Yes, comments have apparently been disabled on at least one thread. It doesn’t seem to have stopped some of you complaining all you want, so I don’t think your first amendment rights have been violated too badly. Rather than derail a perfectly decent thread about John Ensign, you may want to voice your issues here. After all, John will be along soon to shout at us all, and it might be easier if you kept your stupidity in one place for the moment.
The helicopters are laughing at you.
/edited after posting to remove quote marks and any unintentional implication that johnny walker ever mentioned the first amendment.
cleek
this just in : bitches gonna bitch
cmorenc
Hey, the Patty Duke ad was AWESOME! Maybe not the best piece of work to use a political context, but as Patty said, “shit works for me!”
Cat Lady
WATBs – it’s what’s for breakfast!
Josie
Thank FSM. It’s funny–just about 5 minutes ago, I was thinking that we needed Sarah P&T to rescue us from this swamp of whininess and here you are. Great minds and all that…
Joe Beese
Yes, I saw that ABL had another of her “I will not permit myself to be mocked!” moments. Eh. It’s part of her charm.
Meanwhile, remember how y’all were crowing about gay marriages to be held on military bases?
Yeah.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_go_ot/us_gays_in_military
FEEL THE EQUALITY, BITCHEZ!
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
Careful battling that strawman. It’s a real bitch when you get little bits of it stuck in your sock.
I don’t recall that anyone said anything about “first amendment rights,” but I might have missed it.
I have no problem saying that closing threads is a bunch of bullshit, though. Is that how the blog works now? Say things that the OP doesn’t like in the comments and they get turned off? Sure, it’s y’all’s blog, you can do that if you want. I just never thought I’d see the day that Balloon Juice of all places did such a thing.
It’s disappointing, and I say this as an ABL fan. Then again, I failed to recognize an in-joke earlier, so I’m probably lying about that.
Stuckinred
I thought it was a bug not a feature so I eamailed her at 5:30!
WaterGirl
The helicopters are not laughing.
The next day and more from the next day
Good times..
Scott
I will surely contact the authorities about the fact that a privately owned and operated blog is sometimes not allowing comments, in direct violation of the First Amendment protections against the government censoring stuff.
Up next, I will raise a holy ruckus in my local Burger King because they won’t sell me a Big Mac.
Omnes Omnibus
@Stuckinred: I am guessing, just guessing, that when she closed comments on the white privilege thread, it had a knock on effect. There is no need to attribute to malice what can be explained by inadvertence.
Joe Beese
As long as we’re bitching, can I point out that this may be the only blog on the Internet that doesn’t take you to its home page when you click on the big logo?
Get with the program.
General Stuck
Oh noes, sumbody violated my whites on a blog!!
MattMinus
Oh boy! Are we going to get another ABL rage quit that lasts for a (too short) few days?
Can we all admit that she’s just a shitty blogger? Analysis of content aside, if you can’t handle disagreement and have to lock comments, you’re just not very good at it. No one as easy to troll as she is should be a front pager.
stuckinred
@Omnes Omnibus: The larger question is who really gives a flying fuck. They were funny vids, my cute comments about south bay surfers wouldn’t have changed the world.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
Also, too, whenever there is a photo by a frontpager, I have a bitch of a time reading it on my Blackberry, which I’m stuck with until June. Basically, the whole thing frame right if I’m going at it the easy way, and I’m forced to go with the slow-asses, cumbersome scroll down with the ball.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:
That was unintentional – I was merely trying to telegraph that it was a joke, not suggest that anyone had actually complained about the first amendment. My apologies.
johnny walker
@Sarah Proud and Tall: Well, you’ve gone ahead and cued up the shitheads to start pretending anyone but you said that. So thanks for making it clear at least.
@General Stuck: And someone gave Stuck another opportunity to make shit up.
While you’re at it, might I suggest you try coming at me with the “private prosecutor” thing I’ve repeatedly stated was a clear and indefensible fuckup on my part? ‘cuz hammering someone with something they’ve already disavowed is as close as you’re gonna get to a factual angle, and we both know it.
General Stuck
@MattMinus:
Addressing the only black blogger on this blog as “you people” is not trolling, it is not simply disagreement, it is absorbing rank racism and shutting down comments on a thread or two, to make that point, is something I completely support.
So self important wankers have to stop and think about the bullshit they spew out here. So fucking what.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@WaterGirl: Thank you! I honestly was wondering what was up with that.
When I asked about it in the other thread, the kewl kids were too busy calling me a square and making pie filter jokes to tell me what that meant.
Looks like a fun thread. Too bad I missed it back when.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
you misspelled bitchin, and what is so “bitchin” about it?
General Stuck
@johnny walker:
Dude, I don’t have to make shit up to highlight your stupid self. You have done a pretty fine job of doing that on your own
And in the process, provided some primo entertainment whilst the day is still young.
