John - Ooooooo...that's pretty scary, all right! You are speaking, I presume, of Liechtenstein? ;-) (I jest.)


Don - You are THE master of hyperbole and arguments take to the final ridiculous extremity. ;-) Observe the following examples taken from your last post...

"If you had actually paid attention to the many posts that GfS has made..."

Oh, but I have. Yes! And on occasion he gets as vehemently hyperbolic and unreasonable as you do when you are worked up about something, while on other occasions he's quite sensible and interesting (which you are also when you're not having a fit about something). I have paid attention to both of you, Don. There is no hyperbolic if instance such as you advance above of my not paying attention.

"The problem with that is that you don't seem to be able to distinguish between an underdog and Rottweiler with rabies."

Oh dear. More hyperbole and extremity. Sooooo dramatic. (sigh) No useful point to be found there. Yes, I know the difference between those two.

"YOUR problem is that you fancy yourself as "Little Hawk, Champion of the Underdog."

Yes, but I regard it as a virtue, Don, not a problem. ;-) Mind you, I'm not saying that every underdog is, by definition, "right"...some are certainly not right...but I do react badly against gangs of bullies, cozy little in-groups that bully visitors or outsiders because they know they can comfortably get away with it in the company of their mates. I don't care for that when I see it.

"If I'm intolerant of certain examples of human behavior, it is because that behavior is intolerable in a civilized world."

No kidding! So am I intolerant of such behaviour. Your statement implies that anyone who disagrees with you about anything MUST therefore BE tolerant of such awful behaviour. I very much doubt that that is true.

"If you think the word "bigot" is merely a baseless insult (like "asshole" or "shithead"), then I suggest that you look the word up in a good dictionary and find out what it means."

No, I already know what it means. What I think, Don, is that you cannot just sum up another person with a single catchword like "bigot". You can say that a certain form of behaviour is bigoted, yes, but you can't neatly sum up another person AS a bigot, because it reduces them to a cardboard stereotype of evil, and the real truth is probably that like you and me and everyone else, they are complex people, and they cannot simply be summed up in one evil hate word. They probably are, like you and me and everyone else, concerned about truth, justice, fairness, and every other good thing like that and they are pursuing it as best they can given their own understanding, and you don't know about 95% of what they believe, you're just operating on some shred of information that you just reacted to and you interpreted to suit your desire to go after them like a pitbull and make extreme statements about them. You go on the witchhunt, Don. That is your method.

The problem with YOU, Don, if I may adopt your own hectoring, accusatory, and totally nasty way of talking to virtually anyone you disagree with is that you cannot seem to have a difference of opinion with another person without also immediately reducing them to the lowest levels of moral evil, stupidity, and drooling idiocy in your own mind, and then treating them like shit. That's a stupid way to deal with other people, Don. It's mean, it's pointless, and it's totally intolerable as far as I'm concerned. It's shabby. It's vain. It's arrogant. It does not become you. It does not lead anywhere useful. It does not permit a sensible conversation between 2 people.

This has nothing to do with neutrality in the face of issues. I'm not neutral about the issues. I am, as you know, both a leftist and a liberal/radical...in fact most "liberals" don't strike me as nearly radical enough in their response to the issues of our day. I'm far from neutral about the issues, Don.

What I'm always objecting to is your pissy attitude toward other people you disagree with, your sarcastic remarks to them, your vicious character attacks on the people you disagree with, and your obvious total lack of respect for them, NOT your position on ANY of the issues.

I often AGREE with your position on the issues themselves. I don't agree with your apparent need to persecute individuals on a personal basis over matters of political differences you have with them.