It's not clever at all. It's "troll 101". He says something that irritates/pisses off people who then believe they're indispensable to setting things right.

As long as we have individuals hanging around here who are driven by anger and hatred and THINK THAT'S OK, we will be giving trolls a home here. People who think it's OK to let themselves be ruled by anger and hatred are everything that's wrong with Mudcat. Your excuses don't work with anyone but like-minded troll-fuckers.

Years and years ago, I once complained to someone at work about one particular troll. He said "don''t feed trolls." I said, "but this one really knows how to..." He said "don't feed trolls". I said "it doesn't matter, they just keep going," and he replied "don't feed trolls."

You might say it never has worked here.

I know why.

We have never, ever NOT fed them. Somebody always gets his chain pulled enough to jerk him, and others join in because they figure "if x caved, I guess it's OK for me to jump in.

I don't like anything Songwronger's ever said (as far as I'm aware), but it would have been relatively easy for anyone who isn't a stooge to talk about the actual SotU address. We used to have nicer people here. We used to have smarter people here. Or maybe it was just that people used to TRY.