(A paraphrase of the title of Oui’s recent post Only In a Fascist State Are Dissenters Hanged.)
Up to you, Booman.
It’s your blog.
Gonna stand up or lie down?
It’s up to you…
AG
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
We’re quickly approaching the point where AG diaries complaining about being troll rated exceed the number of posts that inspired the troll ratings in the first place.
Probably an improvement honestly.
Just a different way of trolling, really. To the extent that AG’s comments get troll rated, it likely has something to do with a pattern of noxious and provocative behavior that has only grown worse as the last decade has worn on. Apparently that response from other users, who are undoubtedly frustrated with AG’s lack of anything resembling tact or a coherent argument is now what defines fascism. I remember the good old days when a fascist blog might be one in which its users regularly advocated secession, eliminating such laws as the Civil Rights Act, defending the Bundys, ranting about the Deep State, etc. Oh wait. AG does that. So it goes.
It’s really quite ordinary in its republicanism/libertarianism. A libertarian commentator who constantly demands democrats/liberals/America accept responsibility for their actions and then complains/whines when their own actions bring consequences, and requests protection from those consequences from a higher authority. This is so ordinary as to be stereotypical.
All the insulting of individuals, the disrespect of how people make a living, the purposely misspelling of online tags to demean, repeatedly calling people names, the constant attempts to lower the discourse to the lowest common denominator, all that should be ignored, and protected from community reaction. Even though the `reaction’ is so inconsequential (down rating), irrelevant, and in the end, meaningless. Which of course, makes it all perfect. Meaningless consequences for meaningless comments. The same type of hysterical commentary can be found of any 4chan gaming forum that caters to 15 year olds who just read a synopsis of `The Fountainhead’. With the same cries of `Censorship!’ when the other gamers call them an idiot.
It’s what republicans/libertarians do. “Booman, please protect me so I can continue to insult your community and by extension, disrespect you and your site!” Is that a stereotypical republican position, or what?
It’s the Taylor Swift of commenting….. white, bland, and the same thing over and over.
.
An ironic take from one of the most serious troll-raters on this blog.
Troll-raters are themselves trolls.
AG
>>Troll-raters are themselves trolls.
and you NEVER fail to take the bait, and whine like a little baby about being censored
I am not “being censored,” esquimaux. Why? Because I am fighting back, not whining. You and the other neo-McCarthyites here on this site are powerless to stop me from posting comments and replies because you are powerless to stop me from posting articles here. Zero out my posts and they will appear as articles. Bet on it. There is only one possible true censor on this site, and it is the owner. If he decides to ban me? I will heave a sigh of relief and go on about my other business. Until then? If ever? You are going to have to deal with me and my point(s) of view.
This country is still…at least theoretically…based on freedom of speech.
Deal wid it.
AG
. . . ignore you completely, that is [which is by far best of all, folks!]), by pointing and laughing uncontrollably (but piteously, too!) at your ridiculous, infantile, inept, un-self-aware pathetitude.
You (evidently) imagine yourself a noble, principled warrior doing battle against evil enemies for all that is right and just (also laughable!).
With the exception of a few misguided fellow-travelers, everyone else here sees you for what you are: a whining, droningly, numbingly repetitive clown with the maturity of a precocious 7-year-old (or should that be a socially/emotionally retarded 14-year-old?), who hasn’t had anything new or original to say here in years, who constantly takes up space and degrades the discourse here . . . in short, a blight on this place.
[/paying any attention to you]
deal with what is a festering problem, else he’s going to end up with a situation not unlike peeder’s failed Political Fleshfeast blog (which lasted from 2007 – maybe about 2008 or so). That place devolved into a Lord of the Flies (or perhaps 4chan) situation fast. Wasn’t good for the prospects of that blog. Won’t be for this one either.
We’re at a point where half the diaries in the last few days are meta-diaries. There is maybe one posted (Frank Schnittger) that is of genuine political substance, and a handful of regular or semi-regular community-type diaries. Right now, I’d be thrilled if Marie3 would post a diary, just because it would have actual content as opposed to meta nonsense. We have a legitimate problem. Several of us have asked Booman to do something to address the situation. In the absence of that, expect more troll ratings and meta-nonsense diaries. That’s just what we all need.
Stop people from gratuitously troll-rating my comments and there will be no “meta.” Not from me there won’t. I have been here a long while, and to the best of my knowledge I have never, ever involved myself in anything even remotely like this.
Disagree with me if you wish, even personally dislike me if you must, but don’t try to troll-rate me out of contention.
AG
No, what you did was browbeat and insult every single poster that dared disagree with you until you succeeded in driving them away. And when that stopped working you started rehashing your arguments in the diaries, calling out people you were trying to bully off the blog by name and trying to organize others to brigade against them. And when THAT didn’t work at driving people away you started reposting every single comment as a diary. Escalation at every stage.
Eventually the Tribune is going to be nothing but AG dick pics on the main page and interminable dairies complaining about how your awesome dick pics are being rated down like some fascist anti-dicktatorship.
Only tit for tat, marduk.
AG
Of course that’s what’s you think, AG. Self-reflection isn’t exactly your strong suit.