Scott
@MattMinus: Shouldn’t you be ragequitting back to FDL or WND or wherever you came from?
johnny walker
@MattMinus: Yeah, the lengths people will go to (racist, sexist, can’t handle an educated black woman, derailing, blah blah) to avoid admitting that she’s just a flat-out lazy thinker who couldn’t write her way outt’ve a wet paper bag consistently amaze me.
It isn’t about race, and it isn’t about gender. It’s about shitty content. Pure and simple.
@General Stuck: I guess that’s why you ran with the first amendment thing. Tell me more stories.
johnny walker
@General Stuck: I guess that’s why you ran with the first amendment thing. Tell me more stories.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@General Stuck: If you thought the trolls and assholes were thick before, just wait until they find out they can completely shut down multiple threads by using the phrase “you people.” It’s a troll’s wet dream.
If you think a racist troll will be dissuaded by these sorts of reactions, I have to wonder what internet you’ve been using over in your universe.
Ash Can
@MattMinus:
How’s about we admit instead that some people around here apparently just can’t handle a black female’s viewpoint?
JGabriel
Sarah @ Top:
You know, I don’t I’ve ever seen a new front-pager acclimate themselves to the Balloon-Juice house posting style quite as quickly as Sarah has. Kudos.
.
Svensker
Where does the credenza fit in? Mine is looking cranky.
I read part of ABL’s post, looked at about 3 comments and decided to back out quietly, while whistling the theme from The High and the Mighty. Seemed the best option.
johnny walker
@Ash Can: Called it. (#23)
How’s about we don’t, given that her race and gender are completely not the issue? How’s about you try and summon up the strength to admit to yourself that maybe, just maybe, it’s possible for someone to have a gripe with Awfully Bad Lawyer that isn’t based on gender or race? How about you quit living in a fairytale world where anything unpleasant can be explained with shit you dream up?
cleek
@Ash Can:
yeah, it must be her race and gender. couldn’t have anything to do with anything else. in fact, if you take away the by-lines, $10 says nobody could tell ABL’s posts from Tim F’s.
Gin & Tonic
@johnny walker:
Then don’t read it. Problem solved.
lacp
Well, back on ABL’s post that had The Thread That Went To Shit, I thought the survey indicating that whites feel they’re in a zero-sum game to be an interesting demonstration of the idea in critical race theory (no cites, I’m not an academic) that white privilege is a commodity. That would indicate that whites are correct in thinking that something is being taken away from them; it’s just not the something they think it is. A good thing, too, since this commodity was unearned (born on third base, hit a triple), is destructive to an egalitarian civil society, and is purchased at the price of a chunk out of the ass of every nonwhite person.
The cartoon? Didn’t think a whole lot about it, except that it might be funnier using the same captions with a suit-clad catalog model. As for the hysterical reaction to it? Fuck me, it was like fundie Muslims freaking over cartoons of the Prophet. Salafi liberals. Good God.
General Stuck
@johnny walker:
FSM will get you for lying.
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:
You would be the expert on that. Your little blog world will not end because someone disabled comments on a thread. There will be plenty more threads to wank on the bullshit for trolls. Consider it an outing of sorts for those wailing about how awful it is.
johnny walker
@cleek: I’ve piped out all the posters who can’t express themselves in 1000 words or less. This is clear proof of sexism.
Dengre? Sexism.
Levenson? Sexism!
Randinho? SEXISM!
There are some female posters filtered out too, which I’m sure just supports the made-up thesis.
Holy shit, people. If you’re really going to go down that route — at least with me — then at least go back to that thread ABL locked and look at what I said. I didn’t post that many times, and the gist of it was “While I agree with what you’re saying, I find this picture of a stereotypical white asshole offensive.”
But yknow, obviously the fact that I agreed with 90% of the post is just proof of the long fucking con I’m playing.
@Gin & Tonic: So the obvious answer is that I shouldn’t read ABL’s posts. On the other hand, when you see my posts, you should ___________.
@General Stuck:
#12. Thanks.
Omnes Omnibus
@johnny walker: Good lord, son. One might start to think you are a bit, just a bit, obsessed. From what I can see, you have spent a lot of energy on at least three threads attacking ABL. While you are certainly free to continue on in this vein, I think you have made your point. You think ABL put up and crappy post and then ran away. Got it. Point taken. Do you have anything else to add or will you just keep beating the dead horse?
johnny walker
@General Stuck: “Your little blog world will not end because someone disabled comments on a thread.”
You’re really going there? Ok, so on the other hand, your world ceases to exist when someone bitches about a lack of comments, eh?
kindness
I really enjoy Balloon Juice. I suspect most here do too, I mean, that’s why we bother to stop and read it’s threads. But the blogsphere, it is huge. There is no way it can be all things to all people. It just can’t. Just like family you gotta accept there are those out there you love but don’t necessarily like, those you agree with for most things but are diametrically opposed to some, and that good people are sometimes unholy dickheads (myself included).
