Part 2
saying I was being "bizarre in the extreme... totally irrelevant & useless in the extreme" which I find quite unnecessary.
To paraphrase or mimic a line from "North by Northwest", I think you're seeing a "Sharpton" here where there ain't no Sharpton. What I in fact
said was:
Originally posted by nuthin
Not sure what you mean by his "attitude", but to say that his "writing style" is somehow detrimental to furthering the concept of racial equality strikes me as bizarre in the extreme.
&
Originally posted by nuthin
As I understood it, your objection was to what you felt was Thorn being "pompous" or "self absorbed" or something of that nature in his "writing style". I think my point is that even if that were true, what the hell does saying that have to do with furthering the discussion of the issue here? All saying that does, IMO, is reduce the discussion to an ad hominem back & forth. Which IMO is totally irrelevant & useless in the extreme.
So, I was (I think pretty clearly) saying I considered your ASSERTIONS to be "bizarre in the extreme" & that the
act of making those assertions didn't further the discussion of the
issue in any way & was "totally
irrelevant & useless in the extreme" in that regard.
If you look at those statements carefully, I think you'll find NO words of any strength describing YOU as bizarre, pointless or irrelevant to
any extent.
Of course, if I respond to you in the same manner (saying that your posts are "bizarre in the extreme... totally irrelevant & useless in the extreme") then that would be responding in kind as well.
Please feel free to. Who asked you not to?
Not me, certainly. Why should you be any different from the overwhelming majority of the resta the literate, civilized world which, to the infinitesmal degree it's even aware of my existence, considers
both me & my posts to be bizarre, irrelevant, pointless & useless in the extreme--not to mention excessively long, pedantic, tiring, boring & over-the-top obsessed with stylistic flourishes like itals & caps. Mosta them also have a few choice words about my appearance, facial features, hygiene & lineage.
The point is, I have no objection in a discussion of
issues to satirizing or ridiculing your [/i]conclusions[/i] & having you do the same with mine. Shit, that's part of the
fun of these debates & I think it serves a useful purpose
as long as it's accompanied by an explanation of why said opinions are ridiculous. And I certainly don't see the point of pretending an opinion has more validity than you perceive it to have.
But for me--or you or anybody--
only to assert a position is bizarre or pointless or stupid or whatever & simply
leave it at that doesn't seem to me to serve any purpose in terms of discussing or clarifying the underlying issue.
OTOH, rank personal back & forth shit is
entirely appropriate to a flame war--in fact, that's the very
essence of a flame war, tho I happen to think most flame wars are crude affairs that totally lack any elan or joie de vivre & I try hard to inject such elements into my own contributions. Of course, most folks see me engaging only in mental masturbation, but what they fail to realize is that it's accompanied by a substantial amount of
physical masturbation as I sit here both typing & stroking at such an astounding & furious rate that by tomorrow I'll probably have as little dick left as I have mind today.
But will that help us understand each other?
I don't see why we should have any trouble understanding each other. It's that Sharpton guy who seems so inscrutably indecipherable & seems to be causing all the confusion!
Finally, to be perfectly clear (& what historical figure used to say
that[/] all the time & what did he know & when did he know it?) what I said at the conclusion of that "strongly worded" post was this:
If you're saying you'll filter out (i.e., won't consider) the views of those whose personality you find somehwat offputting--well, that's up to you, of course. But frankly, I think you'll miss out on a lot, cause a great deal of the real IMPORTANT achievements in art, science, culture & philosophy thru the ages & continuing into the present day have come from folks whose personalities & characters left a lot to be desired.
Nuff said.
That still comes across to me at least as a completely straightforward, non-inflammatory & above all clear expression of what I was saying. If there's a clearer way of saying it, I don't know what it is. Maybe to find it, I'll just have to get over myself. Shouldn't be too hard--everybody else in the world got over me long ago.
