Friday, March 02, 2012

Teh Point, You Fail To Grasp It

Man Who Named Blogosphere Unable To Take The Pebble From My Hand; Must Go Anyhow
WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE

Internationally-known San Franciscan Bill Quick has put me in my place, by gum! -- Um, well, he would've had I been standing where he decided I was, that is.

Y'see, he said my posting about a vicious, petty rant against Republicans (but it could have been from anywhen, about any despised Other) was "hysterical bullshit."

Ha ha, sez I, I already had a hysterectomy.

He seems to think I was decrying incivility qua incivility, and claiming such is what leads to the great horrors of politics. --Now, it is unfair to blame him; he likely read no deeper than Chas G. Hill's excerpt and besides, most adults read at no more than an eighth-grade level. Subtleties can be lost.

So fuck civility. Let me spell it out for him, in nice little words even denizens of of the Golden Typo State* can understand:

The problem, Bill, is not that the spew in question is uncivil, nor even that it is -- in your opinion -- expressive of "honest, deeply-felt disagreement..." I have no doubt the writer was sincere; it is obvious her feelings run to her very core. Whoopee.

The problem is, she's already decided anyone tagged with "Republican" is pure evil, to be hated, feared and driven out. Y'all aren't someone she's disagreeing with, Bill: she's decided you're vermin. A cockroach. You won't be having a shouting match with her; soon as she spots you, she's calling the Orkin man. She could be polite about it, but she's decided to stand on a chair and scream. No matter how the message is delivered, it's a toxic one.

It's
not lets-go-vote-about-it-you-bastard, it's not ordinary political disagreement, even of the bar-fight variety: it's the dehumanizing talk that comes before they decide to ship folks off for terminal "re-education."

And that, dear Bill, is the problem.


Minor points: the "X" in my nom de 'net comes from algebra, not a sesquicentarian war -- a war most slave-owning nations managed to end slavery without having, I will note.

The Goldwater quote is a good one and one that I happen to agree with -- but "extremism" of the sort K7UGA referred to falls well short of describing domestic, mainstream political opponents as something other than human and comprises rather more than mere talk.

Which brings me to your closing, a grim reminder "that when talk is insufficient, it’s time to bring out the guns. Whether Miss X and her ilk approve or not." --Yeah, well, perhaps we differ in that I would like to not have to spend my declining years in house-to-house fighting, but if it comes to that, Mr. California, would you care to compare arms and ammunition? (Pretty sure I've got you beat there. I'm not all that great a shot but from what I see at the range, I'm not that bad.) My whole point was that her talk was at the next-step-is-shooting stage and I was kinda aiming, by exposing it as the genuine hate speech that it is, to maybe head things off: if you don't call folks out over this kind of behavior, it tends to spread.

I'm tickled to be, in your estimation, one of "those people folks," whatever that means. (And to have an "ilk," to boot. Ooo! Do you feed them, or just make sure they get sunlight and water?) Agnostic (former Buddhist, former Methodist), shooter, female, geek, Scots/Cherokee/German/Mongrel American and darned proud of it. Oh, and (shock, horror) a feeeelthy Libertarian. I wouldn't have much of a dog in your Donkey/Elephant fight except the Dems keep thinking I am one of you and your side comes up with the occasional Goldwater or Paul, flawed but not as badly as most of the pols. They'll ship me off to the same damn camps, Ghu rot the luck.

Dunno just what you are. Some guy who dents his head jumpin' off his own pile of hasty conclusions, near as I can tell. Your Mom should have kept after you about wearing that helmet.
____________________________________
* Just ask Snopes.

29 comments:

Jeffro said...

When you said "the two halves of the Running Things Party" I about spewed. What's so difficult to understand you were chastising both sides as well as pointing out they're pretty much the same thing?

That phrase was a thing of beauty, if I didn't say so before.

Farm.Dad said...

Damn girl. Why don't ya tell us what you really think ? Don't hold back now .. your among friends here LOL
good post !

Divemedic said...

The funny thing is the Democrats and Republicans have more commonalities than they do differences.

One commonality that scares me, and I think this is a reflection of their authoritarian streaks, is both of them freely resort to force to settle disagreements.
War on drugs, war on terror, war on poverty, yet every war against inanimate objects always ends up in people getting killed, and the object remains.

