Sad State of Affairs

Off Topic Politics and World Issues
21

[quote]vroom wrote:
Pookie,

It may only be me, but I’d be willing to throw Steveo overboard if it meant the betterment of our community… ;)[/quote]

If everyone ignored him, he’d go away on his own, eventually. I’ve seen it happen in newsgroups, where trolls get “kill filtered” and eventually realize no one is reading them anymore. Usually they pop-up under a new name a few times, but their mannerisms (or often, simpy the headers of their posts) gives them away.

T-Nation lacks the “kill filter” feature, and makes it difficult to entirely ignore someone…

I’ve seen much better political discussions in the forums at slate.com or on various blogs and newsgroups. The ones here are appealing because you get to discuss politics with people you know you have something in common with (self-improvement through training and diet). Debates with friends always are more engaging than with pure strangers.

Who’s more to blame? The troll who trolls, or the fish who takes the bait?

[quote]There is a big difference. Besides, it would add to his persecution complex and probably make him bask in a self-righteous glow. Well, he already does that, but we wouldn’t have to see it.

Amen.[/quote]

You see? You enjoy bashing Steve and his trolling. If everyone was indifferent to it, he’d be gone or he’d be participating normally in the regular threads. People (myself included) enjoy engaging him, if only to call him names and tell him he’s a moron.

No troll can troll alone.

22

[quote]pookie wrote:
I’ve seen much better political discussions…[/quote]

Shhh. Don’t feed the troll.

23

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I agree completely with X’s post. Hell, even Rainjack’s.

Of course, only we can make the change. My blinding hatred of SteveO has made me reply on many of his threads, but that is going to change.

We can get back to talking about politics. And it’s about time.
As the most political forum members, we make a nonagression pact betweent the Left and the Right in order to get the shit back to the way it used to be. Then, like Stalin and Hitler,we can turn on each other and do what we do.

Anyway, let’s get back to politics. [/quote]

I almost pissed myself laughing - yeah, I’m in. Or “aye”.

:wink: Makkun

24

I agree generally with the Professor.

Although, in and around the election, we had a lot more to talk about - nearly something new and reelvant every day.

I reckon because of old rivalries and familiarity, topics just don’t get the substantive treatment they used to.

Two things that have not helped are the influx of two groups, in my opinion: the conspiracy kooks and the gadflies who only want to irritate and annoy rather than debate the topics.

We will always have spirited - even sometimes pretty vicious - commentary when we disagree on issues, and that is fine, but the primary point of a post should never be to purely try and agitate a person or group of people. Too much of that going on, in my humble opinion.

25

[quote]vroom wrote:

On a more serious note. Trolls are “handled” in every other forum of on the site. Is there some reason why trolls have to be tolerated in this forum?

[/quote]

Trolls in this forum are so much harder to define.

I like the stupid posts and discussions. The fact that they go on page after page shows most of you goofballs do to. Just look at the Brokeback thread.

There are serious threads that don’t get sidetracked (for the most part), and then there are threads where you get to vent. Just like everywhere else on the internet.

26

Enough of this sad state of affairs!

Beware the age old serpent!
WW3 is about to happen ! ! ! and we’ve got front row seats!

27

[quote]doogie wrote:
vroom wrote:

On a more serious note. Trolls are “handled” in every other forum of on the site. Is there some reason why trolls have to be tolerated in this forum?

Trolls in this forum are so much harder to define.

I like the stupid posts and discussions. The fact that they go on page after page shows most of you goofballs do to. Just look at the Brokeback thread.

There are serious threads that don’t get sidetracked (for the most part), and then there are threads where you get to vent. Just like everywhere else on the internet.[/quote]

Good point man. I don’t know if i qualify as troll on here for my views about some invasions and wars etc, but really, we have the answer. I suggested once, and suggest again here, that each thread’s attitude will not appeal to all. We are a diverse society. We needn’t get involved with shit we don’t agree with, or care about.

Why not ignore threads that are not to your taste? Then we can watch minority stuff slide down the list until it’s on page two or 3.

An example- there’s been a lot of Christian threads suddenly. As an agnostic, i just don’t get tangled, or engaged, as i have nothing constructive to say.

Personally i feel this would cure our problem, if we abided for the majority of the time.

28

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
I agree generally with the Professor.

Although, in and around the election, we had a lot more to talk about - nearly something new and reelvant every day.

I reckon because of old rivalries and familiarity, topics just don’t get the substantive treatment they used to.

Two things that have not helped are the influx of two groups, in my opinion: the conspiracy kooks and the gadflies who only want to irritate and annoy rather than debate the topics.

