this as someone who has been tempted and fallen to the temptation of the Internet in a spectacular fashion, keep yourself under control out here. It is worth it to yourself. It can be fun to be an asshole, but it is a million times more fun to make friends out here.
I also say this as someone who your arguments reach roughly half the time. I find that you are usually either very good or very bad at your arguments.
“May I say, I hope this is honest, and that you keep yourself under control from now on.”
I hope so too.
Whoa, what did I miss??
You didn’t miss a thing. A guy named Mic, someone I admire, wrote me privately and made me realize how I’ve been acting. And I can think of at least four examples of four other people I’ve spewed scorn on, friends and honorable opposition alike.
Mr. Wright:
Prior to and contemporaneously with our conversation about “What’s Wrong with The World” (which I am feverishly working on my next response in) I was engaged in lively debate on a nominally non-partisan forum on the issue of the Ground Zero Mosque. I assure you that the tone found here against a disagreeing party (me) is so civil in comparison, so bereft of ad hominem attacks, and so on point in contrast to delving endlessly into minutiae as to make. . . crap, I ran out of fancy prose. . . as to make it nicer here than there. My point being, if you do engage in braggadocio, illogic, or ego, rest assured that there are far worse out there, and that you are an honorable man who may stray from his path, which is preferable to a dishonorable man who keeps to his.
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
But an inch of water can drown me just as dead as a fathom, and if I offend an innocent person, it will not matter beans to that person whether or not other people in other places offend yet other people yet worse.
You see, if I mean to abide by the high standards of serious Christian, I seriously must believe any human being I met is the image and likeness of God, for all Man is made in His image. To offend that image is like trampling the crucifix or spitting on the flag.
Moreover, if I mean to abide just by the moderate standards of a virtuous pagan, I must be as moderate, temperate, and just as a pagan. I’ve read the dialogs of Socrates: he never calls Gorgias “a yammerhead.”
People are going to be offended with me anyway, since I speak out in favor of truth and fidelity and liberty, and speak against political correctness and perversions both sexual and intellectual. My business is to see to it that such offense is utterly without excuse.
I’ve read the dialogs of Socrates: he never calls Gorgias “a yammerhead.”
Although he may have wanted to, very badly.
I’ve sometimes wondered if the ancients did call someone “yammerhead” but because of the temporal and cultural divide, we miss some of them.
Oh wait, there’s a trope for that.
Odd..I didn’t see anything really objectionable coming from anyone here. But then again, I frequent some spectacular cesspools when it comes to internet arguments, so maybe I’m just desensitized.
There was, a while back, some rather vehement discussions as to the state of souls, along with a great deal of projection and assumption of emotive states, along with some name-calling. I think most honest men would take offense at such projections, especially regarding the state of his soul. I imagine that was part of what inspired this, though I vaguely wish this apology also applied to some of the other people who comment here, who also were (to my observation) being rather impolite.
(And yes, myself somewhat included in being not as polite as I could have)
As a schoolboy, I read Chesterton’s volume with the same title as your recent essay, and still remember his contention that to deny suffrage would be more democratic than the alternative, because he believed a majority of women would find the prospect of voting unfeminine. I find your nod to Chesterton apt, because your syllogisms also require a metaphysical exclusion-clause for their resonance… Then again, that may be the nature of argument.
I think a kindness upgrade for Mr. Wright, blogger, is an excellent idea. You asked for reminders, and I’ll point to an expression from today, “mouthfroth of self-congratulatory puking,” as retrograde to your plan. A positive move would be to shut down your blog for an extended period, deracinate its temptations and funnel that raw energy to Mr. Wright, novelist. You no doubt realize that fiction can be far more nuanced and enduring than a succession of moronic rants. I understand the process of creating a novel can even be a means of discovery.
In any event, you’ve effectively winnowed your blog to those of similar bent, wherein you rattle your swords without much care. Perhaps you’ve found it medicinal; but you’d really lose nothing by simply trusting in the fate of the revelation you espouse. And I, for one, would consider it a kindness if you did not preemptively deny the green earth to those who do not share your disillusionment. When you say your mission is to drive people like myself into the sewers — well I realize that was the pre-kind Mr. Wright, so I’ll just suggest the narrative form can give more persuasive expression to such sentiments. The SF novel is ideal, the more idiosyncratic the better. The Golden Age was a fine start.