Such is the glory and bounty of life. Enjoy the only Friday the 13 we get this year people.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@General Stuck: If knowing that nuking threads in response to trolling will only lead to more trolling means I’m the expert on that, then sure. I’m the expert on that. So is any 5th grader with a Facebook account.
I look forward to your sputtering response laden with badly aimed insults. I know you can’t help yourself.
Jesse
@johnny walker: What a turd in the punch bowl you are.
Oh no, someone *on a blog* doesn’t write to your exacting standards. You are certainly entitled to a refund of the many, many dollars it costs you to point a fucking web browser at Balloon Juice.
johnny walker
@Omnes Omnibus: Really? You’re going with the “why are you talking about stuff in discussion threads” gambit?
Dude, it’s an open thread, within a comment section, on a blog about pets and booze. If my commentary disturbs you that much then don’t look at it. Better yet, if my commentary disturbs you that much, then take a look in the mirror next time you take part in a massive discussion thread, you fucking hypocrite.
@Jesse: Blah blah johnny walker is the first person who ever complained about anything on the internet yadda yadda what a novel concept wank wank.
Joe Beese
@johnny walker:
I didn’t find it offensive as much as I found it typical of ABL’s gutter approach to political argument.
“Glenn Greenwald is associated with the CATO Institute! He lives in Brazil!”
TooManyJens
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:
Am I missing something? How is this not saying, “we have to let the racist trolling continue so as not to attract racist trolls”?
Scott
Why doesn’t johnny walker link to his blog anymore? I’d certainly want to see how a true blog artisan writes.
jeffreyw
Thread needs moar puppies, dammit!
General Stuck
@johnny walker:
Oh no. When that happens it is game on for me, fuel to mock whiners like yourself. So no, don’t stop making yourself out to be a deprived jackasse over comments shut down for racist commentary. I would prefer more permanent bannings myself, but I have no power here. ABL does have some power, and it is equally entertaining to watch privileged white guys squirm in poutrage that she exercised that power in a way to get your goat. And that she did.
johnny walker
@Joe Beese: Well, I found the picture offensive in combination with the whole “oh my gosh, I have no idea how dumb mofos could be roped into feeling threatened by brown people! It’s just so confusing!” routine.
I’ll repeat myself, ‘cuz I know people love to misrepresent: I’m not saying those dumb mofos would be correct, but pretending you don’t know your offensive-ass photo would put them on the defensive is ridiculous, and so is saying that you posted that nasty crap because you wanted to ‘get a discussion started’ or whatever the particular excuse was.
Hey now, I only posted this picture of Obama with a bone thru his nose to get a discussion going on race! But, right, posting a pic of a white guy that’s captioned to present him as a racist, sexist moron with poor relationship skills — totally different.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
Damn lost a comment.
I was going to say that I like ABL’s passion and basic message. Most of the time she’s right, something on the 80%+ scale.
That said, it is her occasional misdirected focus and McArdle-like misanalysis of events from time to time that diminish her in my eyes, because when she’s wrong, she has a tendency to be very wrong, and those neat little sarcastic tools she uses well cause me to wince for her.
johnny walker
@General Stuck: I love how people who constantly make this shit about race are obsessed with accusing others of making this about race.
Look, as far as I’m concerned ABL stands for Absolutely Bad at Letters. As far as weighing her content goes I could not possibly care less about her status as a black woman — though I suppose you’ll figure out a way to paint total indifference as racist as well — and it’s amazing to me that you all just cannot let it go.
It’s the same trick she uses though, so I shouldn’t expect much: call yourself the “Angry Black Lady,” and then bitch that anyone who repeats your fucking name is stereotyping black folks as angry, etc. Hell of a trick.
Omnes Omnibus
@johnny walker: So beating the dead horse is your choice? Okay. Look, sport, there have been occasions where I have beaten a dead horse in a comment thread; everyone who spends any time on blogs has done it. Sometimes, though, it makes sense to notice that you are doing it. Weirdly, the last time I did it, it was a stupid little back and forth the the same Fred from the ABL thread and Just Some Fuckhead of all commenters pointed out what I was doing. I got the point. Can you?
DecidedFenceSitter
Damn. Is this the same Balloon Juice community that would eviscerate Kain for not engaging in the comments?
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@TooManyJens: Or you could delete the troll posts and ban that person’s IP. Or let the regulars stomp the troll down, as has always been done on this site. Or disenvowel them, that’s always fun. Over at Pandagon they used to replace troll posts with bunny vids. There are many options short of shutting the whole thing down.
