Comments on the comments on comments about comments
Regular reader(s) might have noticed that recently there have been a certain amount of negative comments from one person, a certain amount of negative comments on such negative comments back from me, and then deletions of the comments of the comments and my comments on the comments. One of these claimed that by deleting I was indulging in “censorship”.
Although I might have shown my irritation a couple of times (excuse- I am human), I managed not to return any of the personal comments, not to indulge in a pointless point-by-point debunking of the debunking, and did not go trawling through other posts said person (under another name) had made on other sites looking for more ammunition, and generally turned the other cheek until all four had been used.
I include the “delete” button in turning the other cheek because I don’t see that as censorship (to start with, surely the definition of censorship is making cuts etc. to other people’s media, e.g. a government to a private newspaper, rather than your own), but rather as showing a rude guest to the door. As I haven’t really got into My Space, this blog is my (semi-public) space where I want to spend some of my free time with more or less like minded people. Maybe it would improve the roundness of my outlook of life phoning in to right wing radio shows instead, but my natural optimism does not spread far enough to think talking with said people would be anything but a waste of time for both of us. And that is why from now on I will be deleting all comments from just that one person (out of 20 or so who have commented here) without wasting my time reading them, and will skip reading anything I see on other forums with that person’s aliases on them. To give a couple more metaphors:
Let’s say you are the landlord of a pub and one of your customers comes in and argues with every little thing you say night after night after night after night (inevitably using the phrases “I have as much right as anyone…” and/ or “It’s a free country”). The landlord gets tired of it, the other customers get tired of it, and sooner or later the argumentative person gets barred. Hopefully they learn that trying to get along with people is sometimes more important than being right, but probably they just choose a different bar and start the whole process all over again…
And one more:
When the JWs come knocking at my door there is some chance that what they have to say about God is correct and could make my life better. I have already decided, however, that talking about God anymore is about as likely to be as useful to my life as learning how to crochet (boy, did we do that subject of god to death during all night stoned conversations at uni!). Therefore, I feel justified in closing the door and ignoring them. And if I have made myself quite clear but they insist on forcing themselves into my house then I might stop being even that polite.
Finally:
Does a newspaper have a moral obligation to print every single reader’s letter?
August 27th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Alex, the post about censorship was interesting. Your analogy -….. “Let’s say you are the landlord of a pub and one of your customers comes in and argues with every little thing you say night after night after night after night (inevitably using the phrases “I have as much right as anyone…” and/ or “It’s a free country”). The landlord gets tired of it, the other customers get tired of it, and sooner or later the argumentative person gets barred.”
……. This is an excellent analogy, and one that I would like to extend. In the pubs in South East London where I was living, the irksome customer would probably have been beaten to pulp on his very first visit, making the world a happier place. Could this model be applied to your blog? The set up costs would be minimal, a pachinko parlour owner with a penchant for extortion from society’s more vulnerable would be delighted to receive even a blog pseudonym as a starting point for a new business adventure. What with all those give-away letters after their name, tracking them down would prove easier than with someone with no ego. It’s a win-win situation.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:06 am
Chris, stop making me laugh out loud in the teachers room! Not sure much physical violence is needed, at school we always found flicking wet chewed up paper (what was the word for that again?) at these kinds was enough to reduce them to tears.
We could try a variation on the Japanese yakuza gangster shareholders meeting blackmail scheme though. If they dont shut up and/ or pay up we send an intellectual heavy into their lectures to ask difficult questions. Or (simpler) just send in a real heavy to ask them what they had been posting in the Metropolis relationships forum recently in front of their students.
(To those that cannot follow irony without heavy winks to help them, these are jokes! At least mine are, dont know about Chris…)