Letters! We Get Letters!

Including very scolding trolls:[Click to enlarge] There are a number of points raised by Bill.

He appears to espouse a version of the "just one touch marks you forever" notion that makes (some) other people believe that thanks to my Cherokee g'g'grandmother, I'm not human. Except his kind of "purity" is ideological. Oh, how can he ever again trust what I say? (Doing a search on my blog for what I have said in the past might be a way to scope me out, and you might even use The Wayback Machine to check if I'm retconning; it's grabbed a few pages. I've thrown people off this blog for racist comments; I've delivered no end of lectures on what a stupid, stupid idea racism and other such hatefulness is).

So, Bill, some group with a member about whom questions have been raised shows up in my neighborhood, addressing the issue of firearms for personal defense, and I'm just supposed to cede the field to them? I went up and checked out what they were actually doing at the event. I can't tell what was in anyone's heart but I know what the words and actions I saw were.

If the behavior of participants at the event had been hinky or words weaseled, I would have called it out; this is an area where the Amendment most useful would be the First one.

But let us hypothesize that you're right about some person involved, a little thought-experiment; in that case, what happened? Why, a (postulated) baaaaaad guy had to be nice to the kinds of people he affects to despise. Our hypothetical individual even had to hand them factual information on how to get a handgun permit. If you were right, who got pwned, Bill?


I have a trail on the Internet, a history; this blog is most of it and you can look it over to your heart's content. I'm not entirely consistent, my spelling is poor and my writing is rife with typos but I'm not ashamed of what I've written.

Most people who've been active on the 'net have an online history; our words and actions linger. You post something on of one of the many forums or hosting websites and it is largely out of your control. It doesn't matter if you were being hip or flippant, kidding, "edgy," intending to shock or totally serious; unless it was extremely clear, your intent is lost and all that remains are the words and images. If it looks bad, you can live it down or live down to it but it's not going to go away.

I've got more material on the individual Bill is jibing me over here, most of which looks very bad indeed, that I am still thinking over posting. I don't know if it adds anything to the discussion or really answers any questions. It does build a pattern, as does the INGO thread.

And for actual racists out there, screw you. The rights to life, liberty and property apply to everyone, no matter who their ancestors were or what their religion or national origin might be, and that includes the right to defend all three by words and by deeds. Since you've got a problem with that, you're not on my side and I'm not on yours. But don't assume there are only two sides. From where I stand, you and Bill have a lot in common, starting with jerky knees.

(Edits are lined through, added text is dark green.)