Shutting threads down is what trolls set out to do. Giving them a way to do so easily and completely doesn’t strike me as much of a deterrent.
johnny walker
@Omnes Omnibus: Look, I hear you. On the other hand, the idea that everyone else in the comment section is just chilling while I sit around spouting crazy nonsense nonstop just doesn’t sit right. I’d say something about the pot and the kettle, but then I’d just be called a fucking racist the way this shit has been going, so how bout glass houses? It’s like being called a dork by other people that are playing WoW. I don’t know where you get off.
Let me put it in your terms: if people want the troll to die, maybe they should stop fucking feeding it. Make sense?
TooManyJens
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire: OK, fair enough.
General Stuck
@johnny walker:
And the testament to your ” could not possibly care less” is demonstrated by the epic whine you are making across multiple threads, and now whining that ABL has the temerity to call herself angry when addressed as “you people”. It is just too much irony this early in the morning provided by morons with an internet connection. You should just stop digging dude, it’s embarrassing.
johnny walker
@Scott: fauxpopuli.wordpress.com
I stopped linking to it because I didn’t like the idea that commenting here == linkwhoring. Also because the blog is totally not ready for primetime, and is intended as a way for me to email a couple friends without clogging up their inboxes.
That said, there are a couple recent examples of how to do a long post without abusing html formatting, without busting out a wide variety of headers, and with a typical… I dunno, paragraph-based writing style. Go there and shit on the floor for all I care — it’s not there to attract attention, and when I post there I’m not posting on a big-ass blog that gets linked all over the place and shows up on memeorandum daily. Still, if you want to hold me to the same standard as I put to ABL, that’s fair, and I think my writing will stack up favorably to hers.
You might — ha, will — disagree with my points, but I’m confident that I win on format.
Oh, and I seem to have broken the blog recently and somehow killed the comment links on each post. How ironic — well, think what you want, but that was a pre-existing problem that I’ve been needing to fix. Working the WordPress machine is not my strong point.
Sarah Proud and Tall
The temptation to shut down comments on this thread just to fuck with you all is almost overwhelming.
TooManyJens
@johnny walker:
Racist white people are not racist because cracker stereotypes are occasionally mocked on the internet. No, really.
You’re right. No more responses for you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire: I do think that putting up an intentionally provocative post and then closing down comments was a mistake. That being said, I also think that criticism of ABL too often and too quickly veers into the personal. She has a style that does not appeal to some and she uses hyperbole quite a bit. Most people simply skip over the posts that don’t appeal to them, but ABL seems to have a group of commenters who relish going for personal attacks. Does ABL get upset too quickly when this happens? Perhaps. It doesn’t make those attacking her any less assholish.
Scott
@johnny walker: I’ve never heard anyone say linking to one’s blog through one’s own signature line is blogwhoring. I’d say link away.
@Sarah Proud and Tall: DO IT.
Jesse
@johnny walker: I get it. You’re depressed, and you want some attention, dammit! So, fine: I am paying attention to you, even though you’re being a total douchebag. Feel better yet, champ?
johnny walker
@General Stuck: Yeah, like I said: assholes like you are going to invent ways to paint me as racist no matter what I do, no matter what I say, no matter how thoroughly I agree with ABL’s post on basically everything but the clearly inde-fucking-fensible fat white guy pic, etc. Have at it. You might as well tell me I should convince the crazy bum on the street corner to stop predicting the end ot the world — it’s all shit you made up anyway.
@Jesse: You think you’re good at snark. You think you’re good at psychoanalysis. You’re wrong on both counts.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Omnes Omnibus:
What you said.
General Stuck
@Sarah Proud and Tall:
Yea, and you call yourself Proud and Tall. it’s the trick you use. I have no idea what I am talking about here, but I have grievance, lots of grievance, and now you threaten to take my voice away, my fake persona voice. You’re so cruel. And not very proud, nor tall, nor real.
debit
@General Stuck: I don’t think her real name is Sarah, either. Let’s shame her.
Jesse
@johnny walker: And yet, here we are, replying to each other. I’m not especially good at analysis, but you’re being really, really childish. If you’re not acting out for attention, why do an impression of a five-year-old?
General Stuck
@johnny walker:
I’d call it more a self portrait. But whatever,
Suffern ACE
Hmmmmm. I got nothing to bitch about at the moment. Have the day off. Gonna make some Maraschnio cherries today in advance of some cupcakes I’m planning to make next week for a bake sale. The price of cherry liqueur seems to have gone up. I guess I could bitch about that.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@debit:
That might work if I had any shame, bitches.
eemom
whew, thank GOODNESS. For a minute there I was afraid yesterday’s shitfest was going to fizzle out in the light of a new day. And that would have been a weeping, wailing, teeth-gnashing SHAME.
Letteth the games resume.