Eck! said...

he gotta speek engrish to grok.

Sometimes the dorks need no introduction , They self announce and like smelly orifices they are conspicuous by their emissions.

Sometimes you gotta open a windowe and air the place out.

Eck!

Secret Squirrel said...

Is he implying that we should scoot the cartridge box up in the line-up, perhaps somewhat before throwing rotten vegetables at those on the soap box? Because I'm not down for that.

If he wants to have it on with his perceived enemies, he can go first (...and last).

Spartacus said...

I've only read the musings of the aforementioned a couple of times, usually due to another blogger claiming he wrote something brilliant and providing a link, thus I am compelled to repeat that I've only read his work a couple of times.

Judging from the conclusion he jumped to after reading your post, one has to wonder if his handle is an oxymoron.

jed said...

> Your Mom should have kept after you about wearing that helmet.

Heh. Might've left a mark there.

Never occurred to me to ponder much what the "X" stood for, other than being just a partial anonymizer, X being common for such. Roberta 10? (of 11? of 23?) Roberta Times? Well, whatever, a typographic reference to the Confederate flag is a stretch I would never have made. (I must be getting ever more inflexible as the years pass.)

CGHill said...

@Jeffro: "Running Things Party" was the clincher for QOTW.

BobG said...

Sorta clueless, isn't he?

Ken said...

I think the idea of the "two halves of the Running Things Party" can be extended further. I've seen several examples in various places of people nominally on "this" side of the various bones of contention fantasizing openly about the Purge that will follow the Restoration (that will follow Der Tag).

I made up my mind that if there's going to be a Terror, I'll have no part of it, and I make careful note of them as thinks it's a feature.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Wow. I like to throw out a Simple Test. If ONE word was changed in the Rant, would anyone Defend it? Would the Daily Kos even publish it? Would not Eric Holder and the DOJ start looking into whether it was Hate Speech?

Substitute "Republican" with either Black, Lesbian, Muslim, Jew or Democrat (you get to Choose), and the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ would be all over it like White on Rice.

And that's where Bill is DOA. When the Ranter is at that Level, there can be NO "Civil Discourse" with that Person. They have publicly declared their Hatred, and I doubt that even a "Road to Damascus" Revelation would work.

Why YOU would be declared the "Bad Guy" in this is beyond me. Or does "Civil Discourse" mean we can't call out Haters anymore? Freedom of Speech and Expression is a Two-Way Street, and if Haters want to Hate, then they need to feel the "Heat of the Kitchen" (as Harry S. Truman once said). Or else we should all just get our Party Membership today and start stringing Wire for the Camps.

What's Sad and Disgusting is the Fact that Sensible People are looking out their Front Doors and drawing up Range Cards for their Neighborhoods. What the Heck has happened to the Republic that we even need to take those measures into account? Not Good.

All I know is, that if I'm near Roseholme and Insanity breaks out, that I can be allowed to run to your place for Shelter. It be much safer there than out on the Streets. Plus, since I'm a Night Owl, I'd be happy to maintain the Perimeter Security Duty during Witch Hours in exchange for Food and Shelter.

Of course, if you are stuck up here, feel free to head to my place for Shelter. We'll keep the Light on.

SayUncle said...

Quick is, usually, reasonable but someone check his patella, that knee jerked so fast. My only question is 'when does Mr. Quick think it starts?'

Roberta X said...

Unk, I might not have been his best choice to get unreasonable with.

Give the lack of sane Presidential choices this time 'round, I'm in no mood to pat fools on the head and offer them a peppermint when they spout nonsense.

I think the odds are better than 50% in favor of the U.S. getting into another handy little war before November; war Presidents get re-elected. Things would get worse from there.

Spartacus said...

"
I think the odds are better than 50% in favor of the U.S. getting into another handy little war before November; war Presidents get re-elected. Things would get worse from there."

I've had the same feeling. I wonder who he'll decide to pick a fight with though, he's spent 3 years alienating our friends while trying to please enemies. Not that it matters, the piggy bank is empty, we could hardly afford going to war with Antarctica.

Will Brown said...

You have been having a bad run of Bills this past couple of years, haven't you (he observes innocently :))?

Roberta X said...

