Sometimes I Think I was Raised in a Barn...

[lydamorehouse]

...except the real problem is that I was raised by Unitarians.

The biggest pitfall of this whole, crazy "internet" thing you kids are all into, is that when you're a crabby, mean-spirited person your roots start to show.

What is that line about discretion and valor? I never did learn how to back away from a fight. One of my very first electronic interactions was on a listserv (back when there was no "e" -- and when online communities were actually mostly comprised of BBSs and listservs) called STREK-L. I was a very casual commenter on the list until one day someone complained about how they'd heard that the new Voyager series (yes, that long ago) was going to have a black Vulcan in it. This guy named Abdullah wrote in and said, basically, "Why couldn't there be black Vulcans? After all, there are black humans...." and a bunch of people harrassed him. I got righteously indignant on Abdullah's behalf and ended up composing a screed entitled "In Defense of Abdullah" in which the very first line read: The Federation is a bunch of NAZIs and then went on to complain about the subtle racism of the New Generation starting with the half-serious/half-joking question: how is it that a guy who claims to be FRENCH end up with a penchant for Earl Gray, hot? and then went on to question Jordie's ethnic identity, especially when compared to Uhura whose first language was Swahili (we know this from the Veger episode, when her brain gets wiped.)

I got kicked off that group almost instantly, even though I never officially attacked anyone by name (and the responses to me ranged from "you're an a**hole" to other much less articulate and personal comments).

To be fair, I think that my post was quite intentionally inflamatory. But, silly me, raised in that Unitarian barn (same one as in Click, Clack, Moo?), I still thought people ought to be able to distinguish between being critical and criticizing. I was doing a little bit of both, but I'd thought by keeping things in the context of the show, stiring things up might be good for the group.

I should have known better then, and I should know better now.

This is one of those lessons, however, that I seem bound to relearn. See, I'm having a little blogger remorse. Nothing said here, mind you, but I should learn not to compose responses to things people say (even if they are stupid and wrong) until after the fire is gone from my belly. I'm just too mean. And I don't let things go very well.

The electronic universe reveals my darker impluses. I like to argue, but text doesn't convey the spirit in which things are intended. Sometimes this is good, sometimes bad; but I always learn something nasty about myself.

I am a grinch.

Comments

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

When I'm angry, and on-line, I tend to write very vicious satire.

I blame it on growing up in Canada, where the governemnt-owned tv station broadcasts, among other things, footage of one of Canada's best known satirists, dressed up in pink leather armour, introducing herself to the then premier of our largest province as Marg, Princess Warrior and asking him, essentially, if he had become so power-mad that he thought "the sun, moon and stars shine out of his back passage." She was widely viewed as being polite because she said "back passage" instead of "arse."

I have found that satire, especially satire combined with some vulgarity of speech, does not go over nearly as well in American contexts as it does in Canadian and British ones, with the result that I have run into trouble from time to time on mailing lists - even on USENET. I don't necessarily see this as having done something wrong.

I think what I'm trying to say is that I rather enjoy seeing strongly worded and honest critical commentary. Sometimes being inflammatory is a positive thing. And if I don't like what I'm reading, I'm always free to stop reading it.

A Canadian! Crazy!

[lydamorehouse]

Seriously, I'm glad to hear this in a way. Sometimes I think that my problem is that I'm often surrounded by Midwesterners who aren't terribly fond of criticism, shall we say. I've had people ask me if I'm from New York... which frankly, I take as a compliment, though I doubt it's intended as such.

Re: A Canadian! Crazy!

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

But there is so much in this world to be critical of. (Also so much to be deliriously joyful about, but that's another subject - I just didn't want to give the impression of being a perennially unhappy person.)

It concerns me deeply, for instance, that in many universities, there no longer seems to be an understanding of the need for free and open exchange of ideas, no matter how contrary they may be to the received wisdom and practice. One makes a proposal or frames a hypothesis in order to be tested and critiqued - that's how knowledge advances.

Sometimes I long for the day when, so it is said, the very prosepct of a bard delivering a satire on one's doorstep was enough to make leaders of the people think seriously about their policies and decisions, and the people themselves consider the consequences of their actions toward each other.

Writing Angry

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Occasionally I just want to stir things up a little, though, especially when what I'm reading is from someone who is being just a bit too terse for the previously existing situation. I kind of like calling them on their mood, esentially; I poke a little, and invariably (probably because of the vagueries of anonimity and the net) their mood gets fleshed out. Either they back down a bit and apologize, or they get a bit more strident, stressed out, vicious... ..whatever. I'm sure, though, that you temper what you are saying, particularly when you know them.

And fire in the belly is something Scorpios know all too well.

Passions (not the soap opera)

[muneraven.livejournal.com]

In the case you cite above, I don't think you were being crabby. I think you were making a point. A GOOD point, and this from someone who loves ST:tNG. But I think when a smart person legitimately skewers a sacred cow (particularly a group's sacred cow), the common response is to call that person unreasonable and try to get rid of them. (Okay, in Minnesota the common response is to blandly agree and then bitch behind that person's back, but I mean the Internet common response.)

I think when a person is both passionate and verbal, that person does have to take some responsibility for not being hurtful. But doggone it, SOMETIMES the faint-hearted souls who can't take any response hotter than lukewarm also need to step up and take a look at why they are making provocative statements and then cringing when someone disagrees.

Thus sayeth a passionate and verbal woman. lol.

Hi Lyda. I'm Karen and I met you at Diversicon and now I've found your Blog. Oh no! :-)