OOOOOOOOOBOTS RUUUUUUUUUULE!!!
johnny walker
@TooManyJens: Racists are racists. I’m talking about stupid mofos who aren’t necessarily/actively/consciously/whatever racist, but can be roped into nodding their heads to some racist bullshit if it’s phrased in a way that makes them feel threatened. Seeing that minorities think of all blue collar white people as a bunch of stupid, racist, homophobic, mysoginistic, (etc) troglodytes is very threatening to what I guess we could call the borderline-racist contingent. I don’t know how widespread these fence-straddling mofos are, but in my part of CA I can tell you that they account for a large part of the folks I interact with on a daily basis, and that if you think a picture like the one ABL posted isn’t a contributing factor to that kinda stuff then you’re dreaming.
If you want to go the “well, it’s *a* factor, not *the* factor” route, then I’m right there with you. If you want to pretend it’s completely not an issue — sorry, you’re wrong.
eemom
@Sarah Proud and Tall:
hey Sarah — your comments the other day, about being fictional and shit, got me a-thinking.
I’m real as far as I can tell, but I’ve always longed to be fictional. I mean I was totally MEANT to be fictional — isn’t that obvious?
So that makes me, like, a transfictional. Any advice on what I can do to complete my transition?
Ryan S
@Jesse: Johnny is a narcissist he has decided he hates ABL and there is nothing anyone can do to dissuade him until he gets bored. Racism is just a side effect for him.
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: It is nice to move the traveling shitfest to a new thread once in awhile. It helps the people following it on mobile devices (faster loading times, less scrolling, etc.).
ruemara
I have to ask. Sincerely, what was bigoted about the picture? Was it because the guy had a bob’s big boy spit curl? Was it because he’s an avoirdupois american? Speak to me, tell me how it’s a bigoted shot of a white male. How would it be “better” if it was a model? To compare that shot of a puzzled looking hefty white dude with a pic of Obama with a bone through his nose… well, white privilege, it’s not just for breakfast anymore.
@Beese. Dude, cultist was made for people like you who think that GG does nothing wrong. It’s pretty damn simple. It is not a political assassination to kill the head of a terrorist organization. Saying it over and over while repeating your musings about what is in the head of the CiC is not a fact based argument. Since your whole deal is not adoring every screed that drops from GG’s keyboard then I guess that makes me an Obot. You’re brilliant, obviously, and I am not, because GG is always correct, even when he’s wrong and clearly writing based on his opinions as a libertarian.
johnny walker
@Jesse: Acting out for attention? I guess that’s your spin. In my mind, I made one snarky off-topic post in a different thread and it all went downhill from there. Like I said before, the idea that responding to people flipping me shit means this all lands solely on me is not something I can relate to, but I get the need to pretend that you all are acting reasonably and that I’m the only one who’s the least bit out of line. It’s a useful self-delusion. We all have them.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@eemom:
First pick your genre. Are you chick-lit? Horror? Petticoats and hoopskirts?
Then let your imagination run free. Remember, you can be whoever you dream you want to be.
The hardest bit is when they come to chop off your actuality. That hurts like hell.
Jamie
@johnny walker: Well, no. The problem is when an apparently hobbyless ignorant jackass takes over multiple threads because the entitled WATB didn’t get to whine in a third one. But only after proving themselves to be almost, but just shy of, completely wrong on every point of the topic they hijacked. (To your credit, you’re apparently not drunk enough yet to mistake Ensign for Boris Yeltsin, or something.)
eemom
@Omnes Omnibus:
Agree. I totally hate having to go back to Page 2. Shit, the other day with that toko-loko mess it even got back to Page 3.
eemom
In all fairness, I don’t think we can be sure Johnny Walker is a racist until we know whether he’s black or red.
bwaaaahaaaaahaaaahaaaaahaaaaa
johnny walker
@Ryan S: The degree to which you know nothing about me is truly impressive. Narcissist? Yeah ok. Tell me more stories.
@ruemara: Alright, I’ll do up a picture of some stereotypical “gangsta” black dude and add some captions about baby mommas and how he hates whitey. Nothing wrong with that right? The picture itself wouldn’t be that big a deal, but the captions start adding in all these judgements: he doesn’t like educated white women. He doesn’t like his wife. Etc. Why is that ok? How on earth is that ok?
It’s truly amazing to me that you all think that the existence of racism, white privilege, etc. means that fucking picture is ok. Well, take that up with ABL. She said herself that it wasn’t, and that she was only including it to ‘start a discussion’ and etc. So maybe ask her why she said that if you really think there isn’t a problem with it.
johnny walker
@Jamie: Right, here we go again. I’m a dork for commenting too much on blogs. On the other hand, when you comment on blogs, you’re __________.