It's Gresham's Law of Bills, I guess.... ;)

Jennifer said...

Can I be part of your ilk? There are few ilks I'd be proud to be counted among, but I am officially requesting membership. I want a card to put in my wallet and everything.

tmc said...

I'd have picked anyone else at all to lecture about guns, but at least he writes like a pompous twit.

Anonymous said...

Bravo Zulu, Bobbi! Are you related to the late Mr. X, deceased in '65? (I keed, I keed--I read & understand that it represents an unknown. Always wondered why you chose X, but I figured something like that, for relative anonymity).
IMHO, you settled his hash.

Anonymous said...

I didn't read him before, and I really won't be reading him now.

I note the appearance of Kim DT and am not surprised. He the one who hoped Obama would be elected to teach America how bad Democrats are, or something. Kinda like hoping your child gets lung cancer to show him the evils of tobacco. Birds of a feather.

Roberta X said...

The hit dog has, in fact, done yelped.

Rather amusing that a guy who thinks I'm over-reacting to "mere words" bridles at a tangential reference to "hack SF writers" among groups who might get marched off for mental sanitation (a very old theme; do a websearch for "Fans are Slans" if you doubt me).

I could go on, but why? It's out there on the 'net. Make up your own mind. I'll just snicker quietly.

Seerak said...

Quick is, usually, reasonable but someone check his patella, that knee jerked so fast.

Try disagreeing with him more often, Unc. That view of him won't survive a few "friendly disagreements".

He's a master of snark, but of little else, and when all you have is a hammer... Suffice it to say he's "quick" in more ways than one.

Anonymous said...

"...dehumanizing talk that comes before they decide to ship folks off for terminal "re-education."

Are you really that worried about this? Maybe the Leftists in Indiana are just plain meaner. I've met and talked to enough of the Left to convince me that a Second Civil War, while unpleasant, would probably consist of bombings, kidnappings, assassination, and such other tactics as suit the sort of detestable little sneaks that Leftist are. And to convince me that it would be a good thing if the Left loses a Second Civil War.

You may, or maybe won't, interpret this to mean that I'll be stopping by the Seven Eleven every morning for a 64 ounce Double Gulp (lemonade, orange soda, Mountain Dew, and Sprite combined in various proportions depending how the mood takes me) on my way to the converted school where I sit behind the tripod mounted machine gun, reading and eating Jalapeno Doritos, waiting for the Community Hygiene Volunteers to bring up the next batch of Former Americans for their Graduation Ceremony.

I suppose you've got this "donkey/elephant fight", two-branches-of-the-ruling-party thing thought out to your satisfaction, but I sure would like to see the Libertarians get it together enough contest a town council or mayoral election and win, or maybe take over a county Board of Supervisors. Until we have some example before the country of Libertarian governance, Libertarians will be the sidewalk kibitzers of American politics, and will not be taken seriously, nor would they deserve to be. I wouldn't mind an experiment in government by Libertarians; if it worked, and was a better way to run things, I figure I and the rest of the country benefit. Until that happens, you all just keep on talking--it's not as if any force on earth could stop you, Libertarians are real good at talking, especially about what parties who win elections and run things are doing.

It just now occurred to me that watching libertarians deal with one of their own who actively wants political power might prove to be a humorous evolution. Please don't mention You-Know-Who, until a libertarian doesn't have to cowbird his way to office by raising a false flag, there won't be much respect for libertarians.

Mike James

Roberta X said...

Mike, there will never be much respect for Libertarians; a Man On Horseback will always trump rationality.

Now tell me about the swell, swell job the Parties Of Treason have done...?

Time to go in a different direction.

As for the rant, it is not the thing itself so much as it is the universal cheering on it has received from Kos readers that concerns me. If you don't understand why, you haven't paid enough attention to history.

Tam said...

Mike James,

I never understood the rationale behind that whole "Well, our guys may be despicable turd-burglars, but at least they win elections!" argument, but I guess whatever gets you through the night, you know?

Dan said...

Umm, I think I love you.

Cincinnatus said...

Sure, grin at Dan but ignore your regular stalkers ...

Roberta X said...

:D

Gewehr98 said...

I'm now officially glad Kim du Toit called it quits from blogdom.

Lesbian Libertarians?

Really, Kim? That's the best you've got?