I pointed this out to TP when he first started posting thinking that, as a newbie, he might be unaware of the cultural difference. He ignored my point and I didn't appreciate it. Had JLA led his campaign with that angle rather than the arguments he used, I might have been more sympathetic. Perhaps not, since TP isn't the only one who posts primarily in the GWB style here, but the debate would have been different.
The "culture" argument is the strong one for me. It's true that I thought this thread was "run," as I said, like the GWB thread; but of course the culture is more civil here. Still, there are many routine-seeming lapses in civility. The phrase "demolib pinhead" has been heard as casually as though it weren't a nasty insult (wasn't it applied to you recently?) and there is a good amount of contentless sniping (aka "stinkbombs," to borrow JLA's term), unresponsiveness, inaccuracy, and partisanship.
I'm going to start reading TP's posts. The truth is, I don't pay attention to them. But when I saw the assembled list of links to posts of his, they made me laugh. Still, if the fellow is truly disruptive and behaves markedly less civilly to his fellow posters than is considered acceptable in this thread's culture, I'll believe it isn't his political speech that's freaking out those who want to silence him here and I'll nominate him for banning myself next time. Perhaps with a few other offenders. |