Ugh, #80. Meant to say “the picture itself wasn’t that big a deal.” A picture of a stereotypical black dude… I guess I’d have to see it. Picture of Obama with a bone in his nose: bad. Picture of a fat white guy: Meh, no big deal.
Anyway, what I was trying to say is it’s the captions on the fat white guy pic that create the problem.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@eemom:
or blue…
Joel
Fucking whingenuts.
Mojotron
This place is becoming the blog equivalent of the Weiner’s Circle.
gwangung
@johnny walker: Acting for attention. People rarely know how they look from the outside. Or how clumsy they are.
Just saying.
Joey Maloney
@Joe Beese: Wrong. Actually it’s in some good company. Digby, for example.
Jesse
@johnny walker: We’re dorks too, we’re just better at it than you are.
This is the part where we take turns doing escalating levels of meta about how fucking childish you’re being and what issues of mine you think are making me respond to you. I’m going to skip that.
No matter how much you complain, this is not your house. It’s Cole’s. It’s ABL’s by invitation. That’s it.
(And, no, it’s not mine, either.)
Omnes Omnibus
@johnny walker: Okay, there is a thing with humor…. It is okay to punch up, but not down. Less powerful or out groups get to make jokes about the more powerful or in groups., but the reverse is not true. The fact that this means that, as a white, hetero, Christian, WASPy, lawyer type, I am limited to making I-banker and hedge fund manager jokes is something that I just have to live with.
Jamie
@johnny walker: Right, here we go again. I’m a dork for commenting too much on blogs. On the other hand, when you comment on blogs, you’re ______.
Between the two threads, this is my forth post. As I’m writing this, between the two threads, you’ve posted 55 times.
So to finish your sentence, I’m “…posting less than 1/10th as much as the derailing troll.”
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: ZOMG!! ME!! WANT!!
geg6
@gwangung:
Fixed in the spirit of the thread that led to this one.
And FWIW, the pic on ABL’s thread looks pretty much like every Teabagger in Western PA. I don’t find it racist so much as true.
johnny walker
@Jamie: Now go back through and count how many of the things I said were in response to someone else talking to me. I’m not trolling by any other definition besides “saying shit that you disagree with.” If those 55 comments were all things you considered reasonable, you’d be going on about how I stood my ground and etc etc. Since you disagree, I’m a “troll.” Whatever.
@Omnes Omnibus: ABL has a JD and a rather nice job, as she is not even remotely hesitant to point out. In the aggregate, sure, we can look at what “white people” and “black people” are doing and how they’re living. In the particular, I don’t know anyone with a JD and the standard of living that’s indicated in the posts from frontpagers on this blog in general is beyond anything I or anyone I know has experienced. So maybe you can help me with the breakdown on what is and isn’t permissible, and exactly how shitty someone’s life has to be before it’s ok for them to be offended at being written off wholesale.
Amir_Khalid
I’m bemused by this foofaraw over comments being shut down for one post by a front-pager — a post consisting of two videos and no comment. Clearly, her previous post about certain white Americans feeling besieged by nonwhites struck a nerve among some commenters, so much so that they accused ABL of being racist by using that much-captioned photo of a fat white man.
I don’t know about that. Her post didn’t strike me as racist, and she has never struck me as racist either (a bit emo sometimes, maybe …) I could be missing some national context here, since I’m neither white nor black and I’m not even American.
I’ve seen racists in my own country, themselves not white, show precisely the attitude that she’s talking about towards other ethnic groups they see as rivals, so I understand what she’s getting at. And, as a Malaysian speaking on the 43rd anniversary of the May 13 riots, I know just how inflammatory race rivalries can be. Should she have used that photo? I don’t really see why not. I didn’t interpret it as a dig at all white people, just at a certain kind of white person.
I get that not everyone likes ABL’s style. She gets emotional and she’s not the most rigorously logical blogger out there. But her heart’s always in the right place (aside from her dislike of cats) and for me she gets it right a lot more often than she gets it wrong.
johnny walker
@Amir_Khalid: Struck a nerve, eh? So you can’t tell the difference between “That picture is offensive” and “That picture means ABL is a racist”?
Yeah, it struck the nerve where it fucking sucks to judge people based on appearance. If that’s the nerve you’re talking about then guilty as charged. And if people are gonna try and tell me that picture/those captions weren’t standing in judgement of that dude… lol. Tell me another one.
Just Some Fuckhead
I just wanna heartily endorse the drama. It’s the only thing that keeps me going between posts about David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan. I don’t really understand the obsession some of the folks here have with hating on ABL. It almost reminds me of the Michael D. good times.
I think ABL is fresh, interesting and funny. I think she’s a marvelous writer. No, I’m not all into the hero worship thing with Obama, no I’m not really concerned about finding the dark racist cloud around every silver lining, no I don’t like some of her supporters. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying her.
