First a word about those who cry censorship when their posts are moderated. I feel no obligation to post any anonymous comment. To me it’s a prima facie sign of cowardice. I put my name on my posts and suffer a lot of ignorant abuse for it. Of course since it’s impossible to verify real names I post a good number of comments from anonyous cowards anyway.
But if you see an anonymous post here or elewhere, mentally affix this prefix: “I am too much of a coward to use my real name and stand behind my views.”
It’s out of laziness mostly that I let the cowards have mostly free reign, because it takes time to go through so many comments that say the same thing in the same lowbow, infantile way. (One even spelled anonymity “anonimitie”.)
As for not posting comments that disagree–look at them: almost 90 per cent disagree. I’m not your servant where whenever you compose some lame insult I have to hop to it so the world won’t be denied its superb brilliance. If your precious thoughts can’t wait for moderation try reading a book. I get the feeling it would be a new experience for many of you.
I say that because there’s a lot of pure ignorance out there. And pure sad simplemindedness. Like the lady who said “I never read blogs”. Duh. You’e commenting on one how did you pull that trick off. She tops it off with a snobbish assertion she only reads the London Times. Sure.
Sometimes I don’t post comments to spare the poster humiliating embarrassment. Consider this comment:
“I don’t like bering [sic] the bad news, but there is no room on this board for collectivists. They control everything and will soon ruin everything, and I just like reading the opinions of liberty loving people on this site. I don’t have to look around for collectivist opinions. They are foisted upon me from every direction every day without pause.
I have never bought into the sappy mantra preached in this babble of words. The answer is no, we can’t, and we don’t. Get over it.”
Note:
1) He can’t spell “bearing”, a sign of adult illiteracy. (there are classes for this you know).
2) He’s basically a paranoid Stalinist, cowardly in his anonymity of course. Note how smugly proud he is of his self-proclaimed role as censor. He would be at home in the former Soviet Union. No opposing views for him, either to read or to be allowed to be read by others. That’s Stalinism, or as he calls it “collectivism”.
3) He has no idea what collectivism is, and how it differs from liberalism. My “Note to the Blogosphere” post called for more dissent on both liberal and conservative blogs. Yet just about every commenter ignored that. Can’t you people read? Wait, unfair question.
I’m a liberal not a collectivist. Some night after your adult illiteracy class, Mr. “Bering Bad News” check out this essay on the difference. Get someone to help you with the hard words.
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6 Comments
1. heathermc:I can read, but mostly I just skim things. However, I always notice when a word has been misspelled (it’s my Grandmother in me):
it is REIN; not REIGN.
And I hope your are in better health than you were last week.
Mar 20, 2009 - 6:30 pm 2. Rob:Well, our education system is a complete disgrace.
And who’s been in charge of that for the past 30 years?
Mar 20, 2009 - 11:58 pm 3. David Thomson:“First a word about those who cry censorship when their posts are moderated.”
I have no problem whatsoever with my posts being moderated. As matter of fact, I prefer it that way. Editors are inherently necessary. We are not obligated to waste our time with the truly crazed. There is, alas, no perfect answer to this dilemma. Distinguishing between a real Tomas Paine and a plain fool can be very difficult. We just do our best.
Mar 21, 2009 - 4:18 am 4. charlie finch:Alessandra Stanley in Saturday’s “New York Times” has an interesting fugue on Obama’s quest for detachment, a kind of wry disintetestdness. While Washington’s detachment was a sort of regal persona, subsequent examples among politicians hid a wry arrogance: Adlai Stevenson’s was rueful; Eugene McCarthy’s a self-superiority; Reagan’s the fullblown persiflage of the actor. Obama’s “Special Olympics” remark can be turned over like a many-sided crystal. “Specialness” is what he is. “Weakness” is that which he contrasts himself from: the simpering idealism of his mother, which Obama dislikes, the lack of self-discipline in his father, which Obama’s yearning excuses. He teases Michelle mercilessly because her personal strength is natural, while his is manufactured. There are sensual identities, relational aesthetics and streams of doubt within Barack which eke out from their hidyhole. When I contemplate him, I think of Fred Astaire meticulously rehearsing his dances with partner/choreographer Hermes Pan, while the public partner, Ginger Rogers, is compelled to observe from the sidelines. Obama aims to be the dancer and the dance and we are the partner.
Mar 21, 2009 - 8:34 am 5. heathermc:charlie finch, you are a very charming person. I want to read what you have to say about the Arts. Politics is not your realm. Seriously. Maybe PJM needs an artist type, to talk about the lovely and the ugly.
Mar 21, 2009 - 1:33 pm 6. marymcl:~ Note:
1) He can’t spell “bearing”, a sign of adult illiteracy. (there are classes for this you know). ~
And so on. I am sick to death of liberal condescension. Forget the substance of the original comment. You took someone’s typo and set up a straw man in order to demonstrate your contempt for the people who frequent this site. How pathetic.
A recommendation from Cynthia Ozick carries a lot of weight with me, and I would’ve thought you were above that kind of cheap shot. But what I’ve read on your blog makes me wonder what a formidable mind like hers finds so impressive. BTW You think conservatives are petty? Vindictive? Specious? Go on over to Claudia Rosett’s blog and check out the comment thread on her post about Iran.
But then, that wouldn’t give you pause would it? You’d be right at home. As someone noted earlier, you’re sharing a website with the likes of Victor Davis Hanson, Richard Fernandez, Roger Kimball, and while I’m at it, Claudia Rosett. Your post reads like it was written by a troll. You should be ashamed.
And my name is Mary McLaughlin so don’t even think about calling me a coward, tough guy.
Mar 21, 2009 - 4:27 pm