Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Blogger friend Phil has an open mind, and has been talking to some smart people.
Well I guess it came to a head with that liberal friend over on Facebook. I got a note from him yesterday basically saying why don’t we just talk about the things we have in common.
We’re not close, but we go way back. I don’t know why that makes a difference to me, but it does. Part of it is that I know he’s intelligent and I have hope that he’ll snap out of it. Which is one reason I challenged his constant dribble of links to articles telling everyone how stupid conservatives are. He says he posts them because he finds them “interesting” or “amusing”, and the gist of his message was, between the lines as my buddy in KC observed, “Stop Booing When All I Want is Applause“.
I said I would respect his wishes and basically stop countering his posts on his wall with my opinions. I’ll stand by that. I’m a man of my word.
But Morgan had a good point when I talked to him about it. He said in situations like that he just politely tells in a world where silence=consent and he does not consent — if they want his silence they need to post it somewhere where he can’t see or comment on it. Force them into the shadows for a change.
So … that dude’s granfathered in. Unless and until he breaks his own part of the bargain.
But … it goes against my Stop An Echo campaign. So I’ll need to watch my acquiescence in the future.
The left needs constant reassurance about following their agenda. I suppose they should need it; the rest of us have a track record of becoming disenchanted and revolted with it whenever we’re better informed about it. But that doesn’t explain all of their insatiable lust for more and more reassurance. Recently the current Defense Secretary said that “any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined.” That’s as much of a victory as they should ever want. That was the goal, after all.
But still the relentless campaign continues, like a juggernaut. At Thanksgiving, in the office, on Facebook, it’s always reminder-time. Bush stupid, Obama awesome, Palin a dimwit, Iraq a mistake.
Say a single word in rebuttal, and you’re the problem.
Well you know what? That’s the kind of double-standard that is effective only if the victim consents to it. Hence my comment to Phil about silence being consent. That’s what they expect, want, depend on. Chaos gets to babble away with whatever, it’s always the job of order to sit in respectful stewing silence.
Well, yeah. I don’t want to be a dick about it, but then again we’re talking about situations where the other person started the conversation. Which I notice is usually the case, especially with the Palin-is-a-dimwit conversations.
So yes, I have a reply. I think that’s fair — I do not consent. If they want to peel off with nonsense and struggle upward on their little social ladder, and not hear a single syllable of disagreement from anyone, it’s their job to keep the conversation out of my sight. They’re the ones who want it that way. They have to unfriend or unfollow me/us.
If they want a monologue instead of a dialogue, they have to say so. They have to admit that’s what they want. That their argument is too flimsy to withstand anything but obligatory agreement.
It’s called being stigmatized; being driven underground. And yes you’re damn right it’s high time it happened to them.
Cross-posted at Right Wing News and Washington Rebel.
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Yes! I try to think of creative ways to frame a counter-point, or just engage them on a different level than the currents of media-thought provide, because the point really is to make people think about their thinking.
Failing that, the point is exactly as you describe. And like them, control the framing of their thought process and brand them accordingly with descriptors that they cannot refute without seeming the thing they abhor. (They are very good at this.)
- JoanOfArgghh | 03/06/2011 @ 05:54Yes! I try to think of creative ways to frame a counter-point, or just engage them on a different level than the currents of media-thought provide, because the point really is to make people think about their thinking.
Failing that, the point is exactly as you describe. And like them, control the framing of their thought process and brand them accordingly with descriptors that they cannot refute without seeming the thing they abhor. (They are very good at this.)
- JoanOfArgghh | 03/06/2011 @ 05:54[…] at Morgan’s place, he has an excellent post about speaking up on social networks, amongst friends. Maybe the idea of being silent hasn’t worked so well, but maybe we should be better armed […]
- “Pro-Tyrannists” | Primordial Slack | 03/06/2011 @ 06:42