Don’t let it get to ya, ABL! Always remember there are far far more readers than commenters.
Omnes Omnibus
@johnny walker: Wow, you are clueless.
Mattminus
You people are crazy.
Nutella
Why am I not surprised that johhny walker gets hugely upset and emotional and defensive while attempting to make the point that ABL is too emotional and defensive? Pot meet kettle.
Amir_Khalid
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Now that’s an attitude I can get behind.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Holy shit, you whiners (and you know who you are) need to get a fucking life that doesn’t include policing the internet. Fuck. What a bunch of thumb-sucking, pearl-clutching, pants-wetting, couch-fainting WATB’s.
Really, turn off your computers and go get some smelling salts. Maybe get out of your basements and say hello to some of your neighbors for the first time in a long time.
I’ve used up my daily allotment of hyphens and commas so I am outta here. It’s nice out today and a sunny day is a lot more appealing to me than reading the incessant whining from some of you asshats.
gwangung
@johnny walker: Yup. Clueless and clumsy.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You’re so cute.
Amir_Khalid
@johnny walker:
There’s a saying, I don’t know from where, that seems apt here: When you point a finger at someone, there’s three of your own fingers pointing right back at you.
geg6
@Just Some Fuckhead:
And, once again, you remind me why I just can’t quit you.
Mandramas
Part of the solution of the problem called “racism” (that is only a color coded version of a larger phenomena: ethnical rivalry) is a rare trait know as tolerance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir_Khalid: I first came across the saying in this Dire Straits song.
D. Mason
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire: You can’t really take the trolls out of a troll thread, started by a the most prolific troll on the blog, without shutting it all down anyway. So ABL may as well rage quit, good riddance.
catperson
Thanks to whomever posted the link to the closed comments thread.
I wonder what ABL’s intent is when she posts stuff about race. I think it was a mistake to close the comments for a bunch of reasons.
I don’t know what the intent of the guy who posted “you people…” was. My first reaction was, whuh? And then when I read the whole post I wasn’t sure if this was unconscious racism (if you grow up with coded language as a norm, it’s easy to not recognize it as coded), conscious racism, or a misunderstanding about what group he was referring to (eg people of color vs liberal blog commentators) combined with tone deafness (see coded language above).
I think it’s unfortunate that the response was to assume the worst and then shut down the comments. That doesn’t get anyone anywhere. No one asked this guy what he meant and now we won’t know. And an opportunity to engage this person and have an actual discussion and perhaps have people learn something was lost.
I don’t see where this gets anyone except entrenched in their own grievances.
And I’m just tired of ABL picking up her toys and going home (but not staying away) any time someone says something she doesn’t like. It’s WATB behavior and her writing isn’t interesting enough to make it tolerable. Don’t want your opinions challenged or be exposed to racist attitudes (and seize the opportunity to actually do something about them?) Fine, that’s your choice. But stop with the pathetic attempts at drama.
September
I remember being back on dkos in the days before Joe Beese became an excruciatingly moronic wanker.
rootless_e
@Ash Can: They sure can, as long as it’s “yessir”.
D. Mason
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Best. Summary. Ever.
TooManyJens
@catperson:
Seems to me that it’s usually to rant about something that pisses her off. Like damn near all the FP posts here that aren’t about pets. Why is it weird when ABL does it?
kindness
@September: And here I thought most were hoping what comes around goes around wouldn’t come here…..Sometimes the imaginary world is superior to the real one.
eemom
@Amir_Khalid:
I LOVE that word!
September
Freshly Coined on Twitter: “Purity Troll Ranger Corps: spreading Dkos shittiness to other blogs”
September
Funny to see Joe Beese’last blog posts at Dkos talk about how Obama has no plan for repealing DADT.
There really is not accountability among shitty bloggers.
Johnny Coelacanth
Johnny Walker, are you _sure_ you’re depressed? I’m really getting more of a manic/angry vibe. If depression is anger turned inwards, I suggest your anger needs pointed back at yourself, you ugly, supercilious prick.
Thanks for reminding me why I should never read the comments.
TooManyJens
@Johnny Coelacanth:
Actually, depression in men often manifests as anger. That doesn’t mean he’s not being a dick, though.
Zandar
Oh what the HELL, people.
Cassidy
Man when did the commentariat become whiny bitches?
“The comments are turned off. I can’t argue with someone on the internets. Aaaaahhhhh I’m no longer validated.”
Get over your entitlement and yourselves. Jeebus.
Mattminus
@rootless_e:
What are you, fucking retarded? I purposefully asked to leave out the content of what was said, and criticized her on her handling of comments? How the hell can that even be racist?
“White folks moderate comments like this, and black folks moderate comments like this.”