And that’s just it. If it were just disagreements, there’d be no problem. That just gets chalked up to the fact that the Democratic Party is a broad coalition, and if we include those who don’t affiliate with the party but who identify themselves as “left” (in the broadest sense of that definition to capture anti-capitalist flavors of leftism as well) there’s bound to be some level of disagreement built in. Sometimes minds get changed. Mine did on more than a few things over time. No. This is different. AG’s behavior has been so toxic that it is turning this blog into the opposite of what I suspect Booman had in mind. And that is what’s maddening. Whether in my previous username incarnation or the one I’ve used since 2010, I’ve put my heart and soul to some extent in this community, and I am watching it get slowly strangled. I’m reminded of an old USENET group I used to frequent a long time ago. It was vibrant until one troll in particular, but ultimately a cluster of trolls, managed to drive folks away. Last time I checked in was a number of years ago, and barely anyone posted anything. It was just the troll and whoever could put up with his antics. If that is this blog’s fate, I will mourn its loss. In the meantime, while there is still a struggle for the heart and soul of this blog, I’ll do what I can with what little influence I have. I have no quarrel with those who argue in good faith, including those I rarely agree with – especially them (that’ll shock some folks). But if this place is going to be strangled by a bully who has shown no concern for the community, I’ll mourn its loss and move on to Daily Kos or somewhere else I suppose. It’ll be a blow, but somehow life will go on, and perhaps what happened here will be something of a cautionary tale for others who would start some sort of online community.
But what if the Democratic Party is no longer a “broad coalition,” DD? What if that whole idea is media-promoted nostalgia for “the old days”…whatever and whenever they were. What if it is now a bought-and-sold entity, owned by the same corporations that own the Republican Party? A “broad coalition” only in the columns and news programs of equally bought-and-paid-for media.
What then?
What if the same forces that are at work during periods of Republican dominance are equally successfully at work during periods of Democratic dominance? What the whole thing is simply a dog-and-pony, good cop/bad cop, WWE-style villain vs. hero show? Considering the economic, domestic and international results of the presidencies post-Jimmy Carter, a damned good argument can be made that this is now exactly what we have here in the U.S. Endless foreign wars, endless loss of any viable middle class, endless destruction of the working classes, endless functioning racism, endless selling off of the productivity of this country to places where wages are lower, endless transfer of wealth to the .01%. It happened under Bush I and Bush II; it happened under Clinton I and Obama, and it will continue to happen (under slightly different auspices) with Trump unless he gets thrown out of office, at which point it will return to business as usual under Pence or whatever other cheap hustler ascends to the presidency.
You label this ‘trolling.”
I label it the plain, easily seen truth of the matter, and I am by no means alone. Read Counterpunch once in a while, just for starters. It might just be good for you.
AG
Soooo…all these people I encounter at Democratic Party meetings and events in my locale – people who come from a wide variety of backgrounds (age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, vocation, etc.) are not a broad coalition? Would seem like the very definition of a broad coalition. Since we’re more than icons on social media platforms – I know, since I see these folks face to face regularly – the business about us being media fabricated can be safely dismissed. We’re quite real.
As for Counterpunch? I think I’ll pass. Looked at it at some point in the past, and was underwhelmed at the time. Not much has changed since learning that it published articles by a Russian government op claiming to be an American journalist (google Alice Donovan). Not exactly a great reputation for checking out the backgrounds of their authors apparently. If I want the Putin-backed party line, I’ll look up RT or Sputnik. I’ll look elsewhere, thank you.
When Obama appointed Ken Salazar to Interior, Counterpunch published a negatively (with some justification) critical piece that included a false assertion (something to do with Salazar, prairie dogs, and the Endangered Species Act, as I recall it — a subject within the area of my professional expertise).
I emailed the author/editor pointing this out.
I received no reply, but when I looked shortly after that, the article had been (surreptitiously) revised to eliminate the false assertion — but with no disclosure whatsoever of the change. No “update” appended to the online article. No attached “correction”. Nuthin’.
I sent a followup email pointing out that this was not up to basic standards of journalistic ethics, and thus detrimental to the publication’s credibility. The response?
“Fuck off.”
Last time I read anything in Counterpunch. Left them with zero credibility in my world.
. . . does not mean what you think (or pretend to think) it does.
Man, is that list getting long!
Google primary definition:
AG
by definition — not “gratuitous”.
As you say:
“Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one.”
AG
But not everyone keeps it clean with the same care, and some cant smell their own shit, and think it smells like something delicious.
That is what it feels like listening to you.
You lack critical thinking skills when it applies to your own words or actions, you cant take criticism, reacting often rather aggressive. You say shit you don’t care to back up or explain when challenged, the typical response is aggressive deflection. And you seem to have some ideas in your head that your opinion is somehow superior, and that it should be respected, even when it seems you are trolling.
After i pointed it out last time you tried being more reasonable, it lasted a day and a half, then i suppose either you didn’t like it because it was too hard, or you forgot about it and fell back into your old habit of frustrating ranting and feeling sorry for yourself, revelling in your persecution complex.
So have you considered your problems are, perhaps partly, caused by your own behavior?
Or do you feel its all others fault? Is it just a cynical play you enjoy? How does it fit in into making MBTGA (make booman tribune great again)? Do you have any actual objections to actual behavior on here, or is it just an excuse to unload your frustrations, and you dont even intend to do what you claim to want?
I could go on forever, the point is that you dont make sense to me, and seemingly the majority of people on here, i rarely hear anyone defend your words, at best some people feel sorry for you. So, if your insight is important, which you clearly feel, you let it get frustrated by your own actions.
But maybe i am wrong, and if we wait and see the true brilliance of your insight and actions will reveal itself, vindicating you from all of your wrong predictions, contradictions, claims, paranoid accusations and just general ridiculous assholiness.
yep. Only on a doomed blog are trolls NOT banned. It takes only one determined troll to destroy an online group; you’ve seen it, so have I.
I have wondered about this blog’s future. It was nearly closed up last August as I recall. Something like this takes time, energy, and some coinage to maintain. I won’t try to read our host’s mind, or make predictions about his intentions as I would neither know nor is that my place. But I do wonder if we are approaching an endpoint, and if the lack of action on dealing with troll behavior is a hint in that direction. If that indeed happens, I hope I can find a few more of you on Twitter.
Yep, looks like I did. Sorry. My bad.