We will always have spirited - even sometimes pretty vicious - commentary when we disagree on issues, and that is fine, but the primary point of a post should never be to purely try and agitate a person or group of people. Too much of that going on, in my humble opinion.[/quote]

Agree with this, and the Professor’s original post. The quality and topics of debate have gone downhill in a big way. The agitators bother me much more than the kooks, because at least the conspiracy clowns can be entertaining. The solution really is self-discipline and ignoring the assholes, if their threads get no posts and few views, they’ll disappear to the back of the line. Good to see a few infrequent visitors posting on this thread.

29

[quote]rainjack wrote:
I long for the days when vroom would sit under his thinking tree, and I could throw rocks at him. Now we try to be civil - it sucks. [/quote]

Hhahaha!

Dammit RJ, you almost made me spit my water all over the keyboard. :-]

Good stuff.

30

Just as with American politics as a whole, the nutjob extremes here have drowned out the voices of the reasonable people and driven them off. I haven’t posted more than once a month in this forum in a couple years it seems because the interesting and thought provoking topics languish with a post or two while the threads meant for pure flaming thrive. Maybe some people need to wait for their favorite pundit or politician to form a position on the more complex topics before they feel comfortable “discussing” themselves.

A related pet peeve of mine-
A sure sign a poster is retarded is when they start trying to redefine the words “liberal” and “conservative” into “good” and “bad”, ignoring the context and actual meaning of the words. This goes for all the partisan mauling of the English language. I think these are the sorts of people who masturbate to the “party affiliation” line on their voter registration cards.

31

I think some of what we’re all remembering was a time full of breaking stories and important executive and judicial actions. So yes, there were many more interesting topics that were more varied from what we’re seeing right now.

Even if there are a bunch of “crap” threads, that doesn’t stop the good ones from being posted and responded to.

I do hope we get back into the swing of things, again… I’ve learned a lot on this forum.

32

I generally ignore the religous threads. They have brought down the quality of debate.

I loathe the conspiracy nuts and the neo-nazis. There are far too many of these posters and they have finished the job of ruining politics forum.

I am glad to see that many posters that I respect from the left and right are also unhappy with this state of affairs. Perhaps we can do something to change it.

33

[quote]orion wrote:

You are neither amusing nor thought-provocing (if you ignore personality disorders and jasonigor my money is on NPD), you are a broken record.

[/quote]

What does that mean exactly ?

34

[quote]jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:

You are neither amusing nor thought-provoking (if you ignore personality disorders and jasonigor my money is on NPD), you are a broken record.

What does that mean exactly ?
[/quote]

I think he has more of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder than a Histrionic one.

According to Kernberg both are in the same cluster, they are hard to separate, but I miss the playfulness or flirting (for the lack of a better English word)I would expect from a Histrionic.

His ascetic narcissism and insistence on a sadistic father figure he more or less identifies with, looks more like NPD than HPD to me.

  • Identifies with emotionally crude ideas

  • feels superior because of it

  • Sadistic super-ego he feels the need to share with everyone

  • not able to change his behaviour if it would be wise to do so => charakter neurosis

The whole power struggle issue would be solved by someone being histrionic, since it is the core of his conflict my money is on NPD.

He could also be a fabulous troll.

35

[quote]orion wrote:
jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:

You are neither amusing nor thought-provoking (if you ignore personality disorders and jasonigor my money is on NPD), you are a broken record.

What does that mean exactly ?

I think he has more of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder than a Histrionic one.

According to Kernberg both are in the same cluster, they are hard to separate, but I miss the playfulness or flirting (for the lack of a better English word)I would expect from a Histrionic.

His ascetic narcissism and insistence on a sadistic father figure he more or less identifies with, looks more like NPD than HPD to me.

  • Identifies with emotionally crude ideas

  • feels superior because of it

  • Sadistic super-ego he feels the need to share with everyone

  • not able to change his behaviour if it would be wise to do so => charakter neurosis

The whole power struggle issue would be solved by someone being histrionic, since it is the core of his conflict my money is on NPD.

He could also be a fabulous troll.[/quote]

Typical Histrionics are more obvious in women (and as you prob know, more common)but more subtle in males, but with him, just going on what he does here, distinct possibility.

Something tells me it could be someone having an immense laugh, each subsequent post gets a bit more daring, also look at the RR Avatar, worldwide renowned as a joke figure. Its either someone sick or someone with a very strange sense of humor.

36

If “we” don’t respond to the consipiracy nuts, they have no thread beyond the original post.

And…

the same goes for any other thread begun that you don’t like. Simply don’t respond. If enough people feel the way you do the thread will die. If it doesn’t die then apparently there was a bit of interest in it.

Make any sense?

I’ve seen enough threads begun about tattoos, rap music and fat people that are pretty much worthless in my opinion.

But…

I simply ignore them, as in don’t click on it to read it. I can tell by the title that it’s not my “cup of tea.” No harm done if others want to discuss those topics…who cares?

Those who don’t like a certain post or poster can simply “mouse on by.” If you decide to post in any particular thread that you don’t like you are simply adding to the problem not the soulution.

37

[quote]jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:
jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:

You are neither amusing nor thought-provoking (if you ignore personality disorders and jasonigor my money is on NPD), you are a broken record.

What does that mean exactly ?

I think he has more of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder than a Histrionic one.

According to Kernberg both are in the same cluster, they are hard to separate, but I miss the playfulness or flirting (for the lack of a better English word)I would expect from a Histrionic.

His ascetic narcissism and insistence on a sadistic father figure he more or less identifies with, looks more like NPD than HPD to me.

  • Identifies with emotionally crude ideas

  • feels superior because of it

  • Sadistic super-ego he feels the need to share with everyone

  • not able to change his behaviour if it would be wise to do so => charakter neurosis

The whole power struggle issue would be solved by someone being histrionic, since it is the core of his conflict my money is on NPD.

He could also be a fabulous troll.

Typical Histrionics are more obvious in women (and as you prob know, more common)but more subtle in males, but with him, just going on what he does here, distinct possibility.

Something tells me it could be someone having an immense laugh, each subsequent post gets a bit more daring, also look at the RR Avatar, worldwide renowned as a joke figure. Its either someone sick or someone with a very strange sense of humor.[/quote]

Do you think he sees RR as a joke?

Hell, I do not know what to make of RR.

38

As much as the OP was a bit of idyllic projection, these conspiracy threads are killing me. They make me ill. And life’s too short for me to shorten it by raising my blood pressure over such worthless horse manure.

I just ignore the religion threads, and I’ve taken to ignoring anything related to the Israeli situation - as interesting as that topic could be, it just gets dragged into the muck too quickly.

As Neph noted, I think things will pick up when there are more interesting topics developing from the daily news cycles. Until then, I have a feeling that for all the good intentions, many of us would rather attend to our fantasy football teams when avoiding work…

39

[quote]ZEB wrote:
If “we” don’t respond to the consipiracy nuts, they have no thread beyond the original post.

And…

the same goes for any other thread begun that you don’t like. Simply don’t respond. If enough people feel the way you do the thread will die. If it doesn’t die then apparently there was a bit of interest in it.

Make any sense?

I’ve seen enough threads begun about tattoos, rap music and fat people that are pretty much worthless in my opinion.

But…

I simply ignore them, as in don’t click on it to read it. I can tell by the title that it’s not my “cup of tea.” No harm done if others want to discuss those topics…who cares?

Those who don’t like a certain post or poster can simply “mouse on by.” If you decide to post in any particular thread that you don’t like you are simply adding to the problem not the soulution.

[/quote]

Sure, if I saw a cluster of Neo-Nazi’s heckling a jew or blackman, I’d just mouse on by.

In the past you have egged this fellow Steve on also. Then used a very passive aggressive technique to snipe at people who disagreed with you.

40

[quote]orion wrote:
jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:
jasonigor wrote:
orion wrote:

You are neither amusing nor thought-provoking (if you ignore personality disorders and jasonigor my money is on NPD), you are a broken record.

What does that mean exactly ?

I think he has more of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder than a Histrionic one.

According to Kernberg both are in the same cluster, they are hard to separate, but I miss the playfulness or flirting (for the lack of a better English word)I would expect from a Histrionic.

His ascetic narcissism and insistence on a sadistic father figure he more or less identifies with, looks more like NPD than HPD to me.

  • Identifies with emotionally crude ideas

  • feels superior because of it

  • Sadistic super-ego he feels the need to share with everyone

  • not able to change his behaviour if it would be wise to do so => charakter neurosis

The whole power struggle issue would be solved by someone being histrionic, since it is the core of his conflict my money is on NPD.

He could also be a fabulous troll.

Typical Histrionics are more obvious in women (and as you prob know, more common)but more subtle in males, but with him, just going on what he does here, distinct possibility.

Something tells me it could be someone having an immense laugh, each subsequent post gets a bit more daring, also look at the RR Avatar, worldwide renowned as a joke figure. Its either someone sick or someone with a very strange sense of humor.

Do you think he sees RR as a joke?

Hell, I do not know what to make of RR.

[/quote]

RR was not a patch on Thatcher, that’s for sure or any other big cheese of the era. He had good staff.