Cassidy
Personally, if I ran the show here, I’d shut off all the comments and tell you all to grow the fuck up. And I’d leave’em off for at least a week. Then come back with a post publishing all the indignant “validate me, I’m important” emails and mock your stupid ass incessantly until I was bored.
Cris (without an H)
Am I wrong about mistermix then?
cbear
@Just Some Fuckhead: Headquarters called—you’ve been ordered to return your sheet forthwith or face the consequences.
Lawnguylander
I was disappointed that ABL turned off the comments on that thread because I had very important comments to make. Mostly about how funny the accompanying graphic was. But this epic double-threader meltdown by johnny walker blue collar is the second most awesome internet tantrum I’ve ever witnessed so it was all worthwhile. I do hope that when he calms down he’ll come back and explain what he meant by “private lawyer group,” though.
General Stuck
I am going to take Oldi hugh Manatee’s advice, and enjoy the truly beautiful summer day outside today in the high desert. But I want to leave a question to ponder .
For those who have fallen off the turnup truck and landed on their heads, did it ever occur to you why a black female blogger with the handle possessing the term “Angry” was picked to front page here at BJ. An angry black woman who is all out in the open of why she is angry, and with a trail of posts on her own blog pushing the envelope on racial issues in this country, and especially concerning the first black president. That maybe the powers that be here at this blog, was well aware of that when offering front page rights to this person. And judging by the responses, there are far more yeas than nays for ABL’s courageous blogging on likely the most uncomfortable topic in white majority America. She ain’t perfect, and I can’t find any evidence she thinks she is. Now, “you people” shut the fuck up and take your medicine. It will hurt less when the swelling goes down. And you might end up a little smarter and self aware.
I mean crike, the only two people who have done the GBCW more than me on this blog is fuckhead and Cole, of course Cole can’t very well quit his self, so that is temporary, usually about 15 minutes, and fuckhead is a fuckhead, of course. I quit this blog at least once a day in my head, and sometimes go to further lengths to uplug myself from the force of stupid the interwebs sometimes is. One thing all of us emos have in common is the willingness to say shit that has sharp edges, or in fuckhead’s case, a dull one, but sometimes funny.
Just Some Fuckhead
@cbear:
No way, these 1000 thread Egyptian cotton sheets are exactly why I got into the Cracker Pack. It’s like getting a full body massage from a million little butterflies.
cbear
@Just Some Fuckhead: Uh, ok, but can we have the hoodie back?
General Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead:
There is a moron in every silver lining. And I wonder if it is effective deflection mocking being called a cracker. Maybe it is, time will tell. I mean some titles are just best left flatly denied, rather than owned in mockery. Jesting with self mockery is how they deal with it a Redstate and No Quarter.
Just Some Fuckhead
@General Stuck: Stuck, imagine we lived in a world where I didn’t give a shit about what an anonymous and clearly disturbed pseudonymous internet weirdo thought of me or said about me.
Got that mental picture? Keep it in focus.
Great, that’s the world we live in.
Cris (without an H)
He disavowed that! He says so, anyway, I can’t be bothered to go looking for it.
Nutella
@Lawnguylander:
Not quite as hysterical as the ‘helicopters are laughing’ guy, but close.
Lawnguylander
Typing out “RAAAAAAACIST” is the Malkin Method.
General Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead:
LOL, trolling you to say stupid shit is what I’m addicted to here. You are a walking talking fake persona weapon of mass projection fuckhead, “clearly disturbed internet weirdo” is a fine example of that trait that is soaked in everything you type here.
Consider your chained successfully pulled. :)
cbear
@General Stuck: Does this mean you and fuckhead are going to be daytripping out to the Chircua–Cuchraca-Chiricueee, aw fuck it, the DESERT together?
Be careful, he burns real easy and don’t get me started on the whole carsicky thing. Also too, try and have him home by 8pm for the meeting—he’s the only one that usually remembers to bring the matches.
(p.s. dont agree with everything you wrote, but great comment.
(p.p.s. your pictures were very nice—the dog is cute as hell.)
General Stuck
@cbear:
fuckhead has loved me for so long, he just has trouble expressing it is all.
Paul in KY
@Amir_Khalid: Glad you brought up the ‘dislike of cats’! I now see ABL in an entirely new light.
I know General Secretary Tunch ‘The Vanguard of the Chow Line’ will not be amused.
Julia Grey
I didn’t play the Patty Duke ad, but the teaser pic was hilarious, with that big ole banana boat in the background.
Made me smile, which was a hard trick today.
phoebesmother
I can’t believe no one’s said it yet …
SOMEONE’S WRONG ON TEH INTERNET!
Yep, righteous fun on the Web.
I love ya, Stuck! (And ABL.)
A Humble Lurker
@Joe Beese:
Yes, the amount of batshit Republicans in the House DOES suck. The sky is blue, also too.