From: howdHol@yaooho.com   
      
   usenet@only.tnx (Questor) wrote:   
      
   > On Thu, 02 Dec 2021 20:18:01 -0500, Boron Elgar   
      
   >>I will call out bigotry, prejudice, and sexism wherever and whenever I   
   >>see it.   
   >   
   > And your judgements are absolute with no room for nuance or error?   
      
   I think it's helpful to take a step back look back at the names in   
   rroger's first post for a bit of perspective.   
      
   Unfortunately, I think rroger has gotten a little too much guff here   
   over the years. Perfect understanding of logic and detailed knowledge of   
   the world? Maybe not, but I think the guy tries and has a more open mind   
   than a lot of the people who have wandered through here over the years.   
      
   But the ones he mentions, Shawn and Friedman? Holy cow, what train   
   wrecks.   
      
   Friedman was a nut who was so devoted to his priors that he ended up   
   arguing that Somalia under warlords was somehow a good place beacuse....   
   because.... people were creating cell phone service networks?   
      
   And Shawn. Wow. I rememember Mike Muth, who had honest to god serious   
   service in Vietnam and serious academic credentials trying in good faith   
   to get Shawn to grapple with military policy, and Shawn was unable to do   
   anything but retreat to his idiotic solipsism due to his cracked   
   mentality.   
      
   I think it's worth asking -- is this guy any different from Friedman and   
   Shawn? Is there anything to think he'll respond any better than those   
   guys?   
      
   I think the answer is no. There is no reason even a Muth could make a   
   Wilson be anything but a Wilson.   
      
   So what then? It's fair to ask whether Boron's approach is right, but I   
   don't think it's fair to say Boron's any more doomed than Muth.   
      
   It's possible for these guys, and the latest one to show up on the   
   scene, that the path to frustrating them is not so much pure bile.   
      
   Maybe it needs to be a more complex mix of bile, condescension and   
   sarcasm. Or maybe it's funnier jokes about them. Or maybe it's social   
   pressure that lets them  know that people can see the hollowness of who   
   they are, not just what they say. Engagement as if they are operating in   
   good faith may reinforce them more than simply calling out the bad   
   faith.   
      
   I'll admit, though, that calling them on their insecurities and their   
   stupidity may not be enough. Shawn at the end seemed to be showing just   
   the slightest signs of regret for who he had become, but only the   
   slightest. And I don't think it had anything to do with the endless   
   knockdowns he got in arguments, but with a grim realization that his   
   personal qualities had let him down.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)