I might, or might not, have joined a very small debating circle this week. We'll see how it goes.
In the course of putting together last week's post, I used my typical research method, of wandering around in the conservative blogs and seeing how they react to my points. It's effective - perhaps they have some information I haven't seen yet, or a different viewpoint which might shine a light on the subject in a new way.
(I'll admit, it doesn't happen often: the disadvantage of getting all your information from Fox News and World Net Daily is that they tend to try to argue from a very small pool of data, much of it wrong.)
And so I found myself on a site calling itself Pathetically Incorrect. Now, Eric (the guy who runs it) seems to believe he has a web-stalker named Diogenes, who is "rude and unable to stay on subject." To be honest, I didn't see that - Diogenes didn't add a lot to the discussion, but at least he was trying. Maybe there's a history there. Or maybe Eric sees his comments differently than I do.
Eric, who posts under the name Eman (no relation, as far as I can tell, to the Eighties superhero), seemed interested in the fact that I was willing to confront him with facts instead of insults, and offered to debate me. Initially on the subject of cars, in which I have little more than a passing interest.
(Heh, heh... get it? Passing? Cars? ...oh, never mind...)
It went OK, I thought. He presented his side, I presented mine, and he offered a second one. I suggested the murder of George Tiller (you know, the abortionist from Kansas). And he even let Diogenes post again. Which was nice of Eric, since he'd just banned Diogenes in the previous post.
And that's when things went horribly awry. For some reason, Eric thought I called him an extremist. (Perhaps because I compared the pro-life movement to the Taliban. Could that have been it? Him being pro-life and all?)
I'm still in there plugging away. Don't know if Eric will want to come out and play any more, though.
4 comments:
Oh I’m here. I banned him (Diogenes) but he asked forgiveness and it was granted. I am in the forgiveness business so who am I to reject an apology? As you can see, he’s posting again but in a much more civil and matter-of-fact format, which I tend to like.
I like you Bill. I look forward to walking with you a while and exchanging thoughts and beliefs. I have begun to see where you are and understand your unique perspective. I am glad you found me and this is getting to be challenging, and fun, which is why we do this, right? I will now ask Diogenes to introduce a topic, if you’d agree to that. I am open to laying my cards on the table here and accepting others for who they are. Thank you for joining the discussion and I look forward to the days ahead discussing the times we are in.
You can have him, NC. I'm done playing his stupid little games. Somehow, he's taken a liking to you, so play with the mouse if you want -- it can be an interesting diversion! His latest rant is so far off base, but I tried to respond politely (or as politely as possible, given his vitrioic nonsense) on a point by point basis. His contention that basic human and societal kindness isn't necessary because it wasn't listed in the Constitution is, as I'm sure you realize, so far off base as to be truly incredible. (The Constitution never sets out governance of breathing or eating, either, yet I'd like to see even vermin try to survive without it!) And his contention that Jesus labelled homosexuality as an "abomination" is simply inaccurate, as that comes from Deuteronomy. I guess Dr. Phil doesn't know that, or Eman skipped class that day.
And what does the coward do? He deletes my reply. So I'm done with the petty little man. Good luck to you if you pursue a "dialogue" with him! We know who's in the right, and who's on the right, in that discussion.
Yeah, I'm willing to kick him for a while; I'm realizing that he isn't going to change, though.
Do you have a blog of your own, or are you a tourist?
Just a tourist. I have a morbid semi-fascination with cruising through the dingier sewers of the blogosphere to see what the rightwingnuts are up to. There is certaibly one born every minute, but it's distressing, sometimes, to see how many truly idiotic folks there are out there in our society. I keep my optimism, though, because I doubt many of them have the common sense to find their way to the appropriate polling place on the appropriate day and time, so the odds are they'll never vote, anyway.
Keep up the good work, NC... I like